Hiromu Nonaka, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, voiced support Thursday for permanent foreign residents of Japan being granted voting rights in local elections.
Nonaka made his position clear during a meeting with visiting new leaders of the (South) Korea-Japan Parliamentarians' Union, headed by former South Korean Prime Minister Kim Jong Pil.
Kim, new chairman of the union, requested that Japan grant suffrage to South Koreans living in Japan.
The LDP's two allies -- New Komeito and the New Conservative Party -- have submitted a bill to that effect to the Diet.
The bill would give permanent foreign residents aged 20 or older the right to vote for heads of government in local elections. Many LDP members, however, oppose the bill.
Nonaka told Kim that he does not know if the LDP will reach a consensus on the bill, but said he hopes it will be passed into law, possibly at an extraordinary Diet session this autumn, by giving individual LDP lawmakers the power to vote according to their own convictions rather than according to party policy.