Japan to Be Tested as Nonpermanent UNSC Member in 2023-2024

Tokyo, Jan. 1 (Jiji Press)--Japan will serve as a nonpermanent member of the U.N. Security Council in 2023-2024, with its diplomatic ability expected to be tested at a time when the council is seriously dysfunctional over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Asian nation occupying a nonpermanent Security Council seat is the 12th time, after its previous term in 2016-2017. The country holds the presidency of the council in January 2023.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in a speech on Monday, condemned Russia for its aggression on Ukraine, arguing that Russia, one of the five veto-wielding permanent Security Council members, is "attempting to break the international order."

Kishida vowed that Japan, as a nonpermanent member, "will play the role of advancing reform to restore the functions of the United Nations."

In 2022, the Security Council saw a sharp division between three of its permanent members--the United States, Britain and France--and the other two--China and Russia--over the war in Ukraine, as well as North Korea's repeated firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]