SG: His Majesty and I have had a good discussion. We discussed the role of Norway in the UN, and I indicated to His Majesty that Norway is a model UN Member State. We talked about the humanitarian situation, the tsunami, the UN reform, the summit later on this year in September, and the terms really to adapt and reform the UN for the 21st century.

Q: As the King explained, Norway is a strong supporter of the UN. They feel deeply about the UN. And many people are really worried about what we hear from the United States about the so-called “oil-for-food scandal” and, they claim, atrocities in [the Democratic Republic of the] Congo. And we see that they may call for your resignation. Would you please comment on that?

SG: I think on the oil-for-food issue, we have a three-man committee looking into that. They are doing a very serious work. They've issued an interim report, and I think we should wait for their report. On the Congo situation, where some of the peacekeepers and our staff have been accused of sexual misbehavior, we are taking very firm measures, changing some of the commanders, some of the civilian staff have been disciplined, and we've come up with very strict instructions that they should not fraternize the way they have done in the past and taken very strict measures to ensure that this is not repeated.

Q: Do you feel that you have done what you could do to prevent this?

SG: This is what we've done, and not only limiting it to Congo. We want to make sure that all peacekeepers have this as part of their training and that we shouldn't assume that it's only limited to Congo. You have to prepare them for all situations.

Q: A comment on the situation for you, in particular. Could the situation be that you will resign because of the Congo scandal?

SG: If a Secretary-General or people in responsibility were to resign each time something in their area goes wrong, you'll have very few leaders around.