Ban Ki-moon Calls Trump's WHO Withdrawal Declaration "Irresponsible"

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Interview with Kyodo News

Ban Ki-moon, Chairman of the National Climate and Environment Council, is giving a lecture at the policy seminar titled "From Climate Villain to Climate Leader: Strengthening Climate Crisis Response through the Green New Deal," jointly hosted by the National Climate Crisis Green New Deal Research Group, the Study Group of Parliamentarians on Economy, and the National Strategy Forum Uhujuksun at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 29th of last month. Photo by Yonhap News.

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] Ban Ki-moon, Chairman of the National Climate and Environment Council, called U.S. President Donald Trump's declaration of withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) "irresponsible."

Ban, who served as UN Secretary-General, said in an interview with Kyodo News published on the 6th that to President Trump, who accuses the WHO of siding with China, "Blaming the WHO does not solve the problem. It is a very irresponsible attitude. It is like not helping your allies on the battlefield during a war."

He added, "Whether the origin is Wuhan, China, or somewhere else can be investigated later, but for now, we must prioritize actively supporting the WHO to save lives."

As a former UN Secretary-General, he also expressed deep regret over President Trump's tendency to disregard the UN and multilateralism.

He referred to his dispatch of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) to West Africa in 2014 when Ebola hemorrhagic fever spread during his tenure as UN Secretary-General, emphasizing, "When the U.S. and China confront each other like this, the entire mechanism does not work smoothly. COVID-19 is a disease, not a political issue."

He then suggested, "It is necessary to have the WHO, the UN Secretary-General, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other UN agencies and regional development banks function organically together."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.