"Four or five people will be sent," a foreign ministry spokeswoman said, quoting Kawaguchi's announcement.

"She said we will recruit from the foreign ministry, related government agencies and the private sector and send them as soon as possible," the spokeswoman said.

The personnel will stay in Iraq for several months working with the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, a unit of the US Defense Department, currently based in Kuwait, Jiji Press quoted Kawaguchi as saying.

Top foreign ministry officials have said there was nothing legally preventing the dispatch as long as the staff were not engaged in any military operations, which is forbidden by Japan's pacifist constitution.

SPACE.WIRE