All I know is that document should burnt and thrown on the scrap heap of history where it belongs.

(CNS News) — In his acceptance speech following his election to a second term as the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon said his swearing-in ceremony was “special in another respect,” apart from the general solemnity of the occasion.

“On being sworn in, a few moments ago, I placed my hand on the U.N. Charter . . . not a copy, but the original signed in San Francisco,” Ban said on June 21.

“Our Founding Fathers deemed this document so precious that it was flown back to Washington, strapped to its own parachute,” Ban said. “No such consideration was given to the poor diplomat accompanying it; he had to take his chances.”

“We thank the U.S. National Archives for their generosity in lending it today, and for their care in preserving it,” he said. (The original U.N.Charter was signed on June 26, 1945 in San Francisco and went into effect on Oct. 24, 1945.)

The U.S. National Archives, however, did not answer questions sent by e-mail to its press office to confirm Ban’s statements. Specifically, CNSNews.com asked if the loan of the document was a request by the U.N. or a gesture on the part of the United States.

Questions about who paid for the transporting of the document to New York and back to Washington, D.C., and the cost of that transportation also went unanswered.

CNSNews.com also asked if Ban’s statement about a parachute being used during the document’s transport was true and who accompanied the document.

Miriam Kleiman, spokesperson for the National Archives, responded to the questions by e-mail with the following statement: “It is our policy not to discuss the security of documents, and that includes all matters relating to transport.”