Malcorra
Quits As Argentina FM to Move To
Spain, Echo of CAR Retaliation
& Briber Ng Lap Seng Award
By Matthew
Russell Lee, New Exclusive Series
UNITED NATIONS,
May 29 – Susana Malcorra has
resigned as foreign minister
of Argentina, saying that
after years she wanted to
rejoin her family in Madrid,
Spain. The coverage so far,
while alluding
to connections to scandals in
Brazil, barely mention
Malcorra's role at least two
scandals at the UN while she
was chief of staff to Ban
Ki-moon. Malcorra was deeply
involved in the retaliatory
firing of Anders Kompass after
he blew the whistle on
peacekeepers' sexual abuse of
children in the Central
African Republic (Inner City
Press asked Malcorra about it,
here).
And Malcorra accepted an award
from indicted Macau
businessman Ng
Lap Seng, set for a UN
bribery trail in June. We'll
have more on this. As one Ban
Ki-moon associate quits,
another tries to move up, amid
inquiries to Inner City Press
from South Korea. Ban's
ambition to be president of
South Korea ended amid the
indictment of his brother and
nephew for UN-related
corruption; Ban critic Moon
Jae-in won the post. Now Moon
Jae-in has named 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.
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. As if to make up
for it, Kang has now called
both for sanctions and aid.
What does she, 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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