UN ST-EP chairperson arranges UN Secretary-General's Andong visit

It was known that Dho Young-shim, chairperson of the UN World Tourism Organization’s Sustainable Tourism for Eliminating Poverty (ST-EP) Foundation, helped UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to visit North Gyeongsang Province.

A diplomatic source said on Sunday, “Ms. Dho, who is close to Mr. Ban and also has strong relevance to the United Nations, persuaded him to visit the Andong Hahoe village in North Gyeongsang Province.” Dho played a critical role when Britain's Queen Elizabeth II visited the village in 1999. Her husband, former lawmaker Gwon Jeong-dal, is also from Andong.

When Ban served as a foreign minister, he appointed Dho as a tourism and sports ambassador. After being elected as UN Secretary-General, he appointed her as an advisor to the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In January this year, he appointed her as an advisor to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) again and attended himself when she held a campaign called “Every Woman, Every Child” at the UN headquarters in March.

Dho said humbly in a telephone interview with the Dong-A Ilbo, “I didn’t contribute anything. It is a general practice that a U.N. Secretary-General visits the country’s cultural heritage upon his visit to a country. It was said that Ban considered both the Andong Hahoe village and the old house of Yi Hwang, one of the most prominent Korean Confucian scholars. However, he is said to have decided to go to the former because it is on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list and the linear descendent of the renowned scholar had a health issue.  



조숭호기자 shcho@donga.com