Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto expressed hope Wednesday that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's visit to Iraq will result in a solution to the Iraqi crisis.
Hashimoto, however, declined to state how Japan would respond if the U.S. actually conducts military strikes against Iraq, but he did say that Iraq is violating the U.N. Security Council's resolutions.
"It is difficult to say (how Japan will react if military attacks are carried out) because it is not clear how such attacks will be conducted," Hashimoto said in reply to a question from Tsutomu Hata, head of the political party Minseito.