For SC
Seat Cambodia
Rep Contrasts
"Rich" South
Korea of Ban
Ki-moon,
Idealistic
Bhutan
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 11, updated
-- In the race
for one UN
Security
Council seat
among South
Korea,
Cambodia and
Bhutan many
assume that
Seoul's
financial
pledges and
having Ban
Ki-moon
already in
place as
Secretary
General
guarantees
that country
victory.
On
Thursday
morning in
front of the
General
Assembly as
Inner City
Press covered
the other race
-- Australia,
Finland and
Luxembourg
-- a Cambodian
duo sat on a
couch behind
the stakeout
campaigning. There
was a small
wooden box on
the table in
front of their
couch.
They summoned
over an
African
Permanent
Representative
and met with
him for some
time. Then
they summoned
over Inner
City Press.
"Who
do you think
will win?" was
the question.
Inner City
Press related
what it has
heard, that
despite
Bhutan's
"cute"
campaign
around the
theme of
Happiness,
South Korea
was
campaigning in
the same way
they did to
get Ban
Ki-moon
elected
Secretary
General.
The
lead Cambodia
campaigner,
who gave Inner
City Press his
business card
and said it
was fine to
report on the
meeting, said
that Ban as
Secretary
General should
count AGAINST
South Korea.
"It's too
much," he
said. "I'm
hearing about
the
Koreanization
of the UN." He
paused. "Some
day we'll come
here and it
will be
nothing but
Samsung."
"This should
not just be
about money,"
he said. "It
should be
about values"...
Inner
City Press
asked about
the spats
between
Cambodia and
the UN,
particularly
its human
rights office
in the
country. He
smiled and
said, the UN
is free to be
in our
country, and
we are free to
comment, that
is democracy.
He
called
Bhutan's
Happiness
campaign
"idealistic,"
contrasting it
with real
world concerns
like
peacekeeping.
He snarked
that India,
which is
supporting
Bhutan, just
wanted allies
on the
Security
Council as it
leaves in
December.
Inner
City Press
asked about
the border
dispute with
Thailand;
he said that
would be no
problem. [There
was a
reference to
another
candidate's
dispute, and a
later granted
request to
remove.]
It would be
good to have
more public
campaigning
and even
debating for
these Security
Council seat,
and other UN
posts. This
reporting is
in that
spirit.
The
Cambodia
campaigner, we
will then
report, was
and is Hor Nam
Bora, whose
job outside
New York is
listed on his
business card
as the
country's
London-based
Ambassador to
UK, Denmark,
Finland,
Ireland,
Norway and
Sweden. After
first
publication
he noted he's
also Special
Envoy of the
Prime Minister
and Ambassador
to Ethiopia
and to the
African Union.
Covering
that
many countries
is indicative
of Cambodia's
lower budget
than South
Korea. But, he
argued, people
want smaller
or poorer
states to be
on the
Security
Council. He
said the
meeting could
and even
should be
reported on.
He said, "Help
us." Does
this? Watch
this site.
, 
