John Holmes, U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said Tuesday he will visit Japan and South Korea in June as part of his effort to build partnerships in Asia.
Asked why the two nations had been singled out for his first trip to a nonconflict zone since taking up his current post, Holmes said: "Because they're both very important countries in their own right. . . . But (they are) also particularly important from the humanitarian point of view.
"It's a symbol of their importance as countries, but also of the importance for us in general of outreach to a wide variety of regions, a wide variety of countries, a wide variety of actors, and a sort of general need, if you like, to get away from the idea that humanitarian action is a Western thing, which it isn't," he said.
While Japan was the fifth-largest contributor in the world to humanitarian appeals in 2006 after the United States, the European Union, Britain and the Netherlands. South Korea has recently stepped up its donations as well.