Japan's Abe to push for constitution reform before year end - media
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to accelerate plans to amend Japan's pacifist constitution, saying he expects to submit a proposed revision to lawmakers before the end of the year, media reported on Sunday.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to accelerate plans to amend Japan's pacifist constitution, saying he expects to submit a proposed revision to lawmakers before the end of the year, media reported on Sunday.
Abe said in a speech in Kobe city on Saturday he planned to submit a proposal for the first ever amendment of Japan's post-World War Two constitution during an extraordinary session of parliament that will be convened later this year, Japan's main daily newspapers reported.
Abe has proposed amending the constitution's war-renouncing Article 9 by 2020 to officially recognize Japan's Self-Defense Forces as its military.
Such a change could draw fire from China and South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan's past military aggression persist. They would likely see the change as a step toward the re-emergence of Japan as a military power.
Abe had been expected to wait until next year before seeking legislators' approval of the change. He would need to win the support of two-thirds of members of both houses of parliament and a majority of votes in a referendum.
Supporters of Japan's post-war pacifism view Article 9 as the foundation of its democracy. Many conservatives see it as a humiliation imposed by the United States after Japan's defeat in 1945.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)