TOKYO- Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition Democratic Party agreed Wednesday to hold a House of Representatives committee meeting on Monday attended by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, over a favoritism scandal involving Kake Educational Institution, headed by a friend of Abe.

The LDP and the DP also agreed to summon former vice education minister Kihei Maekawa and Hiroto Izumi, special adviser to the prime minister, as unsworn witnesses at the meeting of the Lower House Budget Committee.

In a compromise, the opposition camp will use 70 percent of the five-hour Lower House committee meeting for questioning while the ruling bloc will use the rest.

Initially, the DP demanded that 80 percent of the time be allotted to the opposition camp, while the LDP insisted that equal time should be assigned to both sides.

The House of Councillors Budget Committee is slated to hold a meeting on the following day.

The moves reflect the LDP's understanding that Abe now needs to fulfill his accountability over the scandal, in the face of recent slumps in his cabinet's approval ratings amid public frustration with his administration's explanations about the matter.

The Abe administration is alleged to have worked in favor of the Kake group's application to launch a university department of veterinary medicine in a national strategic deregulation zone in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture. (Jiji Press)