A televised session of the Upper House Budget Committee was suspended Thursday morning due to a boycott by opposition lawmakers after Prime Minister Naoto Kan refused to disclose documents on illegal political donations he received and later returned to a South Korean resident in 2006 and 2009.
Under a tacit agreement, ruling or opposition lawmakers rarely disrupt Budget Committee sessions being shown on NHK, although opposition parties often boycott and stop committee or plenary sessions that aren't being televised.
The Budget Committee session Thursday was disrupted for about 30 minutes by the Liberal Democratic Party protest.
Kan did not agree to disclose receipts that his political fund management body, called So-shi-kai, reportedly received from the South Korean when it returned the donations totaling ¥1.09 million.
Politicians are barred from receiving funds from foreign nationals and opposition lawmakers have attacked Kan over the donations.
Later in the day, the committee resumed after key committee members from the various parties agreed to ask Kan to report on the matter by the evening and postpone questions by LDP member Eri-ko Ya-ma-ta-ni, who asked for the receipts in the afternoon.