On
DPRK Launch,
SC Can Only
Issue
"Elements to
the Press,"
Resolution
Unlikely
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 12 --
As the UN
Security
Council met
behind closed
doors
Wednesday
about the
North Korean
launch, what
begin with the
call by French
ambassador
Gerard Araud
for a
resolution
degenerated
into talk of
"elements to
the press."
Hungry
for news, a
media mob
followed South
Korea's
Permanent
Representative
Kim Sook when
he came out of
the Council.
But he was
headed only to
the
bathroom:
flush mob, one
wag dubbed it.
Inner
City Press
went back to
see what
happened in
April 2012 --
total deja
vu, the
Council then
talked about
elements to
the press,
then
discussed the
coup du jour
then, Guinea
Bissau.
This week the
forgotten
coup's in Mali.
Western
members,
having agreed
to mere
elements to
the press -- a
step below
a Press
Statement --
then tried to
say it didn't
make any
difference.
In the last
line the
Elements say
the Council
"will continue
consultations
on an
appropriate
response." But
sources tell
Inner City
Press that the
US was clearly
told in
consultations,
no
resolution.
Still
Ambassador
Susan Rice at
the stakeout
said she's
heard that
before;
she said
discussions
will continue.
Inner
City Press
asked Rice
about the coup
of the week,
in Mali. But
that's another
story: watch
this site.
Footnotes:
South
Korea's
Permanent
Representative
Kim Sook came
out and said
the process
will continue.
Inner City
Press asked if
he had spoken
in
consultations,
or just
listened. Kim
Sook joked
that until
January 1, he
"has
no mouth."
Soon enough.
Also,
Russia
proposed a
press
statement on
the attack on
an Alawite
village
in Syria; it's
said one
delegation
said it needed
more
information.
Silence was
set on the
statement
until Thursday
at noon. Other
such
statements
have been
blocked; we'll
see.
, 
