At
UN,
Stonewalling
on N. Korean
and Palestine,
Kim with DPRK,
O'Brien
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 8 --
As Joseph
Deiss
delivered his
swan song as
outgoing
President of
the General
Assembly on
Thursday,
including an
evening
reception of
Permanent
Representatives,
the work and
intrigue
of the United
Nations
continued.
While
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was
still out of
town, his
senior adviser
Kim
Won-soo worked
the crowd,
including a
lengthy
discussion
with the
Permanent
Representative
of North
Korea. Earlier
in the day,
without
answer, Inner
City Press asked
Ban's Deputy
Spokesman
Eduardo del
Buey:
"Can
you
confirm that
the Emergency
Relief
Coordinator,
Valerie Amos,
will
be visiting
the Democratic
People’s
Republic of
Korea or North
Korea, and if
so, is that, I
believe that
is taking
place, I would
like
confirmation
of that and
whether
Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon,
who spoke a
lot about the
issue and
rapprochement
on the
peninsula,
had any role,
has had any
communications
with [the
Democratic
People’s
Republic of
Korea]
regarding this
visit by the
Emergency
Relief
Coordinator?"
Del
Buey didn't
answer, or
email any
answer, but
later than
evening Kim
Won-soo was
deep in
discussion
with the DPRK
Permanent
Representative.
Kim
Woo-soon &
DPRK Perm Rep,
Sept 8, 2011,
Amos not shown
Also
at the
day's noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press and then
others asked
repeatedly for
a briefing by
Ban's top
lawyer Under
Secretary
General
Patricia
O'Brien,
including on
the issue of
how filings by
Palestine
will be
handled by the
Secretariat.
No answer was
given, no
briefing
has been
offered, but
O'Brien was
spotting
Thursday night
chatting
with Mr. Kim
and Department
of Field
Support deputy
Tony Banbury.
We'll have
more on this.
The
Press-shy
Patricia
O'Brien in GA
Sept 8,
Palestine not
shown
More
informed
Permanent
Representatives
to the UN told
Inner City
Press that the
statement on
the Durban III
review
conference is
under "silence
procedure"
until Friday
at noon.
There
was a
meeting of the
Security
Council's
Permanent Five
members, on
topics
ranging from
Syria -- China
and Russia
"reiterated
their
positions,"
one attendee
told Inner
City Press --
to Libya, on
which Inner
City Press
will be
publishing a
story later on
Thursday.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
At
Deiss' last
press
conference on
Thursday
morning, Inner
City Press
asked him if
receiving
housing and
other funds
from
Switzerland
had
been a
conflict of
interest, and
if such
funding
limited the
President of
the General
Assembly post
to rich
countries like
his
successor,
Qatar.
Deiss
said no, and
noted that he
received
seconded
staff from
countries. But
doesn't THAT
mean that
richer
countries
have more say?
To his credit,
Deiss said
that the
failure to
fund
"protocol" for
the PGA is a
problem. We'll
have more on
this.
, 
in