The political uproar over nonpayment of mandatory pension premiums by several leading lawmakers continued Saturday, with opposition leader Naoto Kan likely to be pressured to step down as early as Monday.
Political observers believe resignation is inevitable for Kan, who was found to have skipped 10 months of premium payments in 1996, if he fails to get party approval Monday over an agreement with the ruling coalition to partly amend the deadlocked pension reform bills.
Three top lawmakers in the Democratic Party of Japan leadership met with Kan on Saturday to urge him to resign, party sources said. They were Secretary General Katsuya Okada, policy chief Yukio Edano and Diet affairs head Yoshihiko Noda.