Abe insists constitutional revision at LDP annual convention

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Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Sunday adopted a concise plan on its long-held goal of revising Japan's pacifist Constitution at its annual convention, according to Japan's Kyodo News.

In his address, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, also the LDP president, reiterated his strong desire to amend the supreme law by clarifying the status of the Self-Defense Forces in the war-renouncing Article 9, in order to put an end to arguments the Japanese troops are "unconstitutional."

"Finally, it is time to work toward the constitutional revision," Kyodo News quoted Abe as saying at the convention.

Japanese Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Shinzo Abe (C) raises his arm with other party members at the party's annual convention in Tokyo, Japan, February 10, 2019. /VCG Photo

But he stopped short of mentioning detailed procedures or a timeframe.

According to Kyodo News, the LDP's annual strategy mentioned that "We are committed to igniting public interest and paving the way toward amending the Constitution so that it conforms to the current time."

Abe, elected for his third and last three-year term as LDP president in a party election last September, has maintained he wants to revise the supreme law by 2020.

Kyodo News revealed that currently, pro-constitutional reform forces have a two-thirds majority in both Diet chambers, meeting the requirement to initiate the amendment process.

The Japanese news agency also reported that at the convention, Abe reiterated his resolve to advance negotiations with Russia toward concluding a postwar peace treaty, which has not been signed due to a territorial dispute over a group of islets off Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido.