North Korea chairs UN Disarmament Conference; Canada quits, US downplays

The moral bankruptcy of the United Nations is once again on display, as nuclear proliferator/serial liar North Korea assumed chairmanship of the Geneva-based U.N. Conference on Disarmament. For the Obama administration, of course, moral bankruptcy is no big deal. Fox News reports:

The U.S. won't follow Canada's lead in boycotting a United Nations arms control conference chaired by North Korea, even though the State Department concedes the rogue regime has flouted its own disarmament obligations to the Security Council and the international community.

"We have chosen not to make a big deal out of this because it's a relatively low-level, inconsequential event," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Canada, which has a conservative government, finds the absurdity intolerable. AFP reports:

Canada is boycotting the UN Conference on Disarmament in protest after North Korea took over the rotating presidency of the body, Foreign Minister John Bairdsaid Monday.

"I think what we'll do is simply withdraw and boycott any activities of theconference until after August 19," Baird said. "The bottom line is, that with respect to disarmament, North Korea has been a rogue regime."

Pyongyang holds the rotating presidency of the UN body from June 28 to August 19 and has said it is ready to engage with it on nuclear arm control talks, which have been in a deadlock for the last two years.

But Canada wanted to take "a tough line," Baird said in a telephone pressconference, adding it was not good for this conference "if a country like Canadajust remains quiet."

"Today we are suspending our participation in the UN Conference on Disarmament," Baird said in a separate statement.

What a shameful episode for the United States. The Obama administration can get exercised over Jews adding a spare room to their houses in the West Bank, but a murderous, heartless regime that is straving its own people being honored with a UN chairmanship rates no outrage.

Thank-you, Canada, for showing up the real values of the Obama administration.