Japan Elected UNSC Nonpermanent Member for 12th Time

New York, June 9 (Jiji Press)--Japan was elected a nonpermanent member of the U.N. Security Council on Thursday, winning the seat for an unprecedented 12th time.

Japan will serve as a nonpermanent member for two years from Jan. 1, 2023, coming back to the powerful U.N. panel after its previous term in 2016-2017.

The country was the unified candidate for a nonpermanent Security Council seat allocated to the Asia-Pacific region in Thursday's election to choose those replacing five outgoing nonpermanent members.

The Security Council is the only U.N. body that can make binding decisions on member states. It is composed of five permanent members--the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China--and 10 nonpermanent members.

The five permanent members are currently divided chiefly over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]