A senior official at the South Korean presidential office says Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s comment about dispatching Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to South Korea in case of a military emergency, is unrealistic.

On Friday, Kan suggested that Japan will seek an agreement with South Korea on the possible dispatch of Self-Defense Forces (SDF) personnel to South Korea to rescue Japanese residents, which caught Japanese media's attention.

The South Korean official said Sunday that while he did not know the context behind Kan’s remark, it probably had not been thought in-depth beforehand.

The official stated that since Kan’s comment is being criticized in Japan also, it is unlikely that Japan will follow through such a plan.

He also added that although there have been strategic communications among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan after the North's artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea and Japan's cooperation plan did not inlude troop dispatch.