The Defense Agency intends to include measures to improve the welfare conditions for members of the Self-Defense Forces in Japan's next five-year defense buildup plan for fiscal 2001-2005, agency sources said Friday.

The measures include increasing the amount of compensation for families of those killed in the line of duty -- currently lower than that for police officers and firefighters -- and the creation of educational loans for such members' children.

More than 1,700 SDF members have been killed on duty since the forces' predecessor was created in 1950.

The agency also intends to include a new measure to upgrade mental care for SDF personnel, as well as programs to enable them to acquire extra skills.

Improving welfare for SDF personnel and their families has been called for in previous defense buildup plans, but such programs tended to be overshadowed by the need to improve the SDF's main equipment, such as fighter aircraft and warships.

The measures are designed to improve the morale of SDF members and prevent accidents or scandals while they serve by improving their working environment, the sources added.

Honolulu in Sasebo

SASEBO, Nagasaki Pref. (Kyodo) The U.S. nuclear submarine Honolulu arrived Friday at Sasebo port in Nagasaki Prefecture, one day behind schedule due to bad weather, U.S. Navy officials said.

The 6,080-ton nuclear submarine put in alongside a dock used exclusively for U.S. Navy vessels in the morning.

According to a notice to the southwestern Japan city's officials, the U.S. Navy said the visit is to supply the ship with provisions and allow a break for the 130-member crew. It is not known how long the submarine will remain in the port.

The visit is the 14th time a U.S. nuclear submarine has berthed at the port this year.

The U.S. and South Korean navies have been conducting a joint military exercise, Foal Eagle, since late October in waters east of the Korean Peninsula, and a number of U.S. military vessels have called at ports in the Kyushu region.