Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's struggles continued Tuesday at a special Diet session held to probe the Kake Gakuen scandal, as opposition lawmakers pointed out contradictions in his past remarks on when he learned about the school operator's plan to apply for a special government deregulation project.

The opposition bombarded him Tuesday in the special session of the Upper House by citing a number of his previous statements, prompting Abe to "correct" his own words.

On Monday, Abe claimed for the first time that he learned about the application from Okayama-based Kake Gakuen — which is chaired by Kotaro Kake, one of Abe's closest friends — as recently as Jan. 20 this year.