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Cheong Wa Dae reportedly plans to name a replacement for UN secretary-general elect Ban Ki-moon in mid-November. That means Ban may for another month have to play two roles, as South Korean foreign minister and incoming administrative head of the world body.
The presidential office¡¯s personnel policy flies in the face of common sense. The two roles are sometimes quite likely to cause a conflict of interest. For Ban to fulfill one task properly, he may harm the neutrality of the other; and if he is to take over the UN tasks properly, he may find it hard to do his Korean job.
Ban told a U.S. TV channel on Saturday that if North Korea fails to comply with the UN Security Council resolution, the world body will take stronger steps under the UN Charter. The remarks sound odd coming from the foreign minister of an administration that is clinging to its engagement policy with the North. The two posts fulfill different functions and have to meet different expectations. If the situation remains unchanged, chances are that one or both of Ban¡¯s roles will suffer.
Yet the foreign portfolio is surely the busiest in the country in the wake of North Korea's nuclear test. The minister must find 25 hours in a day to keep coordinating measures against Pyongyang with the U.S., Japan, China and Russia. But as the incoming UN secretary-general, Ban has his hands full organizing an interim team before he takes over, formulating a new roster and mapping out his plans. Ban left the country on Oct. 11, two days after the North's nuclear test, and will reportedly not come back until Oct. 19 to discuss ways of dealing with the North Korean nuclear crisis with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso when they visit the same day. The schedule is absurd.
Hence rumors that the government is keeping Ban in an attempt to buy time to appoint a particular person as his replacement. That will not do. It must release Ban from his portfolio as soon as possible, both to smooth the way for the assumption of his duties at the UN and to deal effectively with the fallout of North Korea¡¯s nuclear test.
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