In
Ban's
UN, Staff
Complain of
Pressure to
Give UN Water
Job to S.
Korean
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 26 --
When
whistleblowers
in Ban
Ki-moon's UN
contact Inner
City Press, it
is usually not
about
relatively
lower
level jobs in
the so-called
"P-3"
classification.
But
things have
become such
that P-3 post
in the
Department of
Economic
and Social
Affair's
Sustainable
Development
Division,
specifically
its Rio +20
unit has given
rise to
allegation of
impropriety.
Multiple
sources
tell Inner
City Press
that once the
interviews for
the post were
closed, with
three "short
listed"
candidates
having been
questioned and
graded, a call
was made to
re-open the
process for a
fourth
candidate,
Hyun-Soon Sung
of South
Korea.
People
in the
chain of
command raised
white flags,
saying for
example that
"Ban
Ki-moon wants
to plant
certain people
throughout the
UN system,
outside of the
normal
competitive
process."
Some even
alleged
to Inner City
Press that
Hyun-Sook Sung
was a relative
of Ban
Ki-moon. Inner
City Press
does not
believe this,
having
contacted
Hyun-Soon Sung
who said she
is not a
relative, but
confirmed
seeking the
P-3 post in UN
Water.
She
worked in the
office of
former
President of
the General
Assembly
Joseph Deiss,
and
is now in a
post at the UN
Environment
Program, where
she cc-ed her
response to
Inner City
Press' email
explicitly
labeled "Press
Question,"
asking among
other things
"could you
confirm
that you've
applied for
post in DESA /
UN Water? And
separately,
that
interview
process was
re-opened
after it
closed?"
The
second of
those
questions,
Hyun-Sook Sung
did not
address. She
said
she met Ban
Ki-moon at
several events
and now works
at "UNEP New
York Office on
the Yeosu Expo
because
Juanita
Castano,"Director
of UNEP New
York Office,
"needed
someone to
support her
role as
UNEP focal
point on the
Expo."
Previously,
after
it was
reported that
Ban Ki-moon
personally
named as "UN
commissioner-general
for the 2012
Yeosu Expo"
one Samuel Koo
--
former
journalist at
the UN who
also sought
out UN posts
-- Ban's
spokesperson's
office
repeatedly
refused to
answer Inner
City Press
questions
about Ban's
role in the
appointment,
saying "ask
UNEP"
which refused
repeatedly to
answer.
The
degree of
distrust in UN
staff ranks of
the Executive
Office of the
Secretary
General and
Ban Ki-moon
himself is
striking and
does not bode
well.
(c) UN Photo
Ban
&
entourage at
Yeosu in S.
Korea, Koo
explanations
not shown
Even on
Wednesday,
after a press
conference
where Inner
City Press
asked
Humanitarian
Coordinator
Valerie Amos
whether Ban's
senior
adviser Kim
Won-soo's role
in their trip
to North Korea
has any
political
aspect,
Inner City
Press was
chided not to
record the
film
Ms. Amos
showed, and
that "the
question"
about Kim was
"raised in
Seoul." Why so
defensive?
Watch this
site.
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