[my first speech]

Topic: United Nations
For the first time, a speech that I worked on was read at the United Nations — in the Security Council, no less, as part of a debate on justice and the rule of law in post-conflict societies. I suppose eventually this will become routine, and certainly it was a routine speech, but at the moment this is incredibly exciting for me.

It’d be more than unfair to characterize it as my speech, because most of it was assembled by counsellors here at the Korean Mission, who gave it its shape and content, and it was Ambassador Kim who presumably directed them, as well as approving and delivering the speech. But I did work on it, editing it extensively and providing a lot of the language. So now a little bit of my writing has found its way into the permanent record of the United Nations.

To read the speech yourself:

  1. Click here.
  2. Find the meeting records for “6 Oct.”
  3. Click on “S/PV.5052 (Resumption 1).” (It’s a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat is required. Also, you’ll have to turn off any personal firewalls to get access.)
  4. Scroll to page 26.

If you’re a glutton for punishment, you can also watch the speech:

  1. Click here.
  2. Scroll to “6 October 04.”
  3. Click on “Archived Video” for the pm session. (Requires RealPlayer.)
  4. Scroll forward to 2:06:30 and enjoy. And try not to get distracted by the guy picking his nose just upstage.

Bonus: Scroll back to 1:42:30 or so and watch the delegate from Singapore refer to Humpty Dumpty.