TOKYO- Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada on Wednesday denied media reports that she endorsed the idea of keeping undisclosed information that the Ground Self-Defense Force held controversial daily reports on GSDF activities in South Sudan.

"It's completely untrue that I approved a cover-up of the reports or the idea of keeping their existence undisclosed," Inada told reporters.

But she admitted that she had talks with Gen. Toshiya Okabe, GSDF chief of staff, and others on Feb. 15.

Inada insisted that she was told by Okabe at the time that the reports in question had been discarded, against the media reports that she was informed of the discovery of the GSDF reports, which the government initially explained had been destroyed.

According to the media reports, the defense chief backed the position that information in the GSDF reports had been personally collected by troops and thus was not regarded as official documents.

The media reports said that at the meeting, a decision was made not to disclose the GSDF reports.

Inada still said that she was "not aware" that the documents were maintained.

A senior GSDF officer has told Jiji Press that it was "impossible to neglect to inform Inada" of the discovery of the GSDF reports. "She was informed of the fact in the presence of others," the officer said.

According to a ranking official of the Defense Ministry, Okabe, Vice Defense Minister Tetsuro Kuroe and Masayoshi Tatsumi, administrative vice chief of staff, the SDF's Joint Staff, had talks on Feb. 15 and agreed that there was no need to announce the existence of the GSDF reports.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not answer questions on the matter from reporters when he arrived at his office Wednesday morning.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that Inada phoned him Tuesday evening to say that the media reports were not true.

"I want the defense minister to continue to perform her duties faithfully," Suga, Japan's top government spokesman, told a press conference, rejecting calls for Inada to step down over the problem.

Meanwhile, the main opposition Democratic Party's parliamentary affairs chief, Kazunori Yamanoi, said Abe should immediately dismiss Inada, alleging that she has continued to lie to the public.

Yamanoi said the DP has asked the ruling Liberal Democratic Party for Inada's dismissal.

In December last year, the Defense Ministry rejected a request for the disclosure of the daily reports written by GSDF troops on a peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, saying that they had been discarded.

Later that month, however, it was found that electronic data of the reports were stored at the SDF's Joint Staff. In January this year, similar data were found also at the GSDF.

The GSDF reports in question included notes on activities in a period of armed clashes in Juba, the capital of the civil war-torn African nation.
Japan finished withdrawing its GSDF troops from South Sudan in May. (Jiji Press)