Japan raps N. Korea's allusion to bilateral issues over Tokyo's UNSC bid

Japan Policy & Politics, May 2, 2005

NEW YORK, April 28 Kyodo

Japan has protested North Korea's opposition to Tokyo's bid to win a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, saying Pyongyang raised bilateral issues at an informal meeting that have nothing to do with U.N. reform, the Japanese mission said Thursday.

The Japanese mission said in a statement that Toshio Ozawa, one of Japanese ambassadors to the United Nations, expressed grave concerns about North Korea's allusion to bilateral matters at an informal meeting on U.N. reform on Wednesday.

Ozawa said at the meeting that eligibility for permanent membership should be judged by a nation's contributions to international peace and security, the Japanese mission to the United Nations said.

He also expressed hope that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited North Korea in September 2002 and again in May 2004 in an effort to normalize bilateral relations and that Tokyo expects Pyongyang to fully honor the 2002 Pyongyang Declaration.

Ozawa also criticized North Korea for pursuing a nuclear arms program, the Japanese mission said.

The Japanese mission's statement came after China and North Korea on Wednesday expressed opposition at the informal U.N. meeting to Japan's bid to secure a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council without naming the country.

North Korea's Deputy Ambassador Kim Chang Guk said, ''We cannot accept an expansion of the Security Council by only giving consideration to (member nations') financial contributions to the United Nations.''

Kim's remark is taken as an opposition to Japan's bid to obtain a permanent seat because Japan is the second largest contributor to the United Nations after the United States. Japan puts up nearly 20 percent of the United Nations budget.

Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Wang Guangya stressed the need for providing more decision-making power to developing nations as well as smaller countries in reforming the Security Council, the sources added.