Flip-flopping from earlier remarks, Democratic Party deputy head Renho acknowledged Tuesday that she has yet to renounce her Taiwanese citizenship, a revelation that could affect her chances to be elected president of Japan's biggest opposition party later this week.

In a hastily convened news conference, Renho, who is half Taiwanese and half Japanese, corrected her earlier assertion that she relinquished her Taiwanese citizenship at the age of 17 when she officially obtained Japanese nationality.

She called the mix-up an honest mistake and blamed it on her Taiwanese father, who had taken care of all the paperwork needed to get her Japanese citizenship.