Ban Ki Moon’s tenure as U.N. Secretary-General is already proving to be much more promising to those hoping for serious organizational reform. Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing the whole concept abandoned. Organizations formed with the premise of giving two-bit dictators as much voice as civilized nations are doomed for failure. Nevertheless, if we must put up with a United Nations, having one that isn’t corrupt and funneling money to dictators would be a huge improvement.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has been on the job for less than a month, but with a 26-word announcement Friday he did more to reform that international body than anything ever attempted by predecessor Kofi Annan.

“The Secretary-General will call for an urgent, system wide and external inquiry into all activities done around the globe by the U.N. funds and programs.” So said Mr. Ban’s spokesman after the Secretary-General met with Ad Melkert, associate administrator of the United Nations Development Program. The key word here is “external.” Concerns about corruption in the U.N.’s Oil for Food program bubbled for years before Mr. Annan finally agreed to set up the independent Volcker Commission.

The proximate cause for Friday’s meeting between Messrs. Ban and Melkert, and for Mr. Ban’s clean-house announcement, was Melanie Kirkpatrick’s op-ed article in The Wall Street Journal on Friday detailing irregularities in the UNDP’s programs in North Korea and citing U.S. concerns that tens of millions of dollars in hard currency have been funneled to dictator Kim Jong Il.

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