The Cabinet on Tuesday greenlighted a plan to beef up the Self-Defense Forces' role in U.N. peacekeeping operations in South Sudan, a move that would let troops use weapons beyond purely self-defense scenarios for the first time since World War II.

The expanded mandate under the contentious new security laws, called kaketsuke keigo, would allow SDF personnel engaged in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to come to the rescue of U.N. and nongovernmental organization workers under attack there.

The new mandate would let the SDF engage in such activities for the first time since Japan began taking part in U.N. peacekeeping operations in 1992.