Japan is getting increasingly worried about whether it will be able to collect some $5 billion in claims against Iraq now that the government of President Saddam Hussein has effectively collapsed.

Japan also hopes to recover about $7.5 billion in losses incurred at the time of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, government sources said.

But collecting the money could prove difficult, given the uncertainty about whether a post-Hussein administration will take on such claims and emerging calls in the United States to cut back on Iraq's foreign debt to help rebuild the war-torn country.

U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow has said that debts amassed under Hussein's rule should not be a burden on the Iraqi people.

Japan's claims against Iraq resulted from active plant and infrastructure construction by Japanese businesses in the 1970s and 1980s.

Some firms were involved in building part of Hussein's presidential palaces, industry sources said.

Of the $5 billion, about $3.6 billion is said to be related to trade insurance, with the creditor -- the independent administrative institute Nippon Export and Investment Insurance -- helping fix the amount.

"We are exploring how to proceed with recovery (of the claims) in the future, and hope it will not be in vain," an institute official said.

The $7.5 billion in losses comprises assets lost by businesses and individuals during the Gulf War.

Japan is trying to recover the losses by applying to the U.N. Compensation Committee, which was created to process claims and pay compensation for losses and damages suffered as a direct result of Iraq's unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait.

Of the losses, only about $33 million has been paid back after assessment, the government sources said.

According to the Foreign Ministry, worldwide claims against Iraq total about $62 billion, with damages linked to the Gulf War amounting to $280 billion.

U.N. role vital: poll

Almost 80 percent of Japanese think the United Nations should be the core of the reconstruction and postwar interim government of Iraq, according to a recent Kyodo News poll.

More than 60 percent of the poll's respondents think Japan's foreign policy should place priority on the U.N.

Meanwhile, support for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet rose slightly to 46.3 percent. That is 3 percentage points higher than in the previous poll, which was held immediately after the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

For the first time since February, support exceeded nonsupport, which fell from the March 20-21 poll by 1.6 percent percentage points to 43.3 percent.

Kyodo News conducted the two-day random telephone survey on 1,412 households with eligible voters and received 1,008 valid responses.

Analysts believe the rise in support for the Koizumi government was due to the prospect of an early end to conflict in Iraq. But with the strong public opinion for U.N.-led postwar operations, Japan must now promote international cooperation and not just simply follow the United States, the analysts said.

Compared with the 78.6 percent who said the U.N. should lead the interim government and rebuilding operations in Iraq, only 16.7 percent thought the U.S. should play the central role.

The poll was conducted Friday and Saturday, after it became clear Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's government had been toppled.

Over half the pollees viewed as positive the ouster of Hussein's government by the U.S.-led forces -- 12.5 percent greatly praised the result and 42.7 percent did so to some extent.

On the other hand, 29.1 percent fell short of evaluating it positively, while 12.9 percent did not see it as positive.

Respondents who positively evaluated the Japan's support of the U.S. military action rose by 8 percentage points from the March poll to 49.7 percent. That figure exceeded the 42.9 percent who did not see such support as positive.

Regarding Japan's future foreign policy, 61.7 percent of respondents said it should place priority on the U.N. This was almost double the 30.4 percent who said Japan's alliance with the U.S. should come first.

On aid to reconstruction efforts, 29.3 percent said Japan should actively contribute, and 60.2 percent thought it should contribute to some extent. Only 6.4 percent said it is OK for Japan to make a small contribution, and 2 percent thought Japan does not have to contribute at all.

On the deployment of Self-Defense Forces to support the reconstruction of Iraq, 55.8 percent said they support such a dispatch.

Support was down from 67.1 percent in the March survey. Meanwhile, those who oppose SDF deployment rose to 37.6 percent from 27 percent.