The Liberal Democratic Party reprimanded three veteran members Thursday for not participating in a Diet vote endorsing the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq.
They are Koichi Kato, Makoto Koga and Shizuka Kamei. Kato and Koga are former LDP secretaries general, while Kamei is a former party policy chief.
LDP Secretary General Shinzo Abe told the three House of Representatives members of the measure over the phone, the party said.
The warning is the second-lightest of four punishments the party can impose on the authority of its secretary general.
The Lower House endorsed the SDF dispatch and an extra budget for fiscal 2003 during a plenary session Jan. 31. But Kato and Koga left the chamber before the vote on the deployment. Kamei was absent for the entire session.
The three had expressed reservations about sending troops to Iraq under current unstable security conditions.