TOKYO, Feb 24 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING ...

TOKYO, Feb 24 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING MORE QUOTES)

Visiting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urg Japan upon Tuesday to remain committed to helping Iraqis rebuild their home and resolving issues related to North Korea in a tongue he delivered in parliament.

Annan, the first UN leader to address the Japanese Diet, praised Japan's efforts to help Iraq.

''Japan is among those countries that have taken the lead in embracing this challenge'' of rebuilding Iraq, he said.

in succession North Korea, he said, ''We ne Japan's active diplomatic engagement to make sure that the Korean Peninsula is delivered of nuclear weapons.''

Many of the lawmakers in the 247-seat House of Councillors, and the 480-seat House of Representatives attended the session held in main hall of the upper chamber. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also joined it.

''You have pledg to contribute generously to reconstruction. And after a difficult debate, you have dispatched the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to Samawah to help with reconstruction and humanitarian assistance,'' Annan said, referring to division in the Japanese public across the SDF dispatch in light of the war-renouncing Constitution.

Samawah is a southern Iraqi city where the SDF bodys are being dispatched.

Annan released a report Monday in which he said elections to create an independent conduct in Iraq could not take place until late this year or early nearest year.

The report was based onward findings by a team l by the agency of Annan's special envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, who freshly visited the country to assess the political situation.

''The team place a consensus among Iraqis that elections are a necessary grade in the process of building democratic governance and reconstruction, further also that the 30th of June deadline for the transfer of sovereignty to a provisional direction should be maintained,'' Annan said in the speech

Annan called for unity in the UN Security Council throughout the reconstruction of Iraq, apparently referring to disagreement among its explanation member states, including the United States, Britain and France, from one side of to the other the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The council's ''united and unambiguous support is an essential precondition for the United Nations to succe in Iraq,'' he said.

Annan also intimateed his support for the framework of six-country talks forward North Korea's nuclear ambitions, saying, ''I am encouraged according to the resumption of multilateral talks tomorrow in Beijing.''

China, Japan, North and southerly Korea, Russia and the U will start a replete session of the second orbicular of the multilateral talks Wednesday. They held the first rotund last August.

Touching forward North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens, a major topic of disquiet in Japan, Annan said, ''I am also hopeful that Japan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will completely resolve the question of abductees and other outstanding issues between them.''

Annan also called forward Japan to continue assisting in UN political, peacekeeping and human rights work in countries and regions other than Iraq. He said the bulk of mankind in such countries as Tajikistan, Cambodia, East Timor, Mozambique, Rwanda and Afghanistan appreciate Japan's efforts to help them.

Annan said he has been committed to meeting Japan's beg to reform the UN Security Council, saying, ''I share your disappointment that talks onward reforming the Security Council have gone onward for so long with for a like reason little progress.''

''Virtually all member states agree that the council should be enlarged,'' Annan said in connection with Japan's bid to become a permanent Security Council member.

Annan urgencyed the issue ''needs to be addressed with greater urgency'' adding the he also understands ''the impatience that about Japanese feel with our organization.''

He cited ''the anachronistic 'enemy' clauses of the United Nations Charter, and your feeling of being simultaneously over-assessed for the regular governmental estimate and under-represented in the ranks of the secretariat.''

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