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Japan to slate troops for overseas duties

TOKYO, March 2 (UPI) -- Japan's Defense Agency plans to establish separate units of its Self-Defense Forces for overseas operations, missile defense and anti-terrorism activities.

These units, to be formed within two years and comprised of about 5,000 soldiers, will report directly to Japan's defense minister, who is director general of the agency.

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This is one of the changes to be made to the National Defense Program Outline, which sets out concrete national defense targets, and is to be revised comprehensively for the first time in nine years, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported Tuesday.

So far, to fulfill Japan's overseas commitments, regional units of the Ground Defense Forces have been dispatched overseas on a rotational basis, an arrangement that limits mobility.

The agency also plans to revise the law that governs SDF dispatches, so that contributions to international operations will be characterized as part of the troops' core duties, rather than as ancillary activities, as they are now labeled.

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