Woman at Center of Petraeus Scandal is S. Korea Honorary Consul

[struggle4progress]

Steve Herman

November 14, 2012
SEOUL — South Korea's foreign ministry has confirmed to VOA that Jill Kelley, who is at the center of a scandal that has led to the resignation of the CIA director, is still serving as one of the country's honorary consuls in Florida ...

The Foreign Policy.com web site, quotes an unnamed diplomatic official as saying Kelley helped obtain support for the South Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and arranged meetings between the South Korean ambassador and local business leaders in the Tampa area ...

An honorary consul is someone who is usually paid a modest amount by a foreign government to do part-time work in a region where an embassy does not have a consulate.

“They take care of notarizing documents for natives of the country that they represent, “ explains retired U.S. ambassador Ray Burghardt in Honolulu ...

http://www.voanews.com/content/woman-at-center-of-petraeus-scandal-is-south-korea-honorary-consul/1545223.html

[warrior1]

1. WTF?

[struggle4progress]

2. Jill Kelley is an 'honorary consul' of South Korea

... "She is an ‘honorary consul' of the Republic of Korea," the official said. "She assumed this position last August thanks to her good connections and network."

The position of honorary consul is symbolic and has no official responsibilities, the official said.

"She does not work as a real consul. They play a role to improve the relationship between the ROK and the U.S.," the official said. "Jill Kelley helped to get support for [the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement] and she arranged meetings between the ROK Ambassador to Washington and local businessmen when the ROK Ambassador visited the Tampa area."

There's no implication that the South Korean government has anything to do with the growing scandal that involves Kelly, Allen, Petraeus, and Paula Broadwell, Petraeus's biographer and alleged mistress. But her work on behalf of the South Koreans may explain some of the 20,000 to 30,000 pages of e-mails between her and Allen that the Defense Department's Inspector General's office is investigating now ...

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/11/13/jill_kelley_is_an_honorary_consul_of_south_korea

[struggle4progress]

3. Jill Kelley, An Embarrassment to Honorary Consuls Everywhere

Josh Marshall November 13, 2012, 9:49 PM 28822

Earlier today we learned that Jill Kelley, the ridiculous person at the center of the Petraeus scandal, had called police over the weekend to shoo people off her lawn and in the process invoked her “diplomatic inviolability” to bewildered police officers. At first I assumed that this was some nonsensical immunity claim to her honorary role as “social liaison” at Centcom in Tampa ...

It turns out that Kelley is actually an “Honorary Consul” of the Republic of Korea (South Korea). At first, I thought this was just another one of Kelley’s ridiculous faux titles, something you get for throwing a party or perhaps for anything as long as the ambassador gets drunk.

But I was too quick to dismiss this. ‘Honorary consuls” are a real thing. Or at least they can be, whatever Kelley was doing with the title. I talked this evening to a diplomat from an Asian nation (not Korea) who explained that they’re often used when a country doesn’t have consular representation in a particular city or region. So for instance if you’re from Country X and you’re visiting Florida and you get into a jam or lose your passport you can contact the ‘Honorary Consul” to help you get a new passport or help you out in much the same way your embassy or an official consul might.

Again, who knows if Kelley was actually doing something like this. (Kelley and her twin sister who is also tied up in the scandal are each in debt for roughly $4 million a piece.) But it’s a real title and even a job of sorts. My source says that the embassy of the foreign country actually has to register these people with the State Department. This page at the British Foreign Office website describes the role. The status is even noted and explained in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations ...

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/11/jill_kelley_an_embarrassment_to_honorary_consuls_e.php

[hifiguy]

4. I wonder how long all of this is going to take

to unravel. Fascinating, if incredibly complicated. Spooks, military brass, "socialites" on the make, shadowy reichwing weirdos. This is good stuff. Pass the butter!

[struggle4progress]

5. pdf link to State Department description of Honorary Consuls

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/150546.pdf

See p 7 for Honorary Consuls:

Honorary consuls are American citizens or permanent resident aliens who perform consular services on a part-time basis ... These persons have “official acts” immunity only ... They do not enjoy personal inviolability and may be arrested pending trial if circumstances should otherwise warrant. Family members enjoy no immunity or personal inviolability. Honorary consuls are issued official identification cards ...

hattip: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/11/jill_kelley_an_embarrassment_to_honorary_consuls_e.php

[leftstreet]

6. Is it sexist to wonder if she was a Madam or something?

...assuming they still call them 'madams'

[edbermac]

7. Obviously a graduate of the Sarah Palin School Of Foreign Affairs.

Her qualifications included eating kimchi one time.