South Korea promises the Moon in UN election

Thursday saw the third straw poll conducted by the 15-member United Nations Security Council to decide who leads the pack among the seven candidates in the race for the UN Secretary General's post.

In it India's Shashi Tharoor continued to remain in the second place, behind South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon, and the informal selection process will be repeated on Monday.

However, an investigation by The Times, London, has revealed that there is more to Ban's lead in the race.

According to the newspaper, South Korea has pledged millions of dollars in aid and offered other incentives to UNSC members to secure its candidate's position.

Sometimes, these blandishments were unusual. Peru, for instance, was promised a grand piano as gift.

But mostly the incentive came in the form of extra funding and trade agreements.

Since he announced his candidature in February, Ban has been traversing the globe and winning support. In March Seoul trebled its aid to Africa to $100 million, apart from sponsoring the African Union summit in Gambia in July with tens of thousands of pounds. Ban utilized the summit to declare 2006 to be South Korea's 'year of Africa'.

Tanzania, which has a seat on the UNSC, was singularly fortunate. In May Ban pledged $18 million on an educational programme while in Tanzania, and committed to carry out a road and bridge project in western Tanzania. The African nation, naturally, supports Ban's bid.

Apart from the gift of grand piano, South Korea also signed co-operation agreement with Peru.

Greece, another UNSC member, was not left out. This month Ban was part of South Korean President Roh's delegation to visit the European nation, the senior-most delegation to do so in 45 years. The two nations have signed pacts on trade, tourism and maritime transport.

And in July, the first cars from Kia Motors Corporation's $1 billion factory in Zilina, Slovakia, rolled out.

Seoul, however, has been quick to deny the suggestion that it was using money power to ensure Ban's smooth passage in the election, and a spokesperson told The Times that South Korea had decided in 2002 itself to increase aid to the developing world. Similarly, the visit to Greece was planned a year ago. 

Ban's supporters also point out that the career diplomat is a foreign affairs veteran, is highly respected around the world, and more recently headed the peace talks with North Korea. 

Thursday's straw poll indicated that although the front-runner in the UN race, Ban was supported only by 13 of the 15 UNSC members, one less than in the previous ballot. The next poll is slated for Monday, when coloured cards – to show if the negative vote comes from a veto-bearing permanent member – will be used.

A candidate needs a minimum of nine votes with no veto in the 15-member Security Council to be recommended to the 192-member General Assembly, which formally elects the Secretary-General. But under the Charter, the Assembly can vote only on the candidate recommended by the Council.