Japan's ex-PM says will press Takaichi on nuclear matter at Diet session

Japan's main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) leader Yoshihiko Noda on Saturday called for the country's non-nuclear weapons principles to be upheld, local media reported.

Noda, who is also a former prime minister of Japan, said the CDPJ will press Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on the matter during Diet sessions, Kyodo News reported.

Speaking to reporters in Kumamoto Prefecture, Noda said that Japan should "take the lead in spreading the idea (of nuclear abolition) to the world," according to Kyodo News.

Noda's remarks came after government sources said Friday that Takaichi was considering reviewing the third of The Three Non-Nuclear Principles, which prohibits nuclear weapons from entering Japan's territory.

During a recent Lower House Budget Committee hearing, Takaichi avoided stating whether her defense and security policies would adhere to the country's long-held Three Non-Nuclear Principles.

The Three Non-Nuclear Principles, not possessing, not producing and not allowing introduction of nuclear weapons into Japanese territory, were first declared in the Diet, Japan's parliament, by then Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in 1967 and viewed as a national credo.

If the principle is changed, it will represent a significant shift in the country's security policy and is certain to draw domestic and international backlash, Kyodo News said.

(With input from Xinhua)