Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi has proposed allowing the Self-Defense Forces to join multinational forces when they are part of U.N.-sanctioned international activities working for peace.
Kawaguchi's proposal is contained in an article to be published Wednesday in the monthly opinion magazine Ronza, according to a copy of the article made available to Kyodo News on Tuesday. The magazine is published by the Asahi Shimbun.
"There are expectations for multinational forces established based on U.N. resolutions to play an increasingly wide-ranging role with changes in the security environment of the international community, and their importance has increased," she said. "But under the current PKO (peacekeeping operations) Law, our country cannot take part in such activities."