The Defense Agency has stored blood samples of the Ground Self-Defense Force troops deployed to Iraq with an eye to using DNA to confirm identities in the event they are killed, agency chief Shigeru Ishiba said Tuesday.
Ishiba added, however, that the move was aimed primarily at keeping records of antibodies in case the troops contract infectious diseases.
While the agency has not extracted DNA from the samples, Ishiba acknowledged the possibility that DNA will be used if troops are involved in an accident or another "undesirable" situation.
The agency took the samples with the consent of the troops before sending them to Iraq, and will get consent from their relatives if a DNA test becomes necessary, said Ishiba, the defense agency director general.