Japan and Germany are leading a campaign to gain U.N. Security Council permanent seats as officials from those two countries held talks on Tuesday with U.N. members and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to cultivate support. Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with Annan and the president of the U.N. General Assembly, Gabon's Foreign Minister Jean Ping, to talk about reform of the U.N. system, but particularly about enlarging the Security Council from 15 members to more than 20, including new permanent seats. Earlier, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told reporters he thought Germany had a good chance to receive a permanent seat on an expanded council. Japan and Germany are presently listed as "enemies" to the organization in the U.N. Charter, which was drawn up by World War II victors in 1945. The so-called "enemy clause" in the charter has never been removed despite repeated demands and even though both countries are major conomic powers and main political players in the organization. Koizumi's spokesman Akira Chiba said the Japanese premier urged reform of the council "as soon as possible". --More 2237 Local Time 1937 GMT
