Kurt Volker, former U.S. ambassador to the NATO and former special representative for Ukraine Negotiations, told Newsmax on Friday that North Korea's election onto the World Health Organization's executive board this week is "absolutely appalling" and "an embarrassment."
"The U.N. should be ashamed of itself for putting countries that are absolute violators of the key principles that they stand for into these leadership positions," Volker said on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
Dr. Jong Min Pak of the North Korean Ministry of Public Health was appointed onto the WHO's executive board for a term extending until 2026, following what Volker described as an "absolutely appalling" election process.
"You have countries conducting a secret ballot," he explained. "North Korea, probably with support from China, goes around country to country and cut[s] the deal for them to give a positive vote. And then the secret ballot takes place and they get on there.
"It's an embarrassment."
Host Greta Van Susteren followed up Volker's point about China, recalling how the WHO said in January 2020 that, according to Chinese authorities, there was no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus disease, also known as COVID-19. As of Friday, the WHO Coronavirus Dashboard recorded 6,938,353 deaths worldwide. A Chinese health adviser this week also predicted that there could be 65 million COVID-19 cases in China weekly by June.
"The WHO was covering for China when China was the origin of the COVID virus. We all know that; we all saw it," Volker said. "They were worried about losing Chinese funding because the Chinese are willing to use leverage much more aggressively than the U.S. has been willing to do. We want to play by the rules. China doesn't play by the rules."
Though Volker said the WHO "does do some good work," and "you can't throw the baby out with the bathwater," he also said "we have to take a much tougher stand and a much more public position on these kinds of abuses."
The former ambassador was then asked about Sweden's chances of joining NATO despite Turkey's objections. "I think [Sweden's] chances are good," he answered, "but we still don't know.
"[Turkish] President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan just secured his reelection now, so he should be feeling reasonably confident. He could do it if he wanted to."
According to Volker, Sweden joining NATO "may be in the cards" if the U.S. decides to accommodate Erdogan's requests "to provide F-16s ... or at least be willing to sell them. ... If we put all this together, I hope the answer is yes."
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