Ichiro Ozawa, deputy head of the Democratic Party of Japan, gave a guarded response Wednesday to a formal request that he assume the party's presidency following the resignation of DPJ leader Naoto Kan over his failure to pay mandatory pension premiums.
Ozawa met with DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada at the Diet in the afternoon, but did not give any clear response as to whether he would take the party's helm.
"The secretary general strongly urged me to make the decision and succeed Kan," Ozawa told a news conference after the meeting. "I take this request from the secretary general seriously."