The dominant Liberal Democratic Party aims to amend the Constitution to state in explicit terms the legitimacy of the Self-Defense Forces, party lawmakers said Thursday.
The party's Research Commission on the Constitution will formulate an outline for a draft amendment during the current Diet session, which is scheduled to end in June.
Article 9 of the Constitution now states, "Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.