Japan can participate, under the current legal structure, in minesweeping operations to help reconstruct a postwar Iraq, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Sunday.
"Even without a new law, operations such as removing mines are possible," Kawaguchi said on an NHK television program. She was referring to new legislation being debated that would authorize Japan's involvement in the postwar reconstruction of Iraq.
The government is expected to submit the reconstruction support bill to parliament after the U.S.-led war against Iraq ends.