Japanese UN Ambassador Tells Other Diplomats To Shut Up [Video]
A Japanese UN official is facing demands for his resignation after an outburst at the UN’s torture committee in Geneva where he was caught on video telling other diplomats to “shut up.”
Ambassador Hideaki Ueda’s throwaway comment has landed him in hot water, with a torrent of Internet criticism concluding that he should step down from his position and be recalled to Japan.
Although this is a shocking story, it doesn’t quite cause disbelief like the killer robot comments that have been made at previous UN meetings.
Nevertheless, the latest comment has caused the footage of Ueda to go viral.
However, witnesses at the UN meeting believe that important factors are being missed out in news reports about the tense situation.
According to Shinichiro Koik, a Japanese lawyer present at the time, Ueda was only defending his country after another UN official made a remark about Japan’s justice system, condemning how defense lawyers aren’t allowed to stand in on interrogations of suspects.
The current legal system in place has generated varied views, most notable in a Capcom game release that has an attorney as the hero of the story.
The series of events detailed, alongside Ueda’s difficulty in speaking English, have been singled out as the reasons why the Japanese ambassador unwittingly verbally attacked other diplomats.
In Koik’s blog post about the situation, he mentions all the other comments Ueda made before he finally gave into his frustration:
“Certainly Japan is not in the Middle Age(s), we are one of the most advanced countr(ies) in this field.”
Koik then continues, saying that Ueda’s comment ended up provoking other UN members to giggle, however, these can’t be heard on the video and therefore leave Ueda exposed when he retorted.
Nevertheless, even if Ueda’s remarks stemmed from the love of his country, many critics still believe the outburst was uncalled for.
After all, such high profile envoys are expected to be able to remain poised and dignified, even when under the harshest of scrutiny.
It would seem that the aftermath of this event still has a lot more mileage and will continue to damage the UN official’s image.
Only time will tell if these event have ended the Japanese ambassador’s career.
[image via SCMP]
