"As you know, I don't even want to go into the general subject".I know its very complicated. This area has very complicated geography, very complicated geopolitical history if you will."
"I don't even want to go into the general issue of whether or not it is prudent to conduct military exercises in a disputed area, but we know it is better to refrain from doing this exercise at this time. That is why we asked the Republic of Korea to refrain from conducting this exercise at this particular time."
Ambassador Churkin stressed the seriousness of the situation. Also he explained that there appeared to have been general agreement among council members for his proposal that the Secretary General appoint an envoy to work with the two Koreas and other involved countries to negotiate a means to settle the disputes causing the crisis situation. Ambassador Churkin stressed the importance of the Secretary General appointing an envoy, especially since some of the parties were not willing to go back to the six party talks. Thus there was no other means for a diplomatic process to be implemented, "no game plan."
Despite the fact that the Council had not come to agree on a press statement which also would have supported the appointment of an envoy, Ambassador Churkin expressed his hope that the Secretary General would go ahead and appoint an envoy. Also he expressed his hope that the Security Council consultations and meeting, even though it hadn't reached an agreement on a press statement, would have an impact to lower the tension in the region.
A little while later, Ambassador Rice came to the stakeout. Though she held the rotating presidency of the Security Council for December, she only spoke in her national capacity presenting the views of the US on the issue. She indicated that the US insisted on a "clear-cut condemnation of the November 23rd attack by DPRK on the ROK", but that there was no "unanimity on that point" among members of the Security Council.
When Ambassador Rice was asked about the proposal to ask the Secretary General to appoint an envoy, she responded(6):
"I think there would have been probably room for agreement in some form of recommendation that the Secretary General consider what he might be able to do in his good offices capacity."
The next day, Monday, December 20, Wang Min, the Chinese deputy Permanent Representative spoke to the press at a stakeout. He said,"Yesterday, China supported Russia's proposal to call for an urgent meeting of the Security Council (on) the situation in the Korean Peninsula".The meeting was positive and of great importance."(7)
Also on this Monday, South Korea held its military exercise firing into the contested waters. North Korea refrained from responding militarily. (8)
On Tuesday December 21, at an informal meeting of the Security Council, Ambassador Wang, expressed his view of the seriousness of the situation that had developed on the Korean Peninsula. He said that the tension on the Korean Peninsula between the North and South had been very high "especially in the past two days it came close to fighting a war." (9)
At the noon briefing held on Monday, December 20, the day following the emergency Security Council meeting, journalists asked Farhan Haq, the Acting Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, about the possibility of an envoy being sent to the Korean Peninsula by the Secretary General. Despite the unanimity expressed at the emergency Security Council session about the Secretary General appointing an envoy, the idea met with reluctance on the part of the spokesperson for the Secretary General. Following is an excerpt from the press conference on December 20 with the deputy spokesperson for the Secretary General (10):
Question: (Y)esterday in this all-day Security Council meeting about DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] or the Korean peninsula, both Ambassador [Vitaly] Churkin, Ambassador [Susan] Rice and they both seemed to say that all 15 members were supportive of the idea of the Secretary-General naming a Special Envoy to the Korean peninsula. They didn't end up adopting a statement because of disputes about who to blame or who to condemn. But is it something that, I guess" what does the Secretary-General think of that idea and is he actually going to name an envoy?
Acting Deputy Spokesperson: Well, first of all, the Secretary-General did send Mr. [B. Lynn] Pascoe earlier this year to the Korean peninsula, and so he has already taken some initiative regarding efforts to deal with the question of good offices in the Korean peninsula itself. However, in terms of appointing an envoy, what we are doing at this stage is waiting to see what kind of unified decision, if any, the Security Council can take on the question of the Korean peninsula. As you yourself pointed out just now, they didn't come to any decision yesterday, and I don't know whether there will be a statement by the Security Council. But if there is one, we would respond to that.
Question: But there is" I guess the question was asked of Ambassador Churkin whether he thought that the Secretary-General should go forward. In the sense of, are you saying that you can only go forward if you have some kind of press statement or do the statements of the President of the Council saying"
Acting Deputy Spokesperson: No, no, as I pointed out, Mr. Pascoe went, I believe in February of this year, as it was. So, it's not dependent on action by the Security Council. However, in this case, the Security Council had been working out different types of language, and we would wait to see what it is that they have to say before responding to it.
Question: So has Secretary-General completely ruled out appointing a Special Envoy for DPRK?
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