Japanese government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda admitted Monday he was the unnamed ''top government official'' cited by media as suggesting a possible change in Japan's ''three non-nuclear principles,'' but added what he meant to say was not fully reflected in the reports.
The three principles, adopted in 1967, are that Japan will not produce or possess nuclear weapons nor allow them on its territory.
Fukuda made the initial comments last Friday in a talk with reporters but asked them not to name him as the source.
''The principles are just like the (war-renouncing) Constitution. But in the face of calls to amend the Constitution, amendment of the principles is also possible,'' Fukuda told the reporters.
Fukuda on Monday said, ''I meant it could be possible that Japanese people discuss the nation's security on any level in line with international situations and times...but I did not indicate any (specific) direction that the government should take in the future.''
The 65-year-old lawmaker in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) said that in his Friday comments, ''I also wanted the younger reporters to think about the future (in terms of national security).''
Fukuda's admission came as senior opposition lawmakers intensified calls for the government spokesman to resign, knowing that the unnamed official was him.
The opposition parties said the set of nuclear principles is official state policy and it is inappropriate for a chief government spokesman to make such a remark.
But Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dismissed the calls for Fukuda to step down, telling reporters at his office in the evening, ''The dispute cannot be one for which anybody has to take responsibility. Because we have no plan to change the principles.''
( June 4, 2002)
