Daily reports from Japan's peacekeeping force in South Sudan that the Defense Ministry claimed had been discarded were in fact saved within the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) all along, it has been learned.
The ministry initially claimed the reports no longer existed within the GSDF, before declaring that digital copies were found in Joint Staff Office computers. It has now been learned that the files were on machines in the GSDF itself, potentially sparking suspicions of deliberate concealment.
The Japanese unit in South Sudan uploads daily status reports to the GSDF's Central Readiness Force (CRF) via a bulletin board on the GSDF command and control system. According to a Defense Ministry source, access to the reports is limited to select ministry staff and GSDF personnel, and they were downloaded as reference material.
Read the full story at The Mainichi