UN Council Sunday at 3 to Meet on
N. Korean Missile, Ban on Way to Turkey
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Flash
UNITED
NATIONS, April 4-5, midnight -- On
North Korea's missile launch, the UN Security Council will hold an
emergency
meeting Sunday, April 5 at 3 p.m., the Council's Mexican presidency
told Inner
City Press on Saturday at midnight:
Subj:
When will the SC meeting on DPRK missile be?
From:
Mexican Mission to UN
To:
Inner City Press
Sent:
4/5/2009 12:05:01 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Matthew,
I
can confirm that we got it. The meeting will convene tomorrow at 3PM.
Obviously, Amb. Heller has been in close contact with Amb. Takasu from
Japan on
this matter. See you tomorrow.
Just after Tokyo announced that North Korea had, in fact, launched its
rocket, Japan's
mission to the UN sent the Press this notice, reported
online minutes later by Inner City Press:
Today at
22:53,
H.E. Mr. Yukio TAKASU, Permanent Representative of Japan to the United
Nations
requested the President of the Security Council by letter (attached) to
convene
an urgent meeting of the Security Council to consider the launch by the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea, under the Council's agenda item
entitled
"Non-proliferation / Democratic People's
Republic of Korea".
The time and date of the urgent meeting will be communicated later on.
Immediately
after the meeting, H.E. Mr. Yukio TAKASU will speak at the Security
Council's
stakeout.
Please note in advance that for any further inquiry by phone or e-mail
on the
above-mentioned matter, we will not be able to make any comment.
Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations
Japan's letter is being put
online by Inner City Press here.
A
visit by Inner City Press to the UN Security Council at 11 p.m. found
the door
locked with a "D" bicycle lock, a food vending machine blinking in
the corner.
Mexico's Claude Heller: has letter, meeting set
While
word went out of an emergency Council meeting for Sunday
morning, there was grumbling about the UN Secretary General, Ban
Ki-moon of
South Korea. When first asked about
the impending launch by Inner City Press,
Ban's spokesperson had no comment.
More recently, when on April
1 Inner City Press asked
for comment on North Korea's imprisonment as human shield of two
journalists,
Ban's spokesperson said it is being monitored, but had no comment:
Inner
City Press: Does Ban Ki-moon have any, or does the UN in general,
[reaction] to
these two journalists that were imprisoned in North Korea and are
being, some
say held as human shields or whatever, are going to be put on trial. What’s the UN's response, statement on that?
Spokesperson
Michele Montas: I don’t have a statement
at this point.
And now?
And then came
this pre-written
response:
Subj:
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on DPRK launch
From:
unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org
Sent:
4/5/2009 12:49:44 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Statement
attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on the DPRK
The
Secretary-General regrets that, against strong international appeal,
the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) went ahead with its
planned
launch. Given the volatility in the region, as well as a stalemate in
interaction among the concerned parties, such a launch is not conducive
to
efforts to promote dialogue, regional peace and stability.
The Secretary-General urges DPRK to comply
with relevant Security Council resolutions, and all countries concerned
to
focus on ways to build confidence and restore dialogue, including the
early
resumption of the Six-Party Talks. The Secretary-General will lend his
full
support to these efforts.
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