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Korea has taken its "diplomatic war" with Japan over the island country's claim to the Dokdo Islets to U.N. headquarters in New York, where it is lobbying to block Japan's ambition for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
Korea is beginning to rally a "like-minded group" opposed to the enlargement of the permanent council with the aim of stopping Japan in its tracks.
"We believe that Japan has not earned the trust of its neighbors and does not reflect on its past and is therefore not qualified to join the permanent Security Council; we will work to block its entry," Kim Sam-hoon, Korea's U.N. representative, told correspondents in New York on Thursday.
Of two Security Council reform plans presented by U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan, the like-minded group is throwing its weight behind the one that does not expand the permanent council. It is also demanding that the council should only be expanded through consultation with U.N. member states.
The group, which includes Italy, Argentina and Pakistan, will invite high-ranking figures from governments that have yet to decide on the matter for informal discussions on April 11.
Japan is trying to persuade U.N. member states by joining forces with the "G-4", a group of nations looking to join the permanent council that includes Germany, Brazil and India.
The G-4 nations held a rally to explain their position at the Millennium Hotel in Manhattan, New York on Thursday to which they invited diplomats from U.N. member states.
Japan's strategy is to first submit a resolution in the U.N. General Assembly calling for the expansion of the permanent council by six nations, dividing the new seats according to region (two for Asia, two for Africa, one for the Americas and one for Europe). The resolution would not list the new member states, however. That would wait for the second stage, in which the General Assembly would select the six new states in a secret ballot.
The Korean government believes that even if Japan avoids the attacks of the "like-minded group", there are still obstacles in Tokyo's path. First, even though the U.S. officially supports Japan's ambition for a permanent seat, it does not seem to endorse plans to expand the permanent council by six members. China, too, is opposing a rash expansion of the Security Council.
In the African camp, there is infighting between South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and others over which nations should take the two African seats, and this, too, is a good omen for Korea.
But Seoul cannot rest easy. Japan has already got the most international support among the nations looking to join. If the permanent council expansion plan is passed by the General Assembly in June, Japan is not in a bad position to win two-thirds support for its bid.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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