Seemingly, Ban Ki-moon, In Korea, Has Stepped Into American Cow Manure. He is Ready to Advise Korea About American Beef but Told Us On June 26th, 2008 That He Cannot Advise Them On Climate Change.

At the UN Headquarters in New York, Inner City Press on July 3, 2008,  asked Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson for his views on the standoff between South Korea, where he is, and the U.S. on mad cow disease.  From the transcript –

Inner City Press: does Mr. Ban, while he is in South Korea, does he have any intention to have American beef?  Does he have any view of that whole American beef situation?  What’s his view?

Spokesperson:  (laughter) I think he will certainly eat American beef.  I don’t think he has any special theoretical view on it.  It is, of course, an issue that has really been taken very seriously in his home country, but he has no specific opinion on that.

Question:  But I think the Prime Minister, whom he knows well, bought like 18 kilograms of American beef to somehow show that it is safe, I am just wondering if he wanted to say that it’s safe or does he–

Spokesperson:  You mean whether he will eat it?  I don’t have such details!  (laughter)  Thank you very much.

  But then came an AP article entitled “ UN chief tells South Koreans to trust beef imports,” quoting Ban that “ it is very important for the people to support policies of the government and to actively have trust in the government and to ensure and support the Korean government’s desire to act in accordance with international standards and agreements.”

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www.SustainabiliTank.info is touchy about this US Mad Cow Disaster - just look at our special center button on our home page. It has become quite a symbol of everything that is wrong with a corporate driven Administration.

This was a US Policy disaster - one of those famous cover-ups when a lobbyist becomes top-office-holder and buries the very industry she lobbied for, by raising credibility questions of her leadership of the US Department of Agriculture, that became much larger then the original news that she tried to hide.

Then the UN aspect of the story when that same lady is exiled from the US Administration in Washington DC to the wastelands of UN New York and turns up as an UnderSecretary-General in charge of UNICEF.

So, Where is here the UN beef?

Mr. Ban Ki-moon is indeed a Korean, and nobody can take this away from him - but then there are two issues that spring in our face from above AP report:

(a) has he become a lobbyist for American beef? Did Ms. Veneman had anything to do with this?

(b) would the UNSG  have dared to go to any other country and ask the people to obey their government, we clearly would have told him - this is not his job or his business. Just by being Korean, we believe, does not entitle him to say what he said on the beef issue - if that is true - even to his own country-of-origin government.

To be completely honest on our part - please note the question we asked Mr. Ban Ki-moon on June 26, 2008, at his farewell speech, on the eve of his departure for this Far-East Asia trip - before the joint celebrations of the Japan and Korean Societies.

our posting:

NORTH EAST ASIA Laid Out Before Us By UNSG Ban Ki-moon, Across The Street From the UN, Before A Joint Audience Celebrating 100 Years in New York to the Japan Society, and 50 Years to the Korean Society. We Asked Why Does Korea, an OECD Country, Still Have No Commitments Under The Kyoto Protocol?
Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on June 29th, 2008
by Pincas Jawetz ( PJ at SustainabiliTank.com)

towards the end of the meeting - and towards the end of the article - we have:

 ”Pincas Jawetz asked for www.SustainabiliTank.info about the fact that Korea, an OECD country, has no obligations under the Kyoto Protocol - no commitments whatsoever. As the UNSG will be talking on his trip about climate change regime issues, will he raise this point with the Korean Government?

A: I am glad that Korea gets rich - I do not know - but I am not going to advise them what to do. It will not do me any good. The common and differentiated responsibilities principle is very important. Things must be viewed from this angle. { I do not consider that the UNSG answered my specific question which goes to the essence of what kind of a climate change just regime. The fact is that Korea is not poor anymore, it is a member of the OECD, and everything else he said puts it in league with Japan - at least as the younger economic brother of Japan, so why should Korea get away with treatment allowed for developing countries, when it has already become a rather developed country?}”

Now, I would never have asked the Secretary-General above question had he not emphasized the issue of climate change. That is why I felt completely in my right to ask him about this incongruity of a Korea that has already graduated to the OECD but still behaves as an underdeveloped country when it comes to do something about CO2 emissions. It is inconceivable to watch Korea try to line up with China, when in effect they already should line up with Japan in matters of the Kyoto Protocol.

The UNSG answered that it is not for him to advise the Korean Government on what to do when it comes to his flag issue - climate change. So why did he advise the Korean people what to do about their beef eating policy? We will be looking for further clarifications on this squestion.