Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi called Friday for a law on medical allowances for atomic bomb survivors to be revised so it covers survivors living outside Japan.
"We should think whether the law should be maintained as it is," Sakaguchi told a news conference at the ministry. "We should think more seriously about how to deal with A-bomb survivors abroad.
"The Atomic Bomb Victims Relief Law should be amended (so that those abroad will be covered). Discussion on the issue should be started in cooperation with judicial circles (with the aim of reaching) a conclusion within the year."