Japan will finish disposing of antipersonnel land mines held by the Self-Defense Forces on Feb. 8, in line with the Ottawa Treaty, Tetsuro Yano, senior vice foreign minister, said Thursday.
A ceremony marking the completion of the land-mine disposal will be held at an Air Self-Defense Force base in Shinasahi, Shiga Prefecture, Yano said. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will attend.
Japan signed the Ottawa Treaty, or the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines, in 1997.
In line with the treaty, Japan was required to dispose of the SDF's roughly 1 million land mines by the end of February.