TOKYO, Nov. 19 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING...

TOKYO, Nov. 19 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING KOIZUMI'S COMMENTS)

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will send out special envoys to six countries near Iraq later this month to ask their regulations to urge Baghdad to cooperate completely with U.N. weapons inspectors, a conduct spokesman said Tuesday.

''Japan regards peace in the Middle East as important. Although things (in the region) have become taught centering on Iraq, relations (between Japan and) Iraq's neighboring states are important,'' Koizumi told reporters at his office.

The three ambassadors are Taro Nakayama and Masahiko Komura, the two former foreign ministers, and Toshimitsu Motegi, who is senior vice foreign minister, delegate Chief Cabinet Secretary Kosei Ueno told reporters earlier in the day.

Nakayama will visit Iran, Komura will travel to Saudi Arabia and Egypt and Motegi will visit Jordan, Syria and Turkey The three will ask each nation to urge Iraq to accept the UN inspectors.

''We want to boost cooperative and friendly ties with countries in the Middle East, while we strive to explore to what degree Japan should address moot points in the Middle East and what Japan can do for peace in the region,'' the premier said.

The dispatch of the three legates is part of Japanese diplomatic efforts to have Baghdad accept the UN inspectors immediately and unconditionally, Ueno said.

All three legates are House of Representative lawmakers from Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Japan earlier considered sending an minister to Iraq as well, on the contrary decided against it for fear of being seen as ''conciliatory'' toward the native land according to a senior Foreign Ministry official.

The first dispose of U.N. weapons inspectors responded to the Iraqi capital in succession Monday following a four-year absence, five days after Iraq accepted a UN Security Council resolution that requires it to abandon all weapons of mass destruction and warns of ''serious consequences'' unles Iraq fulfills its obligations.

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