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By Matthew Russell Lee, Series

UNITED NATIONS, October 13 – Ban Ki-moon's ambition to be president of South Korea ended amid the indictment of his brother and nephew and their fashion designer colleague Malcolm Harris for UN-related corruption; Ban critic Moon Jae-in won the post. Ban called the indictment "fake news," but Malcolm Harris has now been ordered to pay over $700,000 along with Ban Ki-moon's nephew Dennis Bahn, still set to stand trial, and his brother Ban Ki Sang, who is hiding from the US justice system in South Korea, a fugitive. But Ban Ki-moon himself appeared in New York City on October 12 at South Korea's Mission to the UN, which ran (and paid for) Ban's campaign to become SG. Full circle. When Inner City Press wrote factual but critical stories about Ban, it was "contacted" by the South Korean mission, which then tried to restrict it from news about North Korea, which it covers, in favor of scribes who never mentioned the Ban Ki-moon corruption cases or failures in such places as Sri Lanka and Myanmar , where as Inner City Press exposed, picked up in South Korean media, Ban's other brother Ban Ki Ho did business, here. (Ban was named part of The Elders, apparently automatically; now The Elders are silent for example on the killings by Cameroon.) These scribes report that Ban will meet with his successor Antonio Guterres - but Ban is not on Guterres' public schedule. There's an absurd or ghoulish rumor that Ban might not only purport to advise on North Korea - on which he accomplished nothing in his ten years as SG - but even become a UN envoy. There appears to be no limit to how low this can go: we are following this. Both Ban's nephew and brother Ban Ki Sang used their connection to Ban Ki-moon to commit the fraud and Ban and his spokespeople - now "serving" Ban's successor Antonio Guterres - refused to provide any specifics about how much Ban Ki-moon knew, even when the last time he met with his nephew and brother. Yet the International Olympic Committee tellingly made Ban its ethics officer he was given a seemingly automatic seat on "The Elders," which while horning on in death-less conflicts have been silent, for example, on Cameroon's killings. (Here was Ban smiling taking an award from 35-year Cameroon president Paul Biya.) We'll have more on this - and on yet another Ban scandal, convicted Ng Lap Seng, and on Ban's brother Ban Ki-ho and what Inner City Press exposes as his mining in Myanmar, where yet more people, the Rohnigya, are being slaughtered. Some Elder. Reuters also tellingly previously mis-reported that Ban's nephew Dennis Bahn had pleaded guilty too, although the Department of Justice press release Reuters retyped didn't say that. Ban is also rumored to want back into the North Korea issue, on which he accomplished nothing in his ten years as UN Secretary General. But new information has emerged after the guilty verdict against Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng. Inner City Press, which was evicted from Ban's UN for covering the scandal in the UN Press Briefing Room and remains restricted, has begun obtaining the prosecution's full evidence. This includes, as simply the first example, an email showing Ban's UN rewarding Ng with support for his then-planned Macau center after what the UN called positive coverage of Ban's travels. Inner City Press has asked the UN - Ban's former deputy spokesman - about it, here. This is corruption, not ethics. We'll have more on this. Meanwhile as Inner City Press first reported on early May, Ban's Kim Won-soo is trying to parlay the job Ban gave him in UN Disarmament to become head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. But he has six competitors: Tibor Toth of Hungary, Fernando Arias Gonzalez of Spain, Saywan Sabir Mustafa Barzani of Iraq, Jesper Vahr of Denmark, Abdouraman Bary of Burkina Faso and Vaidotas Verba of Lithuania. Will Jeffrey Sachs, who impermissibly endorsed Dho Young-shim for the UN World Tourism Organization also endorse Kim Won-soo? Since the UN is lawless, if not, wy not? Amid this and the now-begun Ng Lap Seng trial about UN bribery pervasive in the Ban Ki-moon era, The Elders have jumped the gun and debased their brand making Ban one of te fold. What's he going to work on (or cover up), mass atrocities like he did in Sri Lanka? Impunity like for his UN bringing cholera to Haiti? We'll have more on this.Harris "pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a bribery case that involves a brother and nephew of former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. [He] entered his plea to money laundering and wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos in federal court in Manhattan. Harris is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 27." During the General Assembly week. Ban and his family, which used Ban and the UN to try to sell real estate, are corrupt. But in continued search for a consolation prize, Ban has announced "I am deeply honoured to be nominated as the Chair of the IOC’s Ethics Commission and accept the position with a sense of humility and responsibility. The United Nations and the International Olympic Committee have had a close working relationship over many years with both organisations contributing to building a peaceful and better world. In working closely under the principles of the IOC movement, I will do my best to enhance the accountability and transparency of the IOC." But Ban brought neither accountability nor transparency to the UN; he has left two separate bribery cases in his wake, and continued censorship. We'll have more on this. After Moon Jae-in nominated Ms. Kyung-wha Kang, who worked for and with Ban at the UN and physically witnessed the Ban's Department of Public Information's eviction of Inner City Press, as his nominee for foreign minister, her nomination is increasingly slowed by corruption issues, some of them UN-related. Ban is sinking lower, trolling the committees of the Massachusetts state house for praise, while babbling that "'Having read what he said is misguiding and misleading the truthful effects, so U.S. should be part of this.' Ban clarified he was referring to Trump." Oh. He's gotten a Christian college Yonsei University in Seoul to hire him, claiming he's a scientist. He's announced in advance where he'll appear in October: the "Tax Free World Association," here. Will he be paid? Or is tax-evasion just another topic, like censorship, close to his heart? Ban Ki-moon is corrupt, and corrupted those around him. On June 7 Kang was grilled, now including for plagiarizing her doctoral thesis and on a second home on Geoje Island, South Gyeongsang Province, real estate speculation, widespread in Ban Ki-moon's circle of family and, like Kang, friends. Another common denominator is double talk. Kang said of the comfort women deal Ban praised, “From the standpoint of a person who had been involved in human rights affairs at the UN, I found it to be very strange in many aspects. Doubts linger over whether it was surely reached with a victims-oriented approach." But there is no evidence Kang mentioned any of the strange aspects before Ban praised the deal. This is noted by those still at the UN, like those in the Administration 200 miles south: the statements and actions of the boss may be attributed to you. And how can Kang claim as her qualification her deep involvement with Ban at the UN and then distance herself from what was done, and not done? Beyond Ban and for example Cristina "The Evicter" Gallach, who else in Ban's administration was tied up in corruption? Some of it goes back to the 2006 line-up in South Korea's Mission to the UN, which included, it seems, later Ban campaign spokesman Lee Do-woon (audio) as well as Kang just before her first UN system posting. As to Kang now, "a U.N. staffer surnamed Woo, who worked for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva under Kang's supervision, invested 40 million won ($35,590) in a firm owned by Kang's eldest daughter Lee Hyun-ji. Woo's older brother also invested 20 million won in the firm. Last year, Kang's daughter established the company dealing with imported wine and cheese. The 60 million won from the Woo family accounted for 75 percent of the initial capital. 'Then-U.N. staff member Woo became intimate with the Kang family including her daughter, while staying in Geneva from 2007 to 2013,' a foreign ministry official said. 'Keeping in touch with Woo, Lee Hyun-jin founded the company in cooperation with the Woo brothers.' After being tapped May 21, she has faced growing suspicions of corruption - false residence registration and belated payment of gift taxes. Her two daughters paid 2.3 million won each in gift tax, two days after the nomination, for homes that they purchased with Kang's money." That's a lot of UN money. Now Inner City Press' sources in the UN in Geneva exclusively tell it that Woo is in fact "Wu," as in Hannah Wu, whom Kang not without controversy shepherded unto a panel about Syria - as head of the Secretariat of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic - and is now with the UN Working Group on the Issue of Discrimination Against Women in Law and in Practice. Inquiry has begun into how those promotions, alongside the reported investments in the Kang family's business, took place. As one of Inner City Press ' sources put it, If South Korea was like the US today, Hannah Wu would be subpoenaed, or be deemed a "person of interest." There is, of course, UN immunity or impunity leaving, especially when questions are not answered and the questioner evicted and restricted, reporting as the only way forward. Watch this site. "New" Secretary General Antonio Guterres' holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Inner City Press Kang's UN job is NOT being held for her. On June 1 Inner City Press asked Dujarric, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: as you know, Kyung-wha Kang is seeking confirmation as Foreign Minister of South Korea.  And the reason I'm asking this question is that one of the issues that's come up is it's reported, not just by the media, but by those questioning her, that two people that worked for her at the… in the UN system allegedly invested in her daughter's businesses.  So, what I wanted to know, without knowing whether this is, in fact, true, but it is being alleged in a formal confirmation hearing, is there any UN rule against a supervisor having an underling invest  in a child's business venture?

Spokesman:  I have no comment on these allegations.  As for the staff rules, they're public, and the ethics rules are public, and you're free to consult them.

Inner City Press: Right, but they're very vague.  That’s why I’m asking.

Spokesman:  I'm just saying I have no comment on these allegations.  You can look at the rules.

   We'll have more on this - and on the OCHA functional review Inner City Press exclusively published, now the subject of inquiries in South Korea as well. Ban is bragging he'll meet Moon Jae-in on June 2 to advise him. On what? Corruption and censorship? For Kang, there is the problem of her daughter's false address / American citizenship; there is also, many say, the lack of direct experience on the North Korea issue. And this, being inquired into in South Korea: as Inner City Press exclusively reported in June 16, Kyung-wha Kang resigned from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs the moment an internal and highly critical“Functional Review” was obtained and published by Inner City Press, here. What does Kang, a long time UN official, think of the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization's work with North Korea on a patent for sodium cyanide? She should say. This question, and that of Kang as RoK FM, were among those Inner City Press wanted to asked North Korean Deputy Ambassador Kim In Ryong at his May 26 press conference - but he left without taking any questions, Periscope here. While Kang was more reasonable than Ban - for example months after the eviction telling Inner City Press, "There must be a process" (there still isn't) - are her policy views different? On May 23, Inner City Press asked the UN about her status, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: I'd asked you yesterday about Kyung-wha Kang.  And I wanted to ask you, what's her… she had said to… to the South Korean press that she had to wind up a few things in New York before going for, I guess, a confirmation hearing.  What's her status with the UN?  Did she resign?

Spokesman:  Yeah, she handed in her resignation letter today to the Secretary-General, effective tomorrow.  So, she will… my understanding is she will travel to Korea very soon.  But, as of tomorrow, she will no longer be employed by the United Nations.  So, when she arrives in Korea, she will be free and clear of her contractual obligations or of any contractual link to the United Nations.

Inner City Press:  And will that post be… is a recruitment to begin for that post…

Spokesman:  We're still getting over the shock of her leaving, and then I'm sure…

Inner City Press:  There's no… there's no agreement to… to return if… I mean…

Spokesman:  She's going… she's handed in her resignation.  It's not a resignation with an asterisk that says I can come back so… she's cut the ties with the mothership, unfortunately.  

  Here is a photo of her meeting with Saudi Arabia's mission to the UN, in the midst of the ongoing bombing of Yemen; she said little, at least publicly. She sat in, along with Kim Won-soo now seeking the top stop at the IAEA, on Ban's meeting with South Korean politicians at the UN while Ban was preparing his abortive run for President. What was Kyung-wha Kang's role in the UN OCHA "functional review" Inner City Press exclusively reported on, and after which she (temporarily) resigned? What if anything did she know about Ban's relatives using the name of the UN to try to sell real estate in Viet Nam? On May 22 Inner City Press asked Ban's holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric, video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: there are many people congratulating Ms. Kyung-wha Kang. she was asked, and she said that she's got the appointment because based on knowledge she's gained while at the UN, et cetera. She was questioned at JFK Airport by South Korean media.  And so the question has arisen.  There's staff regulations and rules that say whatever knowledge you gain while working for the UN, you cannot deploy at a Government.  So, given that she used this very word, I just wanted to know, how does it work at the UN to ensure… I know that Ms. [Susana] Malcorra, there was something similar, but is there guidance from the Secretariat to say what can and cannot be used when you go immediately from the Secretariat to a Government?

Spokesman:  I think… first of all, I think I would add my congratulations to her.  Second of all, I have no doubt that Ms. Kang will live up to the highest ethical standards as it pertains to the issues you raise.  Third, I think there is a difference between experience and knowledge.  And I think the way the rules are written, it's about using specific knowledge of issue… of things as opposed to experience one gains over one's professional life.

  The reliably craven pro-Ban Korea Times said Moon Jae-in should make Ban a "pleni-potentiary" envoy - but why? Even the Korea Times admits Ban accomplished little at the UN except "rubbing shoulders;" they call Ban's cut-short campaign against Moon Jae-in "half-baked." They neglect to say it failed amid the indictment of Ban's brother and nephew for using the UN and Ban to try to sell real estate in Vietnam. This should disqualify Ban from any envoy position too. Even at a UN event on May 11 the talk was of how low Ban brought the UN; ironically the event was one that Ban's censorship of Press coverage of his corruption made it impossible for Inner City Press to attend substantive parts of. This must be addressed. So what of Ban's long time aide Kim Won-soo, recently replaced in the UN Disarmament post Ban gave him? Sources complain to Inner City Press they've seen Kim Won-soo using the access that UN post gave him to try to run for Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Ahmet Üzümcü was elected back in 2009. The OPCW's Executive Council meets October 10-13, 2017. We'll have more on that - and this, that while Ban may be immune in the two UN bribery cases in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, he may not be in South Korea. Ban's use of his UN pedigree to promote himself, even after his relatives used the UN to try to sell real estate, continues - now in stealth, he thinks. Claiming to be a scapegoat, even after he engaged in censorship to cover up his relatives' and officials' links to the two ongoing UN-related corruption cases still pending in the US District Court for the Southern District of NY, Ban on April 25 told at the Kennedy School, "Most of the UN staff address me like ‘SG’ instead of Secretary-General because it is too long. At the same time, ‘SG’ stands for ‘scapegoat.’ Whatever goes wrong, that’s all the United Nations Secretary-General’s fault." Well, the corruption and censorship were and are. And Ban's censor in chief Cristina Gallach, even no longer at the UN, is re-tweeting her old Ban-like speech, perhaps hoping for a second bite at the apple. We'll have more on this. Ban's attempt to run for the presidency of South Korea flamed out in three weeks. But now, only after Ahn Cheol-soo said Ban might become a "special diplomatic envoy," Ban's supporters have said they will vote for Ahn Cheol-soo. Quid pro quo, at least slightly more transparent than the stealth way Ban was unwisely put atop the UN for ten years, and brought it to its low position, including on Yemen, late and weak action on the Internet cut in Cameroon and continued restrictions on the Press even in UN Headquarters.  (Meanwhile, in South Korea VP Mike Pence is visiting the DMZ from a wrongly described "UN" joint base: more on this to follow.) For Ban, an attempt is made to characterize as "fake news" the Press' factual reporting on the indictment by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York of Ban's brother Ban Ki-sang and nephew Dennis Bahn. The Korea Times "reports" that "Fake news was one of the reasons former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dropped his presidential bid. Even before his return home from New York in January after wrapping up his 10-year service at the U.N., corruption allegations were leveled against members of his family. Ban dismissed them as part of a fake news campaign intended to tarnish his image." Ban and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric didn't just "dismiss" the use of the UN by Ban Ki-sang in Vietnam and Ban Ki-ho in Myanmar - they evicted without any hearing the Press which uncovered them, and Dujarric keeps it restricted to this day, most recently on April 13 calling "harassment" the Press' criticism of UN officials' performance. Ban Ki-moon brought the UN low on press freedom and it has yet to rehabilitate itself. The UN is characterized by impunity. On April 6 Harvard confirmed Ban'll have a non-teaching position there for the rest of the spring - Ban previously bragged after flaming out in his South Korea campaign that he would get a car and driver - in an article in the Crimson which does not mention his relatives' indictments. We'll have more on this. While Ban was chased out of the political race for president of South Korea after a mere three weeks, he has reportedly make a political endorsement... in Los Angeles, for Robert Ahn running for the Congressional seat in the 34th District: "He has been endorsed by former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon." Well. Ahn came in behind, but will have a run-off with, Jimmy Gomez. Not endorsed by Ban in this Los Angelese race were Yolie Flores, William “Rodriguez” Morrison, Kenneth Mejia, and tenants’ rights paralegal Angela E. McArdle; Mark Edward Padilla and Vanessa Aramayo, a nonprofit director; Maria Cabildo, an economic development director; Alejandra Campoverdi, a multicultural community advocate; Arturo Carmona, a presidential campaign adviser; Ricky De La Fuente, a businessman; Adrienne Edwards, a community organizer; Melissa “Sharkie” Garza, a businesswoman and producer; Sara Hernandez, an education nonprofit director; Steven Mac, a military officer and prosecutor; Angela McArdle, a tenants’ rights paralegal; Sandra Mendoza, an educator and public administrator; Raymond Meza, a community organizer; Armando Sotomayor, a community volunteer; Richard Sullivan, an attorney; Tracy Van Houten, an aerospace engineer; and Tenaya Wallace, a civic engagement strategist. Can Ban go lower?

 Arirang News, which Ban had his hatchet-women from Spain Cristina Gallach include in the UN's in-house network, "reported" on Ban grabbing an award from the World Tourism Organization for having... visited this WTO's headquarters in Spain. This is pathetic. Days after the firing of Preet Bharara, who indicted Ban Ki-moon's brother Ki-sang and nephew Dennis Bahn for UN-related corruption, Ban Ki-moon is bragging he will get free housing and a no-show job from Harvard University. Ban says he'll cash in with "a secretary and a residence for him and his wife Yoo Soon-taek" and only "hold occasional seminars as a visiting professor." But who will want to hear them? Maybe those facing indictment of close family members and unanswered questions about others, Ban Ki-ho mining in Myanmar, but still looking to save face. Ban's nephew Dennis Bahn had his position at New York University withdrawn after the corruption indictment. What will happen with his Uncle Ban Ki-moon?

After the South Korean court ruling finally impeaching Park Geun-hye, not only her corruption but that of Ban Ki-moon comes to the fore. Hypocrisy, too: Ban Ki-moon, who left the lawless UN as his relatives were indicted for UN-related bribery, having evicted the Press which asked about it, pontificated about the "rule of law." Using media friendly to him, Ban was quoted that "the people, especially those who protested against the impeachment, must accept the ruling. Only then can the rule of law, which is the basic value of the Korean Constitution, stand upright."

Ban dodged the charges and evicted the Press which pursued them, only to see himself exposed as corrupt in three short weeks in South Korea, dropping out of campaigning before even declaring. Now he tried to cash out to Harvard, which would be a travesty.

 In February Ban Ki-moon grabbed up yet another obscure award, in Los Angeles. There was no live stream, and the link to sponsor -- providing money like Ban collected $100,000 sponsorships as recently as October 2016 -- led nowhere. How quickly the Emperor has been exposed as having no clothes. But will Harvard still pay to collect fossils?

  On his way to LA, before using the UN again to promote himself in connection with the death of Vitaly Churkin, Ban stopped in Kenya to visit the son in law he promoted to the job UN job there. When Inner City Press asked the UN about it on February, Ban's long-time deputy spokesman Farhan Haq called Inner City Press an obsessive a*hole. Haq insisted that the UN Spokesperson's Office does NOT speak for Ban. That was on February 14.

  Then on February 20 the UN Spokesperson's Office of Haq and his also holdover boss Stephane Dujarric DID speak for Ban, issuing Ban's canned statement on the death of Vitaly Churkin. On February 22, Inner City Press asked Haq about it. From the UN transcript:

Inner City Press: a week ago that you'd said that you don't speak for Ban Ki-moon and et cetera.  So, yesterday, I obviously couldn't help noticing that you did speak for Ban Ki-moon.  So, what's the status of you speaking for Ban Ki-moon?

Deputy Spokesman:  No, no, we didn't.  We were asked to transmit to the journalists a message that he had prepared just because of his long-time experience with Ambassador Churkin.  This is not something that goes out as a statement of… by the UN.  But, it was something where, given his experience with Churkin and given the fact that he knew that the reporters here knew that, he wanted to find some means of transmitting his condolences.

   But by whom was the UN asked? Ban's inside man Kim Won-soo? Ban's new corruption denier Lee Do-woon? Why not just get the email list? And wouldn't condolences be sent to Churkin's family and the Mission, rather than virtue-signaled to the world, a form of self-promotion or attempted reputation rehabilitation? We'll have more on this duplicity, another attempt by today's UN in need of reform and house-cleaning to evade its corruption and double standards.

  On February 13, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq about Ban's UN-Kenya stop, and any public costs. Haq, who dodged for years on irregularities from Ban promoting his son in law in the UN without recusal to Ban's nephew working at the UN's landlord Colliers, said "get over it." Video here.

  So after learning more - including about the role in promoting Ban of his Kim Won-soo, still paid by the UN, that is the public, Inner City Press asked Haq again, video here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: Yesterday, I asked you… and I understand that, when you hear the word "Ban Ki-moon," you're tempted to say "get over it."

Deputy Spokesman:  Indeed I am.

Inner City Press: But I wanted to ask you, the question was and remains… it remains, number one, is any UN system funds being used for his visit to headquarters?  And, number two, since yesterday your "get over it" comment, I learned that Mr. Kim Won-soo, who I understand is still a UN official, has been speaking to the media about Mr. Ban's possible job offer from a university in Massachusetts.  And so I wanted to ask you, in what capacity is Mr. Kim Won-soo speaking for Ban Ki-moon?  And how is it consistent with your position here of "get over it" while there are, in fact, cases in the Southern District and other issues that remain unresolved?

Deputy Spokesman:  Matthew, your inability to get over it speaks for itself.

Inner City Press: There are cases… I'm going to ask you…

Deputy Spokesman:  Matthew.

Inner City Press:  So the nephew case.  I'm just saying, it's un… because it's a question about UN money.

Deputy Spokesman:  I understand… I understand…

Inner City Press: You defended him for ten years to say "get over it"…

Deputy Spokesman:  Matthew, I've known you for a decade, so I know your fundamentally obsessive nature, but here's the point.  Ban Ki-moon is not the Secretary-General of the United Nations.  I do not speak for him.  I do not represent him.  When he travels, he travels as a private individual.  He has to do so on his own budget as a private individual.  He is not a UN official.

Inner City Press: That wasn't my question.  My question was, he said as he left South Korea that he was going to the UN to speak to UN staff.  That's why I think you said "get over it" a little too quickly, because my question is not who paid for his flight.  My question is, in what capacity did he enter UNON [United Nations Office in] Nairobi?  Did he speak to UN staff as he said that he would?  Does Mr. Kim Won-soo still speak for him on the UN dime?

Deputy Spokesman:  He can speak to the UN office in Nairobi as much as he wants as a former Secretary-General of the United Nations.  That is within his rights.

Inner City Press: It's not… I'm not saying it's not within his rights.  I'm saying, don't you answer for UN… the use of UN funds rather than say "get over it"?  Aren't you speaking for the UN?  So Kim Won-soo, when does his contract expire?

Deputy Spokesman:  His contract… we'll let you know once his time is done.  He is the head of the Office for Disarmament Affairs.  He is also capable of speaking about the topics that he wants to talk about.  The job that he does here is about Disarmament Affairs and is not about Ban Ki-moon.

Inner City Press: So he's off the clock when he speaks for Ban Ki-moon?  I'm asking you.

Deputy Spokesman:  Matthew. Matthew, words fail me, your inability to get around things.

Inner City Press: You know there are two corruption cases.  Right?  So it's going to be an ongoing… I just want to put you on notice; there are going to be questions that are going to arise, and saying "get over it" is not cutting it.

Deputy Spokesman:  If there are things about cases that are ongoing, that's fine.  If you want a daily update about what Ban Ki-moon is doing, ask someone else.  It's not my job.  Have a good afternoon, everyone.

  And as Haq walked about, he said "A*hole." This is the UN Ban's made. It must be cleaned up.

From the February 13 UN's transcript.

  The Pacific Century Institute, with board members from KBS and JoongAng Media Group, says it will give Ban an award in Los Angeles on February 23. Despite his flame-out in South Korea and the indictment of his brother Ban Ki Sang and nephew Dennis Bahn for using his and the UN's name to sell real estate, Ban is still presenting himself as a Giant of Asia. For now long?

 Seeking to strike while the iron is still somewhat hot, Ban's aide now brags to Chosun that Harvard's no-show job offer comes with a car and a house. Even on his way to the airport for his nepotism tour, Ban was accompanied according to Yonhap by " Incheon International Airport with Mrs. Yoo Soon-taek, who is accompanied by Mr. Kim Sook-joo, Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Dae-jung, former ambassador to South Korea Kim Bong-hyun." This last berated Inner City Press to cover Ban more favorably - before Ban had Inner City Press evicted and still restricted. Call it a cult of personality. But why would US universities pay for this?

After being exposed for nepotism and corruption, how is former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon trying to rehabilitate himself? His spokesman Lee Do-woon is telling friendly media that Harvard University, even while Ban was still UNSG, offered him a professorship.

   The Korea Times reports that  "some say the professorship is a 'lifetime position,' while others say it is a 'visiting professorship' that would need to be renewed every year." Are the geniuses at Harvard following the prosecution of Ban's brother Ban Ki Sang and nephew Dennis Bahn and what's coming out of it? NYU paid attention. Not Harvard?

 The Times has a quote that Ban "received the offer from Harvard Kennedy School toward the end of his term as U.N. chief." Should job offers be made to people still ostensibly working for the UN? Does Harvard routinely do this?

  The Korea Herald quotes Lee Do-woon directly on this timing, and that Ban "has not yet made up his mind, but the school suggested that he may join whenever he pleases."

   But why would Harvard makes such an offer, other than to collect former public figures who were put in big jobs, regardless of how they did in them, and the corruption and censorship exposed? Could it be Ban's gripping, off the cuff speeches? The impeccable morals that led him to promote his own son in law Siddharth Chatterjee to the top UN job in Kenya, as Resident Coordinator working for UNDP?

  The Korea Herald puts the most pro-Ban spin possible on the reason he dropped out of running for president, and says Ban "left for Kenya on Thursday to visit his second daughter, Hyun-hee, an employee at UNICEF, and son-in-law Siddharth Chatterjee, head of the United Nations Population Fund in Kenya."

  This last is simply inaccurate, since at least August 2016. "Sid" was moved from UNFPA to UNDP and given, by Ban, the resident coordinator position.

  Ban Ki-moon's nepotism, uncovered first by Inner City Press then by parts of South Korea's press corps, triggered him dropping out of the campaign for presidency on February 1.
 
   On February 9 it was reported that Ban Ki-moon is headed to a "family reunion." The article only mentions Kenya, where in August 2016 Ban promoted his own son in law Siddharth Chatterjee to the job UN job, resident coordinator.

  But some ask, will Ban's brother Ban Ki Sang who has still not be extradited to the United States be there? Or Ban's other brother Ban Ki Ho, who has mined in war zones in Myanmar after appearing on a "UN delegation" there, according to a Myanmar government website? That Inner City Press exclusive, picked up by the South Korean press, has yet to be answered.

  Tellingly, and triggering this story, the Korean article says "Ban plans to meet and encourage U.N. staff in Kenya as a former U.N. Secretary-General." Encourage them in what? That if you have a high enough position you can have impunity for nepotism and corruption, just don't try to run for public office afterward?

   As Inner City Press also exclusively reported before Ban's chief of communications Cristina Gallach, still at the UN, evicted and still restricts it, Ban's son in law Siddharth Chatterjee was part of an Indian military unit which during his time with them engaged in what are described as war crimes in Sri Lanka.

  Under Ban and his holdover spokesman Stephane Dujarric, Chatterjee was allowed to never answer these questions, and to tell "his" UN staff that if they ever talked to Inner City Press he would have them fired. It's time for answers: watch this site.

  Ban Ki-moon left the UN on December 31, after dodging Press questions about corruption and, in fact, evicting and restricting Inner City  Press. (Even 38 days later, Ban's photo is still the one on the wall of the UN's Uganda office, here. Cult of personality?)

  Tellingly Ban's first move in early January was to take legal action against the press. Before he left, he named his own son in law Siddarth Chatterjee to the top UN top in Kenya.

  In South Korea, Ban Ki-moon's campaign to run for president failed on February 1, as his long decade of corruption and censorship were quickly exposed (see Sisa Journal, and this in English from Hankyoreh, including Inner City Press' reporting on Ban's brother Ban Ki Ho mining in Myanmar, listed by the government as part of a "UN delegation").

   Now this, from the Korea Herald, echoing what Inner City Press found and reported about Ban Ki-moon at the UN, leading it its eviction one year ago and restriction still:

"Young, working-level diplomats were aghast at some of their retired and even incumbent seniors rallying behind the former foreign minister. Some senior officials rushed to New York to 'help Ban return home,' while others churned out videos, photos and memos via Facebook and Kakao Talk in an overwhelming, worshipping-like fashion, extolling the secretary-general’s legacy and personal character." (Yes, failed cult of personality.)

"One official, who worked with Ban and is now nearing retirement, had initially given up an ambassadorial position due to his daughter’s US citizenship, which disqualifies him for the job. With Ban’s ratings soaring, together with his own chances to serve the next administration, he recently changed his mind and persuaded his daughter, who is married and lives in New York, to abandon her citizenship. Rather disenchanted with the 'Ban syndrome,' meanwhile, a group of working-level diplomats had initiated a signature-collecting campaign against his presidential run."

  Then on February 1, barely three weeks after Ban Ki-moon returned to South Korea, amid mounting corruption charges Ban Ki-moon dropped out of the race he long used the UN for.

   He said, apparently without irony, "I have decided to fold my pure-hearted plan."

   His claims to have known nothing about the charges against his nephew Dennis Bahn and brother Ban Ki Sang make no sense, given that Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson about them, for example at the May 15, 2015 noon briefing on UNTV. It won't be the Blue House (South Korea's presidential mansion) - could it be the jail house?

  On January 30, Inner City Press staked out the annual meeting of the United Nations Correspondents Association, a group which had made Ban Ki-moon their guest of honor at a $1200 a plate dinner on Wall Street on December 16, 2016. Inner City Press asked if the honor should be revoked. One correspondent said yes.

  It was the previous year, on January 29, 2016, that Inner City Press went to cover and live-stream the UN Correspondents Association's annual meeting held in the UN Press Briefing Room. Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, still somehow at the UN, at the request of UNCA big wigs asked Inner City Press to leave, without showing any paperwork that the event was "closed."

  Inner City Press asked for the basis, but said if a single UN security officer asked it to leave, it would. An officer arrived and said, The spokesman wants you out. Inner City Press left, and wrote the story and uploaded the video.

  Three weeks later Ban's head of communications Cristina Gallach, still promoting herself at the UN even for an event in March 2017, ordered Inner City Press out of the UN after ten years, with no hearing, no appeal. At her (and Ban's) direction Inner City Press' files were thrown in the street, and its office is being given to an Egyptian state media Akhbar al Yom whose correspondent Sanaa Youssef rarely comes to the UN and never asks questions (but is a past president of UNCA). This is disgusting and must be reversed.

  Ban's spokesman Dujarric canceled the February 1 noon briefing, ostensibly in exchange for an 11 am stakeout by Ban's successor Antonio Guterres. We'll have more on this.

  In 2016 Ban's UN spokespeople repeatedly told Inner City Press that Ban was "all UN" until January 1. But now Ban has said he decided in December. On January 25, Inner City Press asked Ban's lead UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here and below.

  And on January 26, when Inner City Press asked about efforts to ascertain with whom Ban met, using the UN, spokesman Dujarric claimed that daily schedules which are taken offline are in fact online. Video here. From the UN transcript:

Inner City Press:  there are some in the South Korean media asking to know where it's available to find the daily schedules that are put up every day.  Are they just thrown out, or is there some repository of who met with the Secretary-General…?

Spokesman:  Well, I'm glad you're… you've asserted a role as the Spokesman for the South Korean media but they can look on the website, and everything should be archived.

  Where? Meanwhile, Dujarric threatened Sisa Journal in South Korea for its reporting (he said it wasn't a threat.)

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