The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Hybe's new boy group Boynextdoor aims to be 'one and only' presence in K-pop

  • 3

    Brave Girls to restart activities under new name

  • 5

    Rapper Mino attends sister's wedding in U.S. amid military service

  • 7

    Running convenience stores becomes popular among people in 20s, 30s

  • 9

    Actors' off-screen chemistry enthralls fans

  • 11

    Sluggish exports behind weak Korean won

  • 13

    Naver suffers shrinking online search market share

  • 15

    Doctors, pharmacists to receive 30% bonus for offering telemedicine service

  • 17

    'Elemental' director on bringing his personal story of immigration to cinema

  • 19

    BTS' J-Hope to work as drill instructor at Army boot camp: sources

  • 2

    Seoul city erroneously sends emergency alert after NK launch

  • 4

    NK's attempt to launch 1st spy satellite fails after 'abnormal' flight: S. Korean military

  • 6

    Korea to ease immigration rules to attract more medical tourists

  • 8

    Big businesses face growing union pressure to extend retirement age

  • 10

    Seoul city takes flak for emergency text alert on NK's rocket launch

  • 12

    Anti-corruption watchdog set to investigate crypto assets of lawmakers

  • 14

    Seoul resident clashes with authorities for raising dogs to nab 'North Korean spies'

  • 16

    Pyongyang may have delayed spy satellite launch due to technical issues

  • 18

    NATIONALKorea likely to face pressure over imports of Fukushima seafood

  • 20

    Directors thrive on streaming platforms amid sluggish film industry

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • Yun Byung-se
  • Kim Won-soo
  • Ahn Ho-young
  • Kim Sang-woo
  • Lee Kyung-hwa
  • Mitch Shin
  • Peter S. Kim
  • Daniel Shin
  • Jeon Su-mi
  • Jang Daul
  • Song Kyung-jin
  • Park Jung-won
  • Cho Hee-kyoung
  • Park Chong-hoon
  • Kim Sung-woo
  • Donald Kirk
  • John Burton
  • Robert D. Atkinson
  • Mark Peterson
  • Eugene Lee
  • Rushan Ziatdinov
  • Lee Jong-eun
  • Chyung Eun-ju and Joel Cho
  • Bernhard J. Seliger
  • Imran Khalid
  • Troy Stangarone
  • Jason Lim
  • Casey Lartigue, Jr.
  • Bernard Rowan
  • Steven L. Shields
  • Deauwand Myers
  • John J. Metzler
  • Andrew Hammond
  • Sandip Kumar Mishra
Thu, June 1, 2023 | 11:32
John J. Metzler
UN secretary general ramps up diplomacy as Ukraine War widens
Posted : 2022-05-04 16:40
Updated : 2022-05-04 16:40
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By John J. Metzler

Many people ask, "What's the U.N. doing to stop the Ukraine war?" That's a fair question given that the conflict has been raging for more than two months creating Europe's most costly conflict and humanitarian crisis since WWII. So where is the U.N. or more specifically the Secretary General Antonio Guterres?

Despite very active diplomacy by France, the United States and the United Kingdom in the Security Council, with countless meetings on the situation in Ukraine, the powerful 15-member council still faces the Russian veto to any draft resolutions. Thus any noteworthy council action before and during the Ukraine conflict has been stillborn in a sense given Moscow's capacity to block any initiatives through its veto power.

The 193 member U.N. General Assembly on the other hand has, as this column has regularly recorded, powerfully condemned Russia's aggression and humanitarian actions in Ukraine on three occasions. The fact remains that a true "global majority" to use the phrase is stunned and sickened by Russia's wanton aggression and they are openly saying so with tough resolutions.

Russia was also booted off the U.N.'s Geneva-based Human Rights Council. Moreover when it comes to humanitarian aid for more than four million Ukrainian refugees and millions more displaced people inside Ukraine, the alphabet soup of U.N. specialized agencies are carrying the overwhelming humanitarian burden; U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, (UNHCR), World Food Program (WFP), and the U.N. Children Agency (UNICEF), to name a few. They are working in tandem with massive American, British and European Union economic assistance.

Indeed the U.N. is doing what it does best; supporting humanitarian lifelines to a beleaguered land and to its fleeing refugees. Food aid has reached 2.3 million people, and plans to help four million by May and six million by June.

But where's U.N. Secretary General? While many credit Antonio Guterres with some very tough statements on the churning conflict, why hasn't he engaged in more direct diplomacy until now?

While behind the scenes diplomacy has traditionally been the hallmark of U.N. mediations the reality remains that the world organization has been increasingly marginalized before and during the Ukraine war. Too much tiptoeing and too little direct diplomatic engagement.

In a searingly poignant missive from more than 200 high ranking former U.N. officials and staffers who call for a proactive peace diplomatic policy initiative to counter as they consider, "The Russian invasion of Ukraine severely undermines the post-world war two global order."

Key past officials such as the American Jeffrey Feltman, U.N. undersecretary-general for political affairs 2012-2018, joined the list beseeching the Secretary General to take decisive diplomatic action.

In the past former U.N. Secretary Generals became involved in peace talks either before or during conflicts. Kofi Annan tried unsuccessfully to mediate on the eve of the Iraq war in 2003.

The group warned, "We are horrified at the alternative, the U.N. becoming increasingly irrelevant and, eventually, succumbing to the fate of its predecessor, the League of Nations."

Thus Antonio Guterres made his recent Mission to Moscow and Kiev. Separated awkwardly and figuratively by a long table in the ornate Kremlin, the Secretary General was given a frosty twenty minute meeting with Vladimir Putin. Guterres pressed to open humanitarian lifelines into Mariupol.

Later when visiting Ukraine Guterres lamented his, "sadness upon seeing the ruins" in the towns of Borodianka, Bucha and Irpin and called for the need for a "thorough investigation." He added that "the war is an absurdity in the twenty-first century. The war is evil."

He also addressed the ghastly humanitarian crisis in the battered city of Mariupol; "Mariupol is a crisis within a crisis. Thousands of civilians need life-saving assistance. Many are elderly, in need of medical care or have limited mobility. They need an escape route out of the apocalypse."

Significantly the Secretary General also blamed the U.N. Security Council for not preventing the war, "The Security Council failed to do everything in its power to prevent and end this war. This is a source of great disappointment, frustration and anger."

Clearly the powerful Council remains hostage to the political dictates of Moscow and Beijing. Thus the impasse on Ukraine and equally in Syria now for over a decade.

During a press conference with Ukraine's besieged President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy, Guterres underscored, "I want the Ukrainian people to know that the world sees you, hears you, and is in awe of your resilience and resolve".

This is 2022 not 1942. Now Stop this war before it morphs over into WWIII !


John J. Metzler (jjmcolumn@earthlink.net) is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of Divided Dynamism The Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China.




 
wooribank
Top 10 Stories
1Seoul City takes flak for bungled emergency text alert on NK's rocket launch Seoul City takes flak for bungled emergency text alert on NK's rocket launch
2Rude cabbies in Seoul face stricter penaltiesRude cabbies in Seoul face stricter penalties
3[INTERVIEW] Asia expected to be key driver of ESG growth: Deloitte ESG Partner INTERVIEWAsia expected to be key driver of ESG growth: Deloitte ESG Partner
4North Korea's spy satellite launch fails as rocket falls into sea North Korea's spy satellite launch fails as rocket falls into sea
5Retailers adopt generative AI to offer personalized products, services Retailers adopt generative AI to offer personalized products, services
6Committee calls for lowering requirements for foreigners to teach English online Committee calls for lowering requirements for foreigners to teach English online
7Chinese account for 54% of foreign-owned homes in Korea Chinese account for 54% of foreign-owned homes in Korea
8AMCHAM stresses S. Korea-US ties after NK fires 'space launch vehicle' AMCHAM stresses S. Korea-US ties after NK fires 'space launch vehicle'
9LS chairman appears in YouTube commercial LS chairman appears in YouTube commercial
10Mercedes-Benz Korea appoints new CEO Mercedes-Benz Korea appoints new CEO
Top 5 Entertainment News
1[INTERVIEW] Lee Jun-hyuk unrecognizable in 'The Roundup: No Way Out' INTERVIEWLee Jun-hyuk unrecognizable in 'The Roundup: No Way Out'
2'Elemental' director on bringing his personal story of immigration to cinema 'Elemental' director on bringing his personal story of immigration to cinema
3SHINee celebrates 15th anniversary of debut: 'It feels surreal' SHINee celebrates 15th anniversary of debut: 'It feels surreal'
4ENHYPEN reaches new career high with latest album 'Dark Blood' ENHYPEN reaches new career high with latest album 'Dark Blood'
5'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts' raises bar with epic battle scenes 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts' raises bar with epic battle scenes
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group