Japanese PM hopes to visit Iraq

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday he hoped to visit Iraq following a surprise visit to Baghdad the day before by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said the bloody attack on a US base on Tuesday in Iraq will not have impact on Japan's mission there.

The premier said he wanted to visit Iraq "sometime in the future", Kyodo News reported.

Besides Blair, US President George W. Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, leaders of countries that have large military presence in Iraq, have made visits there.

As a firm supporter to US policy on Iraq, Koizumi has managed to extend the mission of the Self-Defense Forces troops in Iraq for another year until the end of 2005.

More than 500 Japanese ground troops are stationed in Iraqi southern city of Samawah.

"We don't link this incident with incidents in Samawah as the areas are remote," Hosoda said in a press conference, referring to previous mortar and rocket attacks on the troops' camp and the US base blast which killed at least 22 people.

The safety of the Japanese soldiers is a major concern for the Japanese people. An Asahi Shimbun survey showed Tuesday that 58 percent of people opposed the extension.

Source: Xinhua