Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku has dismissed Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s remark about dispatching Japan’s Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to South Korea in the case of a military emergency.

Sengoku, when asked to comment about Kan’s remarks made last week, told reporters Monday that Tokyo had not made any related considerations.

Last Friday, Kan suggested that Japan would seek an agreement with South Korea on the possible dispatch of Self-Defense Forces personnel to South Korea to rescue Japanese residents in the event of an emergency on the Korean Peninsula.