The Democratic Party of Japan endorsed on Monday its proposal for amending the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution so it stipulates that the nation can exercise the right to "restrictive" self-defense.
The DPJ proposal came a few days after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party endorsed its draft for a new Constitution.
The LDP constitutional amendment would pave the way for Japan's military to engage in collective defense with its allies and possibly use force overseas after the deletion of Clause 2 of Article 9, which prohibits the nation from possessing a military and renounces the right to belligerency.
But the proposal crafted by the DPJ calls for written restrictions on how the nation could exercise its right to self-defense -- only in cases of emergency until the United Nations put its collective security activities into operation.
The DPJ also advocates stipulating that the nation could join U.N.-led collective security activities, such as peacekeeping operations, but stopped short of deciding to what degree the nation could resort to arms when participating in such missions.