Tokyo- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday denied that he had exercised influence to allow the Kake Educational Institution, headed by a personal friend of his, to launch a university department of veterinary medicine in a national strategic deregulation zone in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture.

"I've never issued an instruction or made a specific approach. This is not something decided on with my own will," Abe said at a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament.

Abe defended the government's decision to approve the establishment of the strategic zone as legitimate, saying this was appropriately made based on related laws and regulations.

But he apologized for the time taken to confirm the existence of internal documents related to his alleged favoritism behind the Kake plan.

"I honestly feel sorry," Abe said the day after the education ministry admitted the existence of many of the alleged documents after a reinvestigation, in a flip-flop from its denial of them following the initial probe last month.

Referring to related lobbying efforts by the city of Imabari and others, the prime minister said local wishes for the strategic zone will lead to regional revitalization.

During the Upper House committee meeting, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said he will no longer call the documents "dubious," as he had labeled them before the results of the reinvestigation were released. (Jiji Press)