"It is possible to approve it depending on the case," Defense Agency Director-General Yoshinori Ono told a parliament committee when asked about the issue.

Ono said Japan would consider each case carefully and only consider such exports if the United State requested them, Jiji Press news agency reported.

Japan last year eased a decades-old ban on weapons exports. It has since considered offering naval equipment to Southeast Asian nations to help combat piracy, a concern for the nation dependent on oil imports.

Tokyo has been rushing to develop a missile defense system with the United States since North Korea stunned the world in 1998 by firing a missile over the Japanese mainland into the Pacific.

Japan renounced the use of force in its 1947 constitution imposed by the United States after World War II.

Embracing its pacifist role, Japan in 1967 said it would ban all weapons sales to communist and other countries perceived to threaten world peace. The self-imposed ban was tightened in 1976 to rule out all military exports.

In a step away from it, Japan said in December it could export missile parts to the United States under "strict controls" for national security, with exports to third countries to be considered on a case-to-case basis.

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