The Hindu : National : Seoul spending millions for U.N. post?

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Sunday, Oct 01, 2006
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Seoul spending millions for U.N. post?

London: India's Shashi Tharoor's bid for U.N. Secretary-General post may stand a chance with a report claiming that South Korea is spending millions of dollars in aid and offering other incentives to Security Council members to get support for its candidate Ban Ki Moon.

In its aggressive campaign on behalf of Mr. Ban, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the front-runner to succeed Kofi Annan, Seoul has been offering ``inducements ranging from tens of millions of pounds of extra funding for African countries to lucrative trade agreements in Europe- and even the gift of a grand piano to Peru,'' The Times has reported.

Denial

South Korea, according to the report, has denied that it is using foreign aid as a means of buying votes in the Security Council.

``I would like to stress that the allegations against Ban Ki Moon and, moreover, the integrity of the Korean Government do not correspond with the facts,'' said In Joon Chung, spokesman for the South Korean Embassy in London.

He said Seoul had decided in 2002 to increase aid to the developing world. — PTI

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