The new chairman of NHK said Saturday that its programming for foreign audiences should "state Japan's positions in no uncertain terms" on territorial disputes with China and South Korea, while defending the nation's use of wartime "comfort women" and dismissing press freedom concerns about the new state secrets law.

"When the government is saying, 'Right,' we can't say, 'Left.' International broadcasting has such a (propagandist) nuance," Katsuto Momii told a news conference held to mark the start of his three-year stint at the public broadcaster.

Momii, who is rumored to have been the preferred choice of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as NHK's top official, also made controversial remarks on Japan's use of the euphemistically titled "comfort women" and the recently enacted secrecy law.