Despite the recent fatal ambush of two Japanese diplomats in Iraq, Japan should send Self-Defense Forces troops to the country to help speed up its reconstruction, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Thursday.
"Time is important in the reconstruction of (Iraq), as Mr. Oku once told me," Kawaguchi said in an interview with The Japan Times, referring to Katsuhiko Oku, one of the victims of the attack.
Supporting Iraq's reconstruction will help stabilize the security situation, Kawaguchi noted, adding that they are "two sides of the same coin."