The Defense Ministry said Tuesday it has found daily activity logs of Japanese troops in South Sudan for last July when the security situation there sharply deteriorated during U.N. peacekeeping operations, reversing its earlier position that the documents had been entirely discarded.

"I'm aware that our response to the issue was insufficient," Defense Minister Tomomi Inada told a news conference as she admitted the ministry found digital data of the logs after expanding its search.

She denied any intention to conceal the information.