A lawmaker said Monday he will not resign as a Diet member after opposition parties submitted a joint motion urging him to quit for alluding to Japan waging war with Russia to regain control of a group of disputed islands.
"I definitely cannot resign even if the motion is passed," Hodaka Maruyama said, calling the submission of a motion directed against a person's remarks a "serious situation."
Talking to the media for the first time since Nippon Ishin no Kai expelled him last Tuesday, he said that the Diet, as a place for free speech, is "signing its own death warrant" with the motion.