UNITED NATIONS, Oct 16: “I’ll try my best to harmoniously coordinate among divergent opinions, using my experience as a harmoniser,” said the new secretary general-designate, Ban Ki Moon, in an interview when asked how he will deal with divergent interests colliding at the world body.

Mr Ban, who was unanimously selected by the UN Security Council and then elected by acclamation by the UN General Assembly as the next head of the organisation, is described by some in his country as having ‘Confucius-like mindset and says that some in his country call him a ‘slippery eel’.

“Some reporters in (South) Korea, when I was serving as presidential adviser, gave me a nickname which I may or may not like, a ‘slippery eel’,” Mr Ban said at a press conference.

Later in a joint interview with Dawn and UN Radio, Mr Ban defended the UN Security Council and the world body against charges of being selective in enforcing resolutions according to the wishes of big powers.

The following are some of the main points of the interview: i) “It is regrettable that some resolutions have not been fully implemented. But even in such cases it is not proper to describe or characterise that this is selective implementation. As secretary-general I will try my best to ensure the full implementation of all the resolutions taken by the Security Council.”

ii) The US and other UN member states “It is again, unfortunate, to see some divisiveness among the member states. I’ll try my best to harmoniously coordinate among divergent opinions, using my experience as a harmoniser.

As for the United States role in many activities of the United Nations, I think United Nations also needs US active participation and strong support while the United States also needs the United Nations for its policies or for promotion of universal values.

North Korea

“It’s good that UNSC has taken a resolution sending a clear, strong, unified message to North Korea so that they will fully comply with this resolution and refrain from taking any action which may aggravate the situation of international peace and security.

“We hope that NK as a member of the UN will fully comply with that resolution. It was very much regrettable that the NK delegation has rejected it. We urge that NK will comply fully with this resolution.”

“The argument that it was taken against US nuclear threat is not true. They have breached all these NPT regulations, joint declaration for the de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. They have also abrogated the joint statement adopted in September last year. We hope that the North Korean delegation will return immediately to the six-party talks without pre-conditions.”

“North Korea should fully comply with all provisions and regulations of the NPT, even though they said they had walked out of this NPT. The official interpretation of the NPT is that they are still party to the NPT. It’s important that any party to NPT or member of the UN should comply with all relevant provisions.”

“The argument by North Koreans that they walked out of these six-party talks, I think does not have anything to do with the process. The financial measure taken by the Macao Bank was a part of the illicit activities by North Korea, including counterfeiting currency. This has nothing to do with the six-party process”.