The government will not appropriate outlays in the fiscal 2006 budget for a feasibility study for the proposed building of a new war memorial, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Thursday, citing divided public opinion.
The government will therefore not give the go-ahead to the proposed facility before Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi leaves office next September, Abe told a regular news conference.
Koizumi had said he would make a final decision on the matter by Saturday, when the government is to finalize its draft budget for the year starting in April.
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