According to Kyodo News, Koizumi added that quick nonmilitary aid should be given priority for the time being.

Koizumi also said that he will maintain his grip on the cabinet and continue with reform-oriented policies in the coming year in order to address urgent tasks such as economic revival.

On the possibility of sending the SDF to war-affected areas in and near Iraq after the conflict ends, Koizumi said, "If we must do something new following a U.N. resolution, we will need a new law."

Dispatch of the SDF to foreign countries has been a sensitive topic in light of Japan's Constitution, which renounces war, Kyodosaid, adding that current legislation will not allow the government to send the SDF to a postwar Iraq.

But Koizumi said that for the time being quick humanitarian assistance from Japan to war-affected people should be given priority.

"At this time, we will think of what can be done under current legislation, instead of what cannot be done without the making of a new law," Koizumi was quoted.

Some senior lawmakers including those in Koizumi's ruling camp are urging the government to make a new law so that the SDF can help in possible international rehabilitation work in a postwar Iraq.

Koizumi said he would consult the ruling coalition parties about such legislation if necessary in the future.

(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2003)