The United States will do its utmost to assist the Self-Defense Forces in Iraq, including providing information to Japan concerning possible terrorist attacks, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba on Monday.

Armitage said that although reconstruction efforts are going well, local discontent toward the U.S. military as well as attacks by foreign terrorist elements are working against efforts to bring stability to the nation, according to a Japanese official who briefed reporters.

"We will tell Mr. (Paul) Bremer to cooperate with Japan," Armitage was quoted as saying by the official. Bremer is the top U.S. administrator in Iraq. "We will do everything we can."

Ishiba noted that the SDF dispatch will strengthen the Japan-U.S. security alliance, adding that stability in the Middle East will also serve the national interests of Japan, which imports nearly 90 percent of its oil from the region.

At the Japan National Press Club later in the day, Armitage expressed hope that Japan will revise its war-renouncing Constitution so that the country can assist the U.S. if it is attacked by a third country.

"Under the present situation, if an American ship is out on the Sea of Japan, outside the territorial waters of Japan, and were attacked, you're technically not allowed to help us," Armitage said. "That doesn't seem to be entirely reasonable."

He welcomed debate within Japan on amending the supreme code to permit collective defense, indicating this would bring more equity in the Japan-U.S. security alliance.

In October 2000, Armitage, who was then a senior official at a U.S. military think tank, wrapped up a report urging Japan to revise the Constitution so that it could engage in collective defense.

The government has maintained that although Japan has the right to collective self-defense, it is banned from such practice.

On North Korea, Armitage hinted that the much-anticipated second round of six-party talks may be held at the end of this month after the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Feb. 16 -- a national event for the hermit state.

Armitage is on a four-day visit to Japan.

Separately, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and Armitage agreed that the international community should cooperate to achieve Iraq's reconstruction.

Kawaguchi stressed the need for international unity regardless of the stance on the U.S.-led war, apparently urging Washington to seek support from France and Germany -- two major powers that opposed the war.

Carnage downplayed Staff report

Sunday's suicide bomb attacks on Kurdish political parties in Arbil, Iraq, does not mean the security situation in the entire country is deteriorating, the government's top spokesman said Monday.

But Japan will keep a close eye on further developments, as an advance unit of ground troops has been deployed in the southern city of Samawah, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said during his daily news briefing.

"We don't think the number of terrorist attacks is on the rise all across the country," he said.