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At UN Council, North Korean Launch Ends in
Whimper, Not Bang, Media Decamps
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City
Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, April
13, updated
-- With a whimper and
not a bang, the UN Security Council is slated to unanimously adopt a
presidential statement Monday at 3 about North Korea's "launch" eight
days ago, saying it "contravened" -- not that it "violated"
-- the Council's 2006 resolution. Over the weekend, Inner City Press
put the
draft statement online, here. Monday
at noon, the spokesman for the Mexican
presidency of the Council said no objections had been received by the
deadline,
thus putting to bed a rumor that Libya might object.
With
most
of the Japanese press corps having decamped -- click here for an
InnerCityPress.org riff about the crews from Tokyo, denounced a
"reptile media" by
North Korean diplomats -- we are left with the embers of fights
fought and
misleading Mission statements. Associated Press, for example, has
denounced
France's Mission to the UN for apparently deceiving it about what
Ambassador
Ripert said, click here
for the AP correction. There has been some push-back to
Inner City Press' review of
the communications strategies of France, the UK and
other Council members, here.
Penultimate DPRK stakeout, reptile media half-shown
Left
unanalyzed in the hoopla about the agreed-to presidential statement is
that the
underlying sanctions imposed in 2006 are still unlikely to be enforced.
Will
South Korea actually stop and search ships on their way to North Korea?
It is
unlikely. Kim Jong-il has won, those trying to flee the country are in
worse
off state than ever. And so it goes at the UN. If anything transpires,
we will
live-blog the Council session, below on this page.
Update of 3:11 p.m. -- the Presidency's spokesman
has told the Press that there will be no statements by member states in
the Chamber, just the read-out by Ambassador Heller, who will then
speak at the stakeout. There's grumbling: can the Council expand a
sanctions list by a non-binding statement? Duplicitous compromise is a
phrase that's used.
Update
of 3:59 p.m. -- in a series of back to back stakeouts with the press,
the ambassadors of Mexico, the US, China, Japan, Russia, the UK and
Turkey all sung the praises of the presidential statement. (Inner
City Press asked the one non-DPRK question, to Mexico about Sri
Lanka, to be reported later today).
President
Heller called the text a positive compromise. Ambassador Susan Rice
said that the US views presidential statements, “broadly speaking,
as binding” -- a position apparently not shared by the US “plant”
in UNAMA, Peter Galbraith, who has told Congress in writing that even
resolution, if under chapter 6 rather than 7 of the UN charter, don't
have to be complained with. Inner City Press' attempt to ask about
the two American journalists DPRK is holding did not result in a
response.
Ambassador
Takasu put the best face he could on things, saying that at least it
was unanimous. (This perhaps implied it was better than a “binding”
resolution if even one country, like Libya, has abstained.) Inner
City Press and another asked how many companies or entities Japan's
wants to be sanctioned. More than three, was the answer.
UK
Ambassador Sawers acknowledged that the statement did not impose new
sanctions. The Ambassador of China made a statement but took no
questions. As he left, he was asked if China will search ships.
Russia's Vitaly Churkin took that questions, and said all countries
must comply. The Ambassador of Turkey, which chairs the sanctions
committee, said the process will start, he is new to it. Then the
media decamped and things went back to normal.
Click here
for a new YouTube video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
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Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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