By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 21 --
North Korea
has asked for
an "urgent" UN
Security
Council
meeting again
about the Ulji
Freedom Guardian
military
exercise
including the
US. Fext
below. This
comes after
South Korea
resumed
propaganda
broadcasts
from huge
speakers, and
North Korea
fired at them.
Back on August
10, Inner City
Press asked
the UN for the
reaction of
its Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon to the
speakers. From
the UN's
August 10
transcript:
Inner
City Press: in
the Korean
peninsula,
there's been
this incident
where two
South Korean
soldiers were
injured by a
land mine they
say was
planted by the
DPRK
[Democratic
People’s
Republic of
Korea] in the
demilitarized
zone, and now
South Korea
says they're
going to
resume these
"propaganda
broadcasts"
with
loudspeakers.
Some stories
say that the
UN has
confirmed
these
landmark…
these land
mines.
So, I'd like
you to… to…
which is the
UN Command,
whether it's a
UN agency or
not.
What does the
Secretary-General
think of this
development,
particularly
the threatens…
the statements
of reprisal by
South Korea
and what, if
anything, is
he doing to
try to defuse
this tension?
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
Sure.
You know
what? I
have some
language on
that, but not
with me, so I
will share
with you right
after the
briefing.
And as you
know, the UN
Command is… is
named “UN
Command” for
historical
reasons — is
not one over
which the
Secretary-General
has any
authority.
Dujarric
said he had
some
"language" on
it. Inner City
Press went to
the
spokesperson's
office, but
there was
none. It would
be emailed to
Inner City
Press, it was
assured.
At 4 pm,
after Ban
walked by an
otherwise empty
stakeout
of a wan
Burundi
meeting of the
UNSC, his
office put out
an entirely
one sided
statement,
with no
mention or
reprisal or of
propaganda:
"In
response to
questions
asked earlier
about an
incident on
the
Demilitarized
Zone in the
Korean
peninsula, the
Spokesman had
the following
to say:
"The
Secretary-General
is concerned
by the reports
that the
Korean
People’s Army
has placed new
land mines in
the southern
half of the
Demilitarized
Zone, which
injured two
soldiers from
the Republic
of Korea on 4
August. He
urges the
Democratic
People's
Republic of
Korea (DPRK)
to fully
adhere to the
obligations
under the
Armistice
Agreement and
engage in
dialogue on
this incident.
"The
Secretary-General
urges the
tensions on
the Korean
Peninsula to
be
alleviated."
Make this man
president of
South Korea,
one wag said.
And here is
what DPRK
said, in a
letter dated
August 19 sent
out the next
day:
“Upon
instructions
from my
Government, I
have the
honour to
bring to your
attention the
aggressive
joint military
exercise
so-called
'Ulji Freedom
Guardian
(UFG)' which
is now being
conducted by
the United
States in
south Korea
against the
Democratic
People's
Republic of
Korea,” DPRK's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN Ja
Song Nam wrote
to the
Security
Council's
president for
August.
“The U.S.-led
joint military
exercises
including the
'UFG,' which
are staged one
after another
every year on
the Korean
peninsula and
beyond, are
serious
provocations
as well as a
typical
expression of
the U.S.
hostile policy
against the
DPRK. The U.S.
is again
attempting to
cover up the
aggressive and
dangerous
nature of such
exercises by
describing
them as
'annul' or
'defensive'
ones. However,
such real
war-like
military
maneuvers,
which mobilize
massive armed
forces and
nuclear war
means with a
purpose of
occupying
Pyongyang,
capital of the
DPRK, can
neither be
"defensive"
nor justified
as 'routine'
under the
pretext of
'annual basis.'
“The U.S. is
going to force
the DPRK into
an arms race
through
ceaseless war
drills and
arms build-up
in a sinister
bid to throw
hurdles in the
DPRK's efforts
for the
economic
development
and the
improvement of
people's
living and
seek an
opportunity
for a
preemptive
attack on the
DPRK by making
it inattentive
to increased
vicious cycles
of tensions.
The U.S. war
games clearly
prove that it
is the U.S.
which
instigates the
vicious cycles
of escalating
confrontation
and tension
and creating
the danger of
war on the
Korean
peninsula. The
U.S.-led
aggressive and
provocative
large scale
joint military
exercises are
no longer
issues
confined to
the DPRK-U.S.
or the
inter-Korean
relations but
an
international
issue which
threatens the
peace and
security in
Northeast Asia
and beyond.
“Therefore, I
request that
the issue of
the U.S. joint
military
exercises, be
placed on the
Security
Council
agenda, and
that a meeting
of the
Security
Council be
urgently held
in accordance
with Articles
34 and 35 of
the Charter of
the United
Nations. I
would like to
remind that
the Security
Council has
unjustifiably
ignored the
DPRK's several
requests to
place the
issue of the
U.S. joint
military
exercises on
the agenda of
the Security
Council.
“Should the
Security
Council again
ignore the
DPRK's just
request to
discuss the
U.S. joint
military
exercises, it
will expose of
itself that it
is giving up
its primary
mission of
maintaining
the
international
peace and
security and
becoming a
political tool
of an
individual
power. If the
U.S.
persistently
opts for
military
confrontation
despite the
repeated
warnings of
the DPRK and
the shared
denunciation
by the
international
community, it
will be held
wholly
accountable
for all the
ensuing
consequences.
The DPRK will
not
indefinitely
wait for the
U.S. to change
its DPRK
policy by
seeing its
sovereignty
and security
being
threatened,
but make all
necessary
steps to deter
the U.S.
nuclear
provocation."
On August 20,
Inner City
Press asked
the UN to
confirm what
is widely
reported in
Nigeria, that
Ban will be
there on Sunday
August 23. The
UN wouldn't
confirm - nor
say if Ban is
headed to any
other countries.
Watch this
site.
A
year after the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
asked the UN
why its
in-house EZTV
had channels
from the US
(CNN and Fox
News), UK
(BBC) and
France (France
24) but none
from China or
Russia or
India or
Brazil, a new
channel has
been added:
South Korea's
Arirang.
On
July 15 the
channel
bragged it was
on "UN
In-House
Network,"
President Park
appeared on it
saying hello
to the UN
community,
just before
promos and
news casts
promoting the
country's
foreign
policy. A
panel show -
about the UN -
featured CHOI
Jong-moo, MUN
Byeong-cheol
and PARK
Heung-soon,
who said South
Korea should
"use" the UN.
Duly noted.
On
July 15, after
reporting on
the addition,
Inner City
Press asked
UN spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
Inner
City Press:
I've noticed
that the EZTV
has this
Arirang
television on
it, and about
a year ago,
I'd asked you
about calling
it P3 TV, that
the current
EZTV lineup
has Fox and
CNN from the
United States,
BBC from the
U.K., France
24. And
you said that
there was
attempts to
make it more
diverse.
Has there been
any attempt to
get either
India, Brazil,
Russia, China,
or is it sort
of… how do
these things
happen?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
Let me
check.
Broadcasters
often contact
us and try to
provide news
feeds for
us. And
as long as it
has no cost to
the UN…
Inner City
press:
But is there a
desire to have
kind of a
diversity?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
The broader
the
information,
the better.
Ban Ki-moon,
former foreign
minister and
perhaps future
president of
South Korea,
apparently
made a plug
for the
station.
Given that
current
President Park
appears on it,
might this be
a way for Ban
to continue to
be projected
into the UN
after 2016?
Inner
City Press, on
behalf of the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
asked
about UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric back
on
April 29, 2014:
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