Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori was forced to fight back Wednesday as opposition leaders urged him to resign during a terse Diet debate that centered on the latest in a growing string of gaffes.
Yukio Hatoyama, head of the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan called on both Mori and Hidenao Nakagawa, the chief Cabinet secretary, to step down in connection with comments Mori made Friday.
During a meeting in Seoul with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mori related that in 1997 he told North Korean officials they could solve a diplomatic row over 10 Japanese whom Tokyo says were abducted by pretending to find them in Bangkok and Beijing.