Japan may extend its deployment of troops in southern Iraq if the security situation in the country does not change, a top government official said yesterday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said, however, that the government has made no final decision yet.
PHOTO: EPA
"If the situation remains the way it is now, I think it's necessary for Japan to continue to get actively involved," said Hosoda. When asked if an extension was possible, Hosoda said, "Yes."
Some 500 Japanese troops on a non-combat, humanitarian mission in the Iraqi city of Samawah are slated to come home in December this year. Another 500 are based in neighboring Gulf states providing support.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported yesterday that the Cabinet was expected to approve an extension of about one year before December, and that foreign ministry and defense officials have already notified Washington.
A Defense Agency spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.
The mission has faced strong opposition at home, where many fear the troops could get drawn into fighting in violation of Japan's pacifist constitution.
Critics have also charged that Japan's high-profile support of the US makes it an increasingly likely target of terrorism.
Hosoda said the government would keep a close watch on the terrorism problem and changes involving the new government in Iraq in making its final decision.
"We will to decide after evaluating the overall situation, including Iraq's reconstruction and security situation," he said.
NHK public broadcaster reported that Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi asked Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to keep Japanese troops in Iraq, when the two leaders met in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.
Koizumi, emphasizing the need for stability in Iraq, responded that Japan intended to continue doing its utmost for the country's reconstruction, NHK said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN