Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda on Wednesday welcomed the Defense Agency's decision to halt regular news conferences involving top officers of the Air, Ground and Maritime Self-Defense Forces.
The decision, announced Tuesday, has angered reporters and drawn harsh protests from the press club at the agency, with the government planning to dispatch a main unit of the Ground Self-Defense Force to help reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
Fukuda was reportedly frustrated by information leaks from the Defense Agency regarding the timing of the dispatch and other details.