U.N. … what Ban [new U.N. Secretary-General] said "was his own nuance" on the death penalty.

Ban Ki-moon ran into trouble on his first day of work as U.N. Secretary-General on Tuesday over Saddam Hussein's execution when he twice failed to state the United Nations' opposition to the death penalty and stressed instead that capital punishment should be a decision of every country.

Michele Montas, his new spokesperson, insisted that there was no change in U.N. policy, and what Ban said "was his own nuance" on the death penalty.

"The U.N. policy still remains that the organization is not for capital punishment," she said. "However, the way the law is applied in different countries, he left it open to those different countries."