Japan will not oppose Ban Ki-moon’s bid to become the next UN Secretary General: a bad idea
The Japan Times and Japan Today are reporting that the Japanese do not intend to block South Korean foreign minister Ban Ki-moon’s attempt to become the next Secretary General of the United Nations:
Japan will declare its support for South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon to become the next United Nations secretary general if he draws no opposition from the five permanent Security Council members in a straw poll Monday, government sources said.
Tokyo has said it will support an Asian to succeed Ghanian Kofi Annan in line with the de facto rotation rule for the top U.N. post, but it had not said which Asian it would back, preferring to wait for results of informal polls in the Security Council.
There has been opposition within the government to supporting the South Korean candidate in light of Seoul’s opposition to Japan’s effort to obtain a permanent seat on the Security Council, the sources said.
But Ban’s strong lead among the Asian candidates is leaving it with no other option, they said.
Foreign Minister Taro Aso has hinted that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may convey Japan’s support for Ban when he meets with South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun. The two leaders are expected to hold their first summit next Monday.
As a top contributor of funds to the United Nations (second only to the United States), you’d think that Japan might try to use it’s position to block Ban Ki-moon. Instead, they are on the verge of giving full support to his election. Why?
I would guess that the Japanese government probably thinks it can improve relations with South Korea if it allows Ban to be elected. Maybe the South Korean government has secretly agreed to tone down its anti-Japanese ultranationalism in exchange for Japan’s support on the UN bid? Or perhaps, as the the article says, the Japanese government is caving in the face of such strong international support for Ban. Whatever the exact reason may be, I believe that the Japanese are making a big mistake.
There is nothing to suggest that Japanese support for Ban Ki-moon’s election will do anything to tone down anti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea. Jumping on the bandwagon of Ban supporters is unlikely reverse decades of anti-Japanese nationalism in South Korea. Furthermore, Ban Ki-moon’s has spent his tenure as foreign minister fanning the flames of anti-Japanese ultranationalism by helping to bring the Yasukuni and Dokdo/Takeshima issues to the forefront of Japanese/Korean relations (he even wears Dokdo neckties). Ban has advanced a foreign policy agenda that has destroyed South Korea’s alliance with the United States and sent millions of dollars of aid to North Korea (while turning a blind eye to North Korean human rights abuses). For a great example of his sense of reasonable diplomacy, you might want to read this post.
The last thing the UN needs at this point is an uncivil anti-American/anti-Japanese secretary general to alienate the two nations that provide almost half of its funding (Japan is already in the process of decreasing its funding to an ungrateful UN. After Ban becomes the Secretary General, I think we can expect further drops.). Now that Japan has refused to block Ban’s election, that is almost guaranteed to happen. It might be bad news for Japanese/U.S. interests in the UN, but look on the bright side: the blogging community is going to get plenty of new material for inflammatory posts.
[For a great case on why the United States should not support Ban Ki-moon's election, read this post at the Korea Liberator.]
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So the UN is doomed… Just when we thought it was going to be better than with Annan… (remember the Oil for Food scandal?)
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And I guess instead of the UN, what the world should have is the benevolent, altruistic, selfless rule of the United States, possibly supported by Japan, the two largest economies in the world.
Give me a break.
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curious… why do you hate korea so much?
i personally think it’s great that japan is being diplomatic and gracious enough to not want to block Ban’s nomination. if anything, maybe this will show korea that japan is willing to mend the rift that has been happening.
diplomacy requires sacrifices. with japan’s good move, now the ball’s in korea’s court for them to return the good will and good faith.
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junosora:
Since I dislike Ban Ki-Moon, a member of the current Roh Administration, who has participated in that administration’s active encouragement and exploitation of anti-Japanese sentiment, I hate Korea?
Is it so wrong to oppose South Korea’s nationalism-focused foreign policy? Should I be writing a post praising the members of the Roh Administration for trying to convince the South Korean people that Japan is the biggest threat to their nation’s security?
I can understand Japan’s desire to show good faith about this issue, and it will probably make the South Korean government tone down it’s anti-Japanese rage a little bit, at least in the short term. However, I think that the election of an UN Secretary general who came from one of the most anti-Japanese/anti-American South Korean administrations in recent history is not a good thing for Japan or the United States( my country).
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And what’s wrong with a “nationalism-focused” foreign policy?
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I am curious if Korean media would report it.
I didn’t see this was reported in Korean media.
Japan has been willing to mend the rift , at least from the time Japan concluded treaty on Basic Relations in 1965. For some reason Korea has rejected its will.
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James,
perhaps i was hasty in making the assumption that you hate korea… but let’s be honest. you really don’t have a single post since you started this blog that says anything positive about korea.
and no, it’s not wrong to oppose a regime like roh’s. i personally don’t like uri party either.
just glad to know now that you don’t hate korea, just the administration. i’m with you on that.
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junosora:
This is a Japan blog, so if I’m going to write about Korea, it’s in a Japan-related context. If I write about Korea, I try to stick to foreign policy issues, since I don’t speak or read Korean, nor do I know much about Korean culture. Since Japan-Korea relations have been far from friendly recently, it’s doubtful that I’ll be writing many positive things about Korea.
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James also hasn’t written anything positive about Japan either. Does that mean he hates Japan too?
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James,
US-Korea relations have been the worst too since Korean war such as the allied army command right return conflict and so on. Why doesn’t your country decline Ban Ki-moon?
By the way, do you know Korea is bankrupting now? Western investers evacuated and trade balance has turned over. I predict Korea will declare default in the near future.
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all your talk about anti-japanese extremism is laughable. unlike germany, japan has not fully expressed regret or acknowledgement. the hard-liners in japan are ridiculous, claiming the war criminals are heroes. the japanese started a war with several countries and had tortured, enslaved and killed many civilians. is it wrong for other countries to be upset when it japan’s history in this respect is being fudged in textbooks and visits (on national days when they could go other days if they wish) are made by politicians to yasukuni?
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HL:
Please show me an official statement by a Japanese Prime Minister/Government Ministry that says war criminals are heroes. Please show me actual quotes from widely used textbooks that “fudge history”. I’ve been trying to find some of these for some time, and I have yet to locate any.
As for the visits to yasukuni, you must be getting your information from a somewhat skewed source. Politicians are not visiting yasukuni on August 15th because it is Korea’s national day: August 15th is the anniversary of the end of World War II, which would make it the most appropriate day to pray for the millions of war dead enshrined there. When Koizumi visited the shrine on August 15th 2006, he stated that he was praying for peace to express that war should not be repeated, and to mourn the war dead. The Japanese government has officially apologized many times for the war and has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in reparations to China and South Korea.
Here’s a recent example of what those history fudging prime ministers are saying:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20548015-23109,00.html
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