Defense chief Yoshinori Ono said Friday he was considering inviting journalists with ``courage'' to Samawah in Iraq to cover the humanitarian mission by Self-Defense Forces there.

The about-face on the media appears aimed at winning greater public support for SDF activities there.

Speaking to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, Ono said the absence of Japanese reporters in Samawah may have led to misconceptions about security and the importance of SDF operations.

One result Ono pointed to was that a decision to extend the SDF mission beyond its Dec. 14 deadline was ``unpopular in the eyes of the public.''

``I think we should think about public relations. We have to examine the possibility of allowing some reporters into the camp. That is, if you have the courage,'' Ono said.

At present, no Japanese media group has correspondents in Samawah because of the overall poor security situation.

The Defense Agency asked media to refrain from reporting on the SDF dispatch to Samawah in January 2004. In March, the agency and media groups agreed on ground rules for Iraq reports after complaints of an information blackout. With worsening security in April, media outlets withdrew correspondents. An ASDF plane even airlifted some journalists to Kuwait.

Ono visited Samawah in early December to assess the situation and said he found the security to be ``stable.''

``At this moment, I think I should have taken Japanese reporters with me,'' Ono said.

An Asahi Shimbun poll in late December found 58 percent opposed the extension.(IHT/Asahi: January 8,2005)