The government will set up a 16-member advisory panel to consider what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should say in his planned statement marking 70 years since the end of World War II.

Announcing the panel Thursday, the government said it would include Taizo Nishimuro, president and CEO of Japan Post Holdings Co., and Shinichi Kitaoka, president of International University of Japan.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the panel's report, to be submitted to Abe by the summer, will serve only as a "reference" for the government as it drafts Abe's statement.