blogging it real

When my wife (who is Korean) told me yesterday that the Korean geezer was going to be head of the UN I 'jokingly' said "how much did he pay?" Because nobody gets anywhere in Korea without doing shit that would land you in prison in NZ. In fact it usually does eventually in Korea as well with corruption scandals a weekly occurrence.

Anyway, here's an article in the Korea Times today. Make of it what you will but it seems a bit dodgy to me. Not the travelling round lobbying stuff but the increasing of foreign aid. There is no way NZ can match the type of money rolling round in Korea. I guess we may just have to wait until he pisses off the US and they decide to try and dig up any dirt to undermine him:

Global Campaign Raises Eyebrows, but Charges of Impropriety Off Mark

By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
Some critics have recently claimed that ``millions of dollars and a piano'' may put Ban Ki-moon, South Korean minister of foreign affairs and trade, in the United Nations' top job.

But U.N. experts worldwide said in e-mail interviews with The Korea Times that such a negative view lacks persuasiveness.

``This is not a powerful argument,'' said Danilo Turk of Slovenia, a former assistant secretary-general for political affairs at the United Nations. ``South Korea has been exercising development assistance before and will do so in the future, and it would be inappropriate to stop because of his candidacy.’’

His remarks came as The Times and other foreign media reported last week that Ban and President Roh Moo-hyun have intensively traveled to 15 member states of the U.N. Security Council and pledged millions of dollars in aid to enhance the foreign minister's chance to become the next U.N. secretary-general.

Ahmad Kamal of Pakistan, a former ambassador to the United Nations, also said such criticism is ``not relevant'' as it disregards the nature of the global body.

``The key to the vote in the Security Council is that none of the permanent five should cast a negative vote,'' he said. ``None of them can be influenced by the economic power of South Korea. Winning a nomination only requires the positive votes of the permanent five and the supporting votes of only four other non-permanent members.''

Sam Jameson, an American journalist who worked as bureau chief in Tokyo for the Chicago Tribune from 1963 to 1971 and the Los Angeles Times from 1971 to 1996, said such charges have ``always been made'' in big races.

``Increasing foreign aid to specific recipients whose vote South Korea is seeking is not bribery,'' he said. ``After losing Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council last year, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also visited Africa and promised to raise Japan's aid there.''

In reaction to the negative view on Ban's campaign, Choo Kyu-ho, the foreign ministry’s spokesman, said in a statement that Seoul has constantly tried to increase assistance to developing countries since joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1996.

In April 2005, Seoul decided to increase the overseas development aid to 0.1 percent of its gross national income by 2009, which is still below the OECD Development Assistance Committee average of 0.24 percent, the statement said.

It is only natural for a candidate seeking the support of the global community to become the next U.N. secretary-general to be traveling as widely as possible, it said.

im@koreatimes.co.kr
10-03-2006 20:35

Oh and Russell Brown was just shit stirring about Tool. That's a relief. I can go back to the decking.

Sorry dude - I was just being provocative. Although I did find someone who actually likes Muse, which was a turn-up for the books ...