The ruling coalition and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan agreed Thursday to proceed with Diet deliberation on pension reform legislation "with an eye toward" future integration of the existing programs.
The accord paves way for the government-sponsored pension reform bills to clear the House of Representatives on Tuesday with a set of amendments.
The agreement came Thursday evening amid recent revelations that seven Cabinet members as well as DPJ chief Naoto Kan did not pay their mandatory premiums for the National Pension Program for varying periods of time.