Japan's upper house approves SDF dispatch
PLA Daily 2004-02-10
TOKYO, Feb. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Japan's upper house Monday gave a green light to the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF), which meant a formal legal recognition of the disputed operation.
The issue previously cleared the House of Representatives on Jan. 31, with the oppositions being absent in protest of the voting.
Both the upper and lower houses dominated the ruling coalition.
Japan endorsed a special bill last July on sending the SDF to Iraq for reconstruction. The law rules the government shall get parliament's permission within 20 days after the dispatch.
About 1,000 troops will be deployed in and around Iraq along with transport planes and armored vehicles. Part of the 550 ground troops are making preparations in Iraq's southern city of Samawah.
The House of Councilors also sanctioned a bill on Japan's taking unilateral sanction against other nations.
The bill is believed to be primarily targeting the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The two countries are at odds for DPRK's nuclear development programs and abducting Japanese nationals in 1970s and 1980s. Yet, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said he would not consider slapping immediate sanctions.
Koizumi seemed not to be ready for more aggressive actions against the DPRK before a scheduled second round of six-party meeting on Feb. 25 in Beijing.
China, the DPRK, the United States, South Korea, Japan and Russia held the first meeting in August last year on DPRK's nuclear programs.
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