Ban
Ki-moon Served
Canned Quotes
& Stolen
Space to
Korean Media,
Must Be
Reversed
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Twenty First
in a Series
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 2 --
At the end of
Ban Ki-moon's
decade as UN
Secretary
General,
covering up
genocides in Sri
Lanka, Burundi
and Yemen
and evicting
the Press
which asked
about (t)his
corruption,
Inner City
Press is
reviewing
Ban's tenure,
year by year.
See also this
Twitter
Moment.
And
now Ban aver evicting
the Press in
New York threatens
to sue, for
ambition.
While
Ban threatens
further
necessary
measures
according to
one Korean
media -- Ban
refused to
release the
threat letter;
Inner City
Press appeared
on JTBC
television
news in Korea,
here --
others are given
statistics
about how much
Ban traveled
during his UN
decade.
This
special
service to
some Korean
media, while
evicting the
investigative
Press, was a
hallmark of
the Ban era,
which began
with Ban
trying to get
/ give UN
media office
space to
Korean media.
From Inner
City Press' November 9,
2010 piece:
"UNITED
NATIONS,
November 9 --
The UN's
relations with
the Press
range from
bugs to snubs
to turf wars.
After
holding a
press
availability
only for the
Korean media
he left for
the G-20
meeting in his
native South
Korea. On
November 9 his
acting Deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
announced that
Ban would be
holding a
press
conference --
in Seoul.
As
in Seoul Ban
Ki-moon
prepared for
the press
conference he
didn't hold in
New York, on
the same
second floor
of the Dag
Hammarskjold
Libary a turf
war was
breaking out.
In what was
previously in
the
Secretariat
called the J
or Japanese
Room, the “K”
or Korean wing
is said to
often sit
empty.
Ban at
Republic of
Korean
pavillion in
Shanghai, bugs
not shown
At
least one
reporter for
Japanese media
moved in to
fill the void,
due to limited
space for her
media. A few
verbal
altercations
ensued, until
the UN's Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit was
called in.
MALU has a
rule that
media must be
at the UN
three days a
week to have
an office.
Of
some of the
Korean media
it is alleged
-- and even
admitted --
that the three
day test is
not met. The
perception
among numerous
correspondents
is that the
Korean media
is protected,
by Ban Ki-moon
and his senior
adviser Kim
Won-soo. In
fact, a story
is told of Mr.
Kim proffering
a deal to UN
reporters, to
get Korean
outlets space."
After Ban
Ki-moon
evicted in
2016 one of
the most
active media
at the UN,
this cannot be
repeated or
continued in
2017. Watch
this site.
In
2006 after Ban
was given the
job since he
was NOT “God's
gift to
humanity,”
even then he
was criticized
for close
business links
with Myanmar,
by Djoko
Susilo
among others.
As it
turned out,
Ban Ki-moon's
brother Ban
Ki-ho would do
mining and
other business
in Myanmar,
after being on
a “UN
delegation.”
Ban Ki-moon's
nephew Dennis
Bahn is said
to have used
his uncle's
name and
position while
trying to sell
real estate in
Vietnam.
The Bans have
yet to answer
these
questions. Here's
the
December 26 round-up
story by Inner
City Press.
Now the South
Korean media
have picked up
on Ban
Ki-moon's
nepotism as
well,
reporting
that just
after Ban
Ki-moon
"visited Korea
at the
invitation of
the United
Nations Global
Compact Korea
Association...
his son Ban
Woo-hyun was
recruited by
SK Telecom's
New York
office."
Inner
City Press has
been asking
and reporting
since 2009
about SK's
Chey Tae-won
being in the
UN Global
Compact, for
example here.
It was
in 2009 that
mass killing
by the Sri
Lankan army
against Tamils
in the North
was occurring.
Inner City
Press exposed
how Ban's
Secretariat
was hiding the
death figures;
then amid
pressure for
him to visit
Sri Lanka, Ban
declined in
order to
attend the
wedding of his
son Ban
Woo-hyun. See,
Inner
City Press of
May 11, 2009.
On the
morning of
December 28,
2016, Inner
City Press
asked Ban
Ki-moon's top
three
spokespeople
questions
including
"Please
state the date
and separately
content of the
Secretary
General's last
three
communications
with Chey
Tae-won or any
other official
or employee of
SK Telecom, SK
or any of
their
affiliates.
Please confirm
or deny that
the Secretary
General's son
Ban Woo-hyun
was hired at
SK Telecom."
Five hours
later, the
fully paid
spokespeople
closed their
office without
answering a
single
question, and
while trying
to keep
"closed press"
Ban's meeting
with New York
and US
officials.
This
is entirely
consistent
with what
Inner City
Press has
witnessed and
reported on,
leading to and
after Ban
Ki-moon's
ouster and
eviction of
Inner City
Press and
restrictions
since:
nepotism. Like
getting his
son in law
Siddharth
Chatterjee
hired in
Copenhagen
then giving
him the top UN
job in Kenya.
Add to it -
not (yet)
noticed by the
South Korean
media, that SK
Telecom's Chey
Tae-won, who
invited Ban,
was previously
convicted of
fraud, NY
Times here.
Another
NY Times, on
Ban's UN
censorship.
Here's
Chey Tae-won,
whose SKT
hired Ban
Ki-moon's son,
on UN TV,
here.
Ban
Ki-moon's son
Ban Woo-hyun
has worked for
"a Middle East
branch of a
New York-based
financial
company."
We'll have
more on this.
On
December 26 it
was reported
in South Korea
that even
while Ban
Ki-moon was UN
Secretary
General, he
received
$30,000 from a
businessman,
in a
restaurant. See here,
including Park
Yeon-cha (as
well as
Vietnamese
minister
Nguyen Dy
Nien) with
this quote:
""It
would have
been early
2007, shortly
after Ban took
office as
Secretary
General of the
United
Nations. New
York has a
restaurant
owner who
knows him
well. Park
called the
owner of the
restaurant and
said, "If Ban
comes to eat,
give me $
30,000 as a
gift to
celebrate the
inauguration
of the
secretary
general." In
fact, we know
that money was
handed to Ban.
""
Did
the UN's
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services ever
look into
this? We're
still waiting
to hear from
them. As to
Ban Ki-moon's
spokespeople,
they have
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
written
questions back
to November 25
about Ban
Ki-ho, etc.
Ban
Ki-moon has
largely been
immune from
accountability
for ten years,
due to a
mixture of
sycophantry
and, when seen
as necessary
in 2016,
censorship,
eviction and
restriction of
the
investigative
Press.
But in
2017...
It is
reported that
Ban Ki-moon
will push the
button to drop
the Times
Square ball on
New Years Eve,
seemingly
arranged by
NYC Mayor Bill
de Blasio's
relentlessly
pro UN Office
of
International
Affairs (which
never
answered
Inner City
Press about
any de Blasio
position on
Ban Ki-moon
having shirked
accountability
for his UN
bringing
deadly cholera
to Haiti.)
But the moment
that ball
drops, Ban
Ki-moon's
legal immunity
is over. We'll
have more on
this.
In
his first
year, 2007,
Ban Ki-moon bought in
numerous South
Korean
staffers.
Inner City
Press asked
and was told
there was only
one, then that
there were
five,
including
Kweon Ki-hwan.
Then
Ban's
spokespeople
including Choi
Soung-ha
chastised
Inner City
Press for
asking, and
demanded that
the names of
51 South Korea
staffers of
the
Secretariat be
removed from
Inner City
Press'
reporting.
Ban's
early
censorship,
which
culminated in
2016 with Ban
evicting Inner
City Press
through
Cristina
Gallach, audio
here, and
Inner
City Press'
camera being
smashed.
Inner City
Press even
before Ban's
Day 1 asked
about
financial
transparency.
It would end,
a decade
later, with
Ban refusing
to say who
paid for his
travel, even
what “carbon
offsets” he
supposed
bought.
On Ban's first
day at work,
after walking
in with Vijay
Nambiar who
would go on to
cover up
genocide in
Myanmar after
participating
in it in Sri
Lanka in the
White Flag
Killings, Ban
was asked
about the
death penalty
(for Saddam
Hussein) and
replied that
it is “up to
member
states.” His
first
spokesperson
Michele Montas
tried to
repair the
damage.
In
late 2016
Inner City
Press saw
Montas in the
UN, from the
“focus booth”
where it does
what work it
can after Ban
and his Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information
Cristina
Gallach evicted
it from its
long time UN
office.
Meanwhile
Kofi Annan's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, who
played
a role in the
eviction,
is bragging
that he will
remain.
We'll have
more on this.
, 
