As
Ban Heads to
Korea, ICP's
Told of 1000s
Disappeared in
DPRK
Camps
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 27 --
Two days
before UN
Secretary
General headed
to
South Korea to
receive the
Seoul Peace
Prize, the
Chair of UN
system's
Working Group
on Enforced
Disappearances,
Olivier de
Frouville,
held a joint
press
conference at
the UN in New
York.
Inner
City Press
asked about
the Democratic
People's
Republic of
Korea or
North Korea. Video
here, from
Minute 46:21.
The Working
Group on
Enforced
Disappearances'
most recent
annual report
lists the
cases of
"Jeong-Woong
Choi, Won
Hwang and
Dong-Ki Lee
who were
allegedly
abducted while
on board of
Korean
Airlines
flight
YS-11, flying
from Gangneung
City to
Seoul’s
airport" and
says
"the
Government
transmitted
three
communications
to the Working
Group, dated 9
February, 9
May and 12
September
2011, in which
it
replied to
nine
outstanding
case."
When
Inner City
Press asked
about these
cases, Olivier
de Frouville
said
there has been
no progress,
"it looks
bigger than
us... it's
really a
matter of how
in the future
the DPRK could
be ready to
cooperation
with us. At
moment there's
no dialogue on
those issues."
He
also told
Inner City
Press, as
something of
an aside, that
the
Working Group
"received
recently very
serious and
credible
allegation the
number of
persons
effectively
disappeared in
camps are
by thousands."
When
will this be
reported on?
As Inner City
Press asked
the UN about
in
August 2012
without much
answer, Ban
Ki-moon noted
in a recent
visit
to Korea
that "the UN
has appointed
a special
envoy to
handle
North Korean
human rights
issues, but
the communist
country
refuses
to let him
visit. He also
said he
'actively took
part' in
getting the
UN Working
Group on
Arbitrary
Detention to
denounce the
detentions
and urge North
Korea to
release the
women, in
May."
After
that quote, at the
August 15 noon
briefing
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey:
Inner
City Press:
The
Secretary-General
apparently,
before leaving
South Korea,
he said that
he was going
to be very
involved – it
was a South
Korean media
report – that
he was going
to be very
involved in
seeking the
release of a
South Korean
couple thought
to be abducted
by North Korea
some time ago.
And the quote
– this is what
I wanted to
ask you about
– he said,
'Mr. Ban said
that he
actively took
part in
getting the UN Working Group on Arbitrary
Detentions to
denounce the
detentions in
May.' And,
having been
here in May, I
wasn’t really
aware of that.
Was there some
– what was his
involvement?
Maybe you’ll
know or you
can find –
what was his
involvement in
that Working
Group on
Arbitrary
Detentions?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Well, I’ll
have to check
on that,
Matthew, I
don’t have
that
information
with me, OK?
That
was OK, August
15 at noon.
But when 5 pm
hit on the
next day
August 16, and
no information
had been
provided, an
article was
called for.
This is
increasingly a
problem in the
UN, among top
Ban Ki-moon
officials.
Ban's
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous has
taken to
refusing to
answer any
Press
questions, due
to what he
calls (without
defining)
"insulting
insinuations."
Tellingly,
Ladsous was
chosen by
France for the
post -- which
has apparently
been assigned
to that
country. This
was without so
much as an
interview to
vet him on his
statements as
France's
deputy UN
ambassador
during the
Rwanda
genocide, or
his arranging
of disgraced
ex-French
foreign
minister
Michele
Aliot-Marie's
flights with
cronies of
Tunisian
dictator Ben
Ali.
Now Ladsous
proposes the
UN use drones,
without being
willing to answer
Press
questions
on any
safeguards.
So
what is being
done about
this report of
thousands
disappeared in
DPRK work
camps? We'll
see.
Footnote:
Ban's
trip to Seoul
coincides with
the impending
arrival of
hurricane
Sandy
in New York.
Already, for
example,
Amnesty
International
has canceled
an event on
Monday,
October 29 --
a day on which
an all day
Security
Council debate
is scheduled
on Women,
Peace and
Security. Will
it go
forward?
, 
