The foreign minister seems keen, but other officials pour cold water on the suggestion.

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Tuesday the government should consider sending Self-Defense Forces to Iraq to guard Japan's embassy in Baghdad in the wake of the slayings of two Japanese diplomats.

``Aside from Japan, most countries' embassies in Baghdad have military personnel or special police officials from their own countries providing security,'' Kawaguchi told a news conference.

Private security guards are currently hired to protect the facility.

``The Foreign Ministry has a strong interest in considering how to better protect its embassies,'' Kawaguchi said, adding the SDF plan was ``one of several options'' being discussed.

The suggestion came in reaction to the deaths Saturday of diplomats Katsuhiko Oku and Masamori Inoue. They were gunned down near Tikrit-bastion of support for Saddam Hussein-while traveling without armed guards. The slayings raised immediate questions about security measures at Japanese diplomatic missions around the world, particularly Iraq.

On Nov. 18, unidentified gunmen opened fire on the embassy compound, causing security guards to return fire. Nobody was injured in the attack.

The mere mention of using SDF personnel as guards drew words of caution from other officials, citing restrictions under the SDF law on permissible activities for Japanese troops overseas and other legal difficulties.

Senior Vice Foreign Minister Ichiro Aisawa, acknowledging ``technical difficulties,'' told reporters the government should encourage debate on revising the SDF Law ``immediately.''

Aisawa made the comment after attending a Liberal Democratic Party joint committee meeting on diplomatic and security issues.

Aisawa relayed his concerns at the same meeting and sought support from LDP lawmakers on the issue.

He said the matter was already being considered at an unofficial level within ``close circles'' in the government.

But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda played down suggestions any decision might be imminent.

``The statement does not mean that the government is considering placing SDF personnel to tend to security at embassies overseas,'' Fukuda said at a regular news conference.

Shigeru Ishiba, director-general of the Defense Agency, also questioned the merits of the proposal.

``There is the question of how the dispatch of such a force would be perceived. Then there is the question of the principle of reciprocity,'' Ishiba said, referring to the current practice of host countries protecting embassies.(IHT/Asahi: December 3,2003) (12/03)