Koizumi intensifies push for permanent U.N. seat

Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi is expected to personally make his case for joining the ranks of five veto-wielding powers when he addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

Japan has long campaigned for a seat on the council next to the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France. But Koizumi took the campaign to a new level when he adopted it as his pet project this year, ahead of a report by a U.N. panel set up by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to study recommendations for reform, including possibly expanding the Security Council.

Critics, however, say Koizumi has been vague about what Japan would do with a permanent seat. Some say Japan would be unable to fulfill such responsibilities as authorizing a war because its pacifist constitution bars it from sending its own troops to battle.

"It is untenable to imagine how Japan could vote to deploy troops to take part in collective security contingencies without sending its own," said Weston Konishi, a senior research officer at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation in Washington. "It would lead to real resentment."

He thinks Japan is unlikely to win a permanent seat, at least within the next five to 10 years.

Source: Agencies