Contact the ABC Search the ABC NewsKidsABC RadioYouthABC TVSciencePublic AffairsArts & CultureRuralEducationAsia-PacificIndigenousSportHealthABC In Your Area
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Onlinecontact and search links
ABC Online Navigation Bar
ABC News Online
News Home      
Top Stories      
Just In              
World                
Australia/Local  
Business           
Politics              
Weather           
Sport                
Health               
Arts                   
Sci-Tech           
Media               
Environment     
Rural                 
Indigenous       
Offbeat             
In-Depth          
Forums             
Services            
Help/Site Map   

ABC News Bulletin
ABC News Bulletin - Broadband
ABC News Bulletin - Dial Up

NewsRadio

Japan Govt pressured to reject Iraq deployment

The Japanese Government is now under enormous pressure to abandon its plan to send troops to help rebuild Iraq after two diplomats were killed there over the weekend.

Katsuhiko Oku and Masamori Inoue were travelling to an aid conference in northern Iraq, when they stopped at a roadside food stall and were shot to death.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi says his government will not give in to terrorism, and has vowed to press ahead with plans to dispatch non-combat troops to help rebuild Iraq.

It is a deeply unpopular policy, the opposition Democratic Party, and at least one senior member of the Government, are vowing to step up their opposition to the deployment.

Only 10 per cent of the Japanese public supports the idea of sending soldiers to Iraq.




ABC Top Stories


To ABC Online Home Page