hankyoreh

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (left) talks with Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul

The United Nations officially adopted a resolution restricting secretaries-general from taking government positions immediately after stepping down, it was confirmed recently.

The discovery comes amid widespread speculation that current Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon may run in the 2017 South Korean presidential election. If Ban does decide to throw his hat in the ring after finishing his tenure in late 2016, the move could generate controversy at home and overseas over its appropriateness.

The Hankyoreh confirmed on May 24 that the UN adopted a resolution to this effect at its first general meeting on Jan. 24, 1946, immediately after its establishment.

“[I]t is desirable that no Member should offer [the Secretary-General], at any rate immediately on retirement, any governmental position,” states Resolution 11 (I), adding that “on his part a Secretary-General should refrain from accepting any such position.”

As a reason for this stipulation, the resolution notes that “a Secretary-General is a confidant of many governments,” and that “his confidential information might be a source of embarrassment to other Members.”

Based on the intent, the category “any governmental position” that secretaries-general should avoid “immediately on retirement” could narrowly be construed as meaning appointed positions, and more broadly as referring to elected positions.

Resolution 11 (I) is a supplement included due to the UN Charter’s failure to specify rules regarding the secretary-general’s tenure and compensation as a “chief administration officer” as per Article 97.

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said such resolutions by the UN General Assembly are “political decisions without legal binding force, apart from special instances regarded as customary international law.”

“It can be understood as something along the lines of a practice that ought to be respected,” the source said.

While the question of Ban’s plans to run for the presidency has been a focus of attention among politicians and the South Korean public since last year, Ban himself has yet to clearly state that he has no plans to do so. Currently, Ban plans to visit South Korea on May 25 to 30 to attend and deliver speeches and press conferences at a UN non-governmental organization (NGO) conference in Gyeongju, the Jeju Forum, and the Rotary International Conference in Ilsan. His term as the eighth UN Secretary-General ends on Dec. 31 of this year.

The behavior of previous secretaries-general after leaving the position suggests that Resolution 11 (I) has not been strictly adhered to - but that it is not a dead letter either.

Most of the seven secretaries-general before Ban avoided partisan activities after leaving office: heading independent or non-profit foundations, working as special UN envoys (seventh secretary-general Kofi Annan), or working at supranational and/or suprapartisan international organizations (third secretary-general U Thant and sixth secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali).

Some have also run for the presidency or taken on government positions after leaving, but only after a period of four to five years. Fourth secretary-general Kurt Waldheim was elected president of Austria in 1986, five years after finishing his term at the UN. Waldheim had previously run unsuccessfully for the Austrian presidency before becoming secretary-general.

Fifth secretary-general Javier Perez de Cuellar ran unsuccessfully for the Peruvian presidency in 1994, four years after stepping down at the UN, and was prime minister of Peru between 2000 and 2001. Inaugural secretary-general Trygve Lie served as county governor of Oslo and Akershus and Minister of Industry in his native Norway after four years had passed since departing the UN.

By Lee Je-hun, staff reporter

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