Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday reiterated the need for explicitly defining the status of Japan's Self-Defense Forces under his plan to revise the pacifist Constitution by 2020.
"Unfortunately many constitutional scholars say the SDF is unconstitutional (per the war-renouncing Article 9)," Abe told the Upper House Budget Committee. "I believe it's the responsibility of our generation to change such a situation."
The remarks were among only a handful he would make on his desire to amend the charter during a face-off Tuesday with Democratic Party opposition leader Renho, who goes only by her first name.
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