Presidential Bid

[Anchor Lead]

In a parliamentary inquiry of the nation's mission to the UN, opposition lawmakers have raised the opinion that a potential UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon bid to run in the 2017 Korean presidential election would be in violation of a UN resolution. A Seoul-Tokyo agreement on the issue of Japan's wartime sexual slavery and a proposal to preemptively strike North Korea are at the center of controversy. Here’s more.

[Pkg]

The legitimacy of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's presidential bid was intensively questioned in a parliamentary inquiry attended only by opposition lawmakers. Opposition lawmakers noted a UN General Assembly resolution that limits retired UN chiefs from assuming a government post in an individual country, since they have access to secret information of nations. They insisted that Ban will violate the resolution if he runs for the 2017 Korean presidential election, following his retirement as UN chief later this year.

[Soundbite] Rep. Sul Hoon(Minjoo Party of Korea) : "It will inevitably violate the resolution, as it infringes on the clause stating "immediately after retirement."

[Soundbite] Oh Joon(Ambassador to the UN) : "The resolution is a recommendation."

[Soundbite] Rep. Shim Jae-kwon(Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs) : "Do you think that a recommendation can be breached?"

Opposition lawmakers also criticized a Seoul-Tokyo agreement on the issue of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, worrying Japan could argue on the international stage that it has fulfilled its responsibility as a war criminal. They said that it can further be discussed at the UN and other international agencies as the issue of wartime sexual violence on women. To a question about if a proposal to preemptively strike North Korea can be accepted internationally, despite its possibility to cause a war, Ambassador Oh Joon answered that it can be acknowledged as a self-defense right if the enemy clearly expresses determination to attack.