Five new members elected to UN Security Council

The UN General Assembly on Thursday elected the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Luxembourg to a two-year term in the UN Security Council. The two joined Argentina, Australia and Rwanda, which were elected earlier, to serve as new non-permanent members of the powerful UN body. The new members will begin their term on Jan. 1, 2013, replacing Colombia, Germany, India, Portugal and South Africa, whose term ends on Dec. 31 this year. The ROK and Luxembourg won their Council seats after two rounds of secret ballot, garnering 149 and 131 votes from the 193 UN member states respectively, according to Vuk Jeremic, the president of the 67th session of the UN General Assembly who presided over the voting. Rwanda won 148 votes, Argentina 182 and Australia 140 in the first round to get elected. Under the UN Charter, the 15-member Security Council has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. To be elected to the Council, a country must win support from two thirds of the General Assembly members, or 129 votes.