Korea
Society
Charges $10 to
Hear UN
Officials on
"Korean
Leadership"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 18 --
Yesterday the
Korea Society
on 57th Street
held a session
called "The
United Nations
and Korean
Leadership
with Robert
Orr," a long
time UN
official.
The
admission
charge to hear
Mr. Orr was
listed as $10.
On
January 18,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
if there are
any UN rules
about charging
money to hear
UN officials
speak.
At
4pm on Friday,
Ban's
spokesperson's
office
provided this:
From:
UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Fri, Jan
18, 2013
at 4:00 PM
Subject: Re:
Your question
on attending
external
events
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
In
answer to your
question at
today's
briefing: The
Ethics Office
advises that
UN officials
may speak at
external
events where
participants
pay a
reasonable
attendance
fee, such as
you might find
at a
conference or
convention,
that covers
such costs as
auditorium
rental and
refreshments.
But
presumably the
Korea Socity
doesn't have
to rent its
own
auditorium.
And no
refreshments
were listed in
the online
invitation
-- which by
January 18 no
longer
included the
$10 charge.
But
there is still
listed a $10
charge for a
January 24
session at the
Korea Society
also called
"The United
Nations and
Korean
Leadership,"
but this time
with Korean
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Shin Dong-ik
and two
different UN
officials:
Michele
Griffin,
Policy
Planning Unit
Director,
United
Nations; and
Frank
Schroeder,
Senior
Advisor,
Climate Change
Support Team,
Office of the
Secretary-General
of the United
Nations
So
it that $5
apiece? The
Korea Society
is free to
charge
admission to
hear its
Deputy
Permanent
Representative.
But should
they really be
charging to
hear UN
officials of
Ban Ki-moon
speak about
"The UN
and Korean
Leadership"?
Watch this
site.
, 
