hankyoreh

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe looked happy on January 24 after talking with Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar on the telephone. The approval rating for Prime Minister Abe's Cabinet has recently fallen to around 30 percent, but given the situation, he showed a sense of confidence. This was especially so because Prime Minister Abe had just received a long-awaited present from the Mongolian president: during the telephone conversation, President Enkhbayar said his nation would withdraw its candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. He had reportedly urged Japan to run for the spot instead.

The U.N. Security Council consists of five permanent members and ten non-permanent members. Non-permanent seats are allocated to a few regions such as Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Iran also intends to run for a seat, but the nation is in a more disadvantageous position than is Japan because the Middle Eastern nation received a Security Council resolution to sanction it for its nuclear development.

Japan's two-year term as a non-permanent member expired last year. Japan, a nine-time non-permanent member of the Security Council, chaired the U.N. council when it led an effort to pass a resolution to sanction against North Korea last year. Japan, which dreams of becoming a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, is hesitant to retire from a role which has given it a strong political voice. Because of this, Japan reportedly pledged Mongolia huge financial assistance to persuade the nation to abandon its aspirations for a U.N. seat. Junichiro Koizumi, then Japanese prime minister, visited Mongolia last summer to pledge assistance of US$350 million. Japan's last term on the council was made possible when Papua New Guinea withdrew its candidacy in 2004 due to financial problems.

Observers say Prime Minister Abe's recent remarks that non-members of the U.N. Security Council do not have a voice at the council seems to show the Japanese government's desire to influence the diplomatic process, even though it currently does not have a permanent position on the council.

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