By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 10 --
Ban Ki-moon
was South
Korea's
foreign
minister
before he was
UN Secretary
General, and
he may yet run
for president
in that
country.
Still, when
Inner City
Press on
August 10
asked Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric not
only about
North Korea or
DPRK placing
landmines in
the DMZ, but
also South
Korea
threatening
reprisals and
restarting
broadcasting
cross-border
"propaganda"
from walls of
speakers, a
typical UN
response of
one the one
hand, on the
other hand was
expected.
But
no.
First
Dujarric said
he had some
"language" on
it. Inner City
Press went to
the
spokesperson's
office, but
there was
none. It would
be emailed to
Inner City
Press, it was
assured.
At 4 pm,
after Ban
walked by an
otherwise empty
stakeout
of a wan
Burundi
meeting of the
UNSC, his
office put out
an entirely
one sided
statement,
with no
mention or
reprisal or of
propaganda:
"In
response to
questions
asked earlier
about an
incident on
the
Demilitarized
Zone in the
Korean
peninsula, the
Spokesman had
the following
to say:
"The
Secretary-General
is concerned
by the reports
that the
Korean
People’s Army
has placed new
land mines in
the southern
half of the
Demilitarized
Zone, which
injured two
soldiers from
the Republic
of Korea on 4
August. He
urges the
Democratic
People's
Republic of
Korea (DPRK)
to fully
adhere to the
obligations
under the
Armistice
Agreement and
engage in
dialogue on
this incident.
"The
Secretary-General
urges the
tensions on
the Korean
Peninsula to
be
alleviated."
Make this man
president of
South Korea,
one wag said.
A
year after the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
asked the UN
why its
in-house EZTV
had channels
from the US
(CNN and Fox
News), UK
(BBC) and
France (France
24) but none
from China or
Russia or
India or
Brazil, a new
channel has
been added:
South Korea's
Arirang.
On
July 15 the
channel
bragged it was
on "UN
In-House
Network,"
President Park
appeared on it
saying hello
to the UN
community,
just before
promos and
news casts
promoting the
country's
foreign
policy. A
panel show -
about the UN -
featured CHOI
Jong-moo, MUN
Byeong-cheol
and PARK
Heung-soon,
who said South
Korea should
"use" the UN.
Duly noted.
On
July 15, after
reporting on
the addition,
Inner City
Press asked
UN spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
Inner
City Press:
I've noticed
that the EZTV
has this
Arirang
television on
it, and about
a year ago,
I'd asked you
about calling
it P3 TV, that
the current
EZTV lineup
has Fox and
CNN from the
United States,
BBC from the
U.K., France
24. And
you said that
there was
attempts to
make it more
diverse.
Has there been
any attempt to
get either
India, Brazil,
Russia, China,
or is it sort
of… how do
these things
happen?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
Let me
check.
Broadcasters
often contact
us and try to
provide news
feeds for
us. And
as long as it
has no cost to
the UN…
Inner City
press:
But is there a
desire to have
kind of a
diversity?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
The broader
the
information,
the better.
Ban Ki-moon,
former foreign
minister and
perhaps future
president of
South Korea,
apparently
made a plug
for the
station.
Given that
current
President Park
appears on it,
might this be
a way for Ban
to continue to
be projected
into the UN
after 2016?
Inner
City Press, on
behalf of the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
asked
about UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric back
on
April 29, 2014:
, 
