[Dean's World] Dave Price: South Korean Ban Ki-Moon To Head United Nations

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Dave Price:
South Korean Ban Ki-Moon To Head United Nations
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1160434917.shtml


   As had been predicted in earlier straw polls, South Korean diplomat
   Ban Ki-Moon [1]is set to take the reins at the UN in January. I think
   Ambassador Bolton put the occasion in context best:

     "It's really quite an appropriate juxtaposition that today, 61
     years after the temporary division of the Korean peninsula at the
     end of World War II, that we're electing the foreign minister of
     South Korea secretary general of this organisation and meeting as
     well to consider the testing by the North Koreans of a nuclear
     device," US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton said.
     "I can't think of a better way to show the difference of the
     progress of those two countries -- the great progress in the south
     and the great tragedy in the north," he added.

   Will this make the UN more relevant and effective? Probably not; with
   the inherent structural problems, it's hard to see how even the best
   leadership could make much difference. But I suppose we can always
   hope. And presumably at least he's nominally friendly to the country
   that has protected his nation from the nightmare to its north for over
   half a century.

References

   1. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061009/ts_afp/unsuccessionskoreaban_061009162152