By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 29 -- When
South Korea
takes over presidency
of the UN Security
Council in
May, it will
hold only one
open debate:
on the 10th
anniversary of
Resolution
1540 on
non-proliferation
of weapons of
mass
destruction.
South Korean
Permanent
Representative
Oh Joon and
Terence Taylor
of the 1540
Committee
Group of
Experts took
questions on
the topic on
April 29 at
South Korea's
Mission to the
UN on 45th
Street.
Taylor began by
saying that 22
countries have
not filed any
reports on
compliance
with the
resolution, including
not only the
Democratic
People's
Republic of
Korea but also
Chad.
Since Chad is
a member of
the Security
Council, Inner
City Press
asked if Oh
Joon or
Terence Taylor
had spoken
with them.
Inner City
Press also
asked, as it
did the
CTBTO's Zerbo
on April 28,
about 60
Minutes'
report on
negligence in
the US'
nuclear
weapons
program,
including
rotting missiles,
old eight-inch
floppy disks
and nuclear
weapons loaded
on a plane and
left on a tarmac
for 36 hours.
On Chad,
Terrance
Taylor said it
was a problem
of resources,
citing
conflict inside
the country.
(He did not
mention the
Central
African
Republic.)
On 60 Minutes,
Oh Joon gave a
long answer
about the UN's
counter-terrorism
architecture
and post 9/11
focus on
non-proliferation
to non-state
actors.
The moderator,
Pamela Falk
who as
president of
the UN
Correspondents
Association
tried to brand
the briefing
like a NASCAR
racer's suit,
said since 60
Minutes is CBS
as she is,
she'd give a
link. But why
didn't she ask
about it? Too
busy praising
this one
nation. Would
others get this
solicitude?
No.
But the South
Korean
mission, to
their credit,
replied to
Inner City
Press for the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
and made
clear that
non-UNCA
members could
attend;
only then did
UNCA post a
flyer to that
effect on the
glassed-in
bulletin board
outside the
clubhouse the
UN gives them.
This is not
the way to do
it: the UN
should be
opening up,
and not
favoring censors.
Back on April
28, when
Lassina Zerbo
of the
Preparatory
Commission for
the
Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban
Treaty
Organization
gave a press
conference at
the UN on
April 28, he
said he had
just been in
Ecuador
reaching an
agreement for
a CTBTO
monitoring
station on the
Galapagos
Islands.
Inner
City Press
asked Zerbo to
say more about
the CTBTO
press
release's
statement
that this
monitoring
"can also
contribute to
research of
the
atmosphere,
storm systems
and climate
change." Zerbo
cited
volcanoes and
"hydro-acoustic"
monitoring.
Afterward,
the
CTBTO sent
Inner City
Press and the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
more information
about climate
change,
including this
same
hydro-acoustic
monitor of
calving of
icebergs.
Inner
City Press
also asked
Zerbo about a
report by CBS'
"60 Minutes"
the night
before,
showing
decaying US
missiles and
specifying how
nuclear
weapons were
loaded on a
plane by
mistake and
left on a
tarmac,
unguarded, for
36 hours.
Zerbo
to his credit
didn't dodge
the question,
instead saying
that beyond
stopping
proliferation
there should
be efforts to
protect
nuclear
material from
the
possibility of
proliferation.
Presumably
that means
nukes
shouldn't be
left on the
tarmac.
Strangely,
while
the first
question was
automatically
given by Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq to
Pamela Falk of
CBS, she did
not ask about
the nuclear
report
critical of
the US by CBS'
60 Minutes.
Instead she
asked, as she
had at noon,
about North
Korea, on the
eve of a press
event which
she had tried
to limit
only to
members of the
UN
Correspondents
Association,
and only those
that she
personally
approved.
The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
successfully
pushed back at
that,
particularly
because some UNCA
Executive
Board members
have been
involved
in censorship,
and will
continue to.
And it will
continue to
put questions
to the CTBTO.
Watch this
site.
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