The UN Sex Scandal That Wasn't

When the work day winds down and diplomats start to relax, things can get awfully steamy after hours at the North Delegates’ Lounge, the bar inside New York's U.N. headquarters where everyone from delegates to interns go for drinks.

When the work day winds down and diplomats start to relax, things can get awfully steamy at the North Delegates’ Lounge, the bar inside New York's UN headquarters where everyone from delegates to interns go for drinks.

When your work life is nothing but 12-hour days filled with bureaucracy and international politicking, you too would need somewhere to enjoy a drink, or two, or seven. The North Delegates' Lounge is where everyone working at the United Nations building goes when they want to down a few "dirt-cheap Heinekens," The New Republic's Noreen Malone writes. When your life is that dominated by work, the office bar also becomes the place where you look for a potential mate.

Which shouldn't be all that surprising: a study done last year found that 39 percent of people meet their match at work. But in an office environment that's moving from one country to another regularly, these couplings likely only last a night. UN staffers cruise the bar for fellow former debate team champions to cozy up with when last call comes. Workers from certain countries have reputations for being more attractive or better lovers than others. ("When it comes to women, the Israelis are considered the most attractive," Malone reports.) But sometimes these globe-trotting trysts don't make it back to the hotel. Occasionally the fun happens in an open office or broom closet inside the UN.

Case in point: the racy pictures taken late one night inside an important UN office that were "posted to the internet" but never uncovered by the media at large. If it's late and an office door is ajar, well, don't go peaking inside:

Five years ago, as legend has it, a few young women snuck from the lounge into the adjoining Economic and Social Council late one night and took photos of themselves (which were later posted to the Internet) less-than-clothed in front of Egypt’s seat. After the incident, security barred the doors leading from the room to committee chambers. But now the doors are sometimes found open again for clandestine viewing, or ... interactions. 

How these pictures have never seen the light of day is a modern miracle. But sometimes people eschew the niceties of a photo shoot for good ol' fashioned sex. “You haven’t really done it, until you’ve done it in the Security Council chamber behind China,” one bar patron said to another in front of Malone, offering a thumbs up for good measure.