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Koizumi pledges to press for U.N. Security Council reform

P. S. Suryanarayana

Japanese Prime Minister to go ahead with plans for postal privatisation

SINGAPORE: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday called for the reform of the United Nations Security Council and left the door open for a decision to extend the "humanitarian" mission of his country's military personnel in Iraq.

Addressing the House of Representatives in Tokyo, the first since his landslide re-election, Mr. Koizumi pledged to press for postal privatisation and other economic reforms.

He had called the snap poll after the upper chamber of Diet (Parliament) rejected the postal privatisation bills.

In a brief message Mr. Koizumi said Japan would extend its refuelling assistance to the U.S.-led forces for their "anti-terror" war in Afghanistan beyond the present deadline of November 1.

Local situation

On Iraq, he said he would take a decision on the mandate of the Japanese troops, now slated to end on December 14, in the light of "the local situation, the requests of the Iraqi people, and the international situation."

He called for the Security Council's reform in the context of Tokyo's moves to sustain its campaign for permanent membership of the chamber despite the failure of the Group of Four - Japan, India, Brazil, and Germany - to clinch the issue by the time of the just-concluded U.N. summit.

Mr. Koizumi said Japan's ties with China and South Korea would be strengthened to reverse the recent deterioration. The normalisation of relations with North Korea was also cited as a key foreign policy objective of his.

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