Japan's main opposition party head urges gov't to uphold non-nuclear principles

TOKYO - Japan's main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) leader Yoshihiko Noda on Saturday called for the country's non-nuclear weapons principles to be upheld, local media reported.

Speaking to reporters in Kumamoto Prefecture, the former prime minister said that Japan should "take the lead in spreading the idea (of nuclear abolition) to the world," Kyodo News reported.

Noda's remarks came after government sources said Friday that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was considering reviewing the third of The Three Non-Nuclear Principles, which prohibits nuclear weapons from entering Japan's territory.

During a recent Lower House Budget Committee hearing, Takaichi avoided stating whether her defense and security policies would adhere to the country's long-held Three Non-Nuclear Principles.

According to the Kyodo News report, Noda said the CDPJ will press Takaichi on the matter during Diet sessions.

The Three Non-Nuclear Principles, not possessing, not producing and not allowing introduction of nuclear weapons into Japanese territory, were first declared in the Diet, Japan's parliament, by then Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in 1967 and viewed as a national credo.

If the principle is changed, it will represent a significant shift in the country's security policy and is certain to draw domestic and international backlash, Kyodo News said.