Liberia: VP Koung Dismisses Brussels Airport Search Report

MONROVIA — Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung has pushed back against reports that he was stopped and searched while transiting through Brussels Airport, dismissing the claims as the latest in a pattern of stories he says follow him regardless of how routinely he travels.

By Gerald C. Koinyeneh

In a statement addressing the reports, Koung said he had used the standard passenger route through the airport — the same one “everyone uses” — to pick up items for his daughter at the Duty Free stores. He said the screening was uneventful.

“No shoes, no jacket was removed,” Koung said, pushing back directly on the specifics of the reports.

The Vice President drew a comparison to an earlier controversy from 2024, when he flew on a private jet belonging to a friend, free of charge — a trip that also generated public discussion and scrutiny at the time. He suggested the pattern was not coincidental.

“Again, this is the effect of the package,” Koung said, referring — without further elaboration in his statement — to what he characterizes as a recurring dynamic around coverage of his travel.

VP Koung was en route to Vienna, Austria to attend the 70th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

 Nuclear Technology Access

At the conference, Koung called for greater and more equitable access to peaceful nuclear science and technology, particularly for developing countries seeking to apply nuclear technology in healthcare, agriculture, environmental protection and radiation safety.

He reaffirmed Liberia’s commitment to the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear science and technology, arguing that access to its benefits should not be determined by geography or national income.

“We believe that access to peaceful nuclear technology must not be determined by geography or by national income. Its benefits must reach people in countries with the greatest needs,” Koung said.