The Japanese government is considering pulling its 600 troops out of Iraq in the first half of next year, the national daily Yomiuri Shimbun said on Thursday, but the government denied it had such a plan. Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has already approved an extension of the troops' current mandate, which expires on December 14.
Japan's dispatch of military personnel, first approved in 2003, helped cement close ties between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and US President George W. Bush, though the troops' activities are limited to humanitarian and reconstruction activities under Japan's pacifist constitution.
Japan's deputy chief cabinet secretary denied the report and Koizumi said no decision had been made.
"It will be a comprehensive decision in the future. It's a topic (to be decided) in the future," Koizumi told reporters.
Earlier, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiken Sugiura told a news conference: "The government is aware of the report. But there is no truth to the statement that it is considering such a plan."