Komeito cautious on revising Article 9 of Constitution

October 5, 2017

TOKYO- In its campaign pledges released Thursday for the upcoming House of Representatives election, Komeito, the junior coalition partner of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, showed a cautious attitude toward the LDP-proposed revision to Article 9 of the country's constitution.

Regarding the LDP's proposal to add to pacifist Article 9 a sentence to stipulate the rationale for the existence of the Self-Defense Forces, Komeito said it is not that the party cannot understand the idea.

At the same time, Komeito noted in the pledges that a lot of Japanese people do not think the SDF's existence goes against the constitution.

"Discussions on the proposed revision to Article 9 have yet to be deepened at the parliamentary commissions on the constitution, let alone at the general public level," Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi told a press conference, saying thorough debates should be conducted on the matter.

Touching on the constitution at the very end of its pledges for the Oct. 22 Lower House election, Komeito renewed its stance calling for the addition of a clause on environmental rights.

The party said it will seek to firmly maintain the first and second paragraphs of Article 9, which respectively stipulate the renunciation of war and military forces.

It pledged to appropriately administer Japan's new security legislation, which has allowed the country to engage in collective self-defense and expanded the scope of SDF activities overseas.

At the time of the previous Lower House election, held in December 2014, Komeito, as part of its campaign pledges, sought to start discussing the clarification of the SDF's existence in the constitution. The party did not mention such a proposal this time.

The highlight of Komeito's new pledges is its call for reducing the household burden of educational costs. Jiji Press