The Defense Agency and the National Police Agency have reached a basic agreement that Self-Defense Force troops should be mobilized to deal with subversive activities by armed guerrillas, government sources said Saturday.
The heads of the two agencies will conclude a new accord by the end of the year on how they will divide the responsibilities of dealing with domestic security emergencies, paving the way for the SDF to accept a larger role, the sources said.
The current agreement, concluded in 1954, was mainly designed to suppress large-scale riots and the SDF's role was limited to backup support for the police force.