Ichiro Ozawa, deputy president of the Democratic Party of Japan, suggested Thursday that DPJ chief Naoto Kan should resign because he failed to pay the mandatory premiums for the basic pension system while serving as health minister in 1996.
Kan said the same day that he does not plan to step down. Ozawa later issued a statement saying he was not actually calling for Kan's resignation.
In an article he contributed to an evening paper, Ozawa criticized Kan and seven members Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet who did not pay the premiums.