The Social Democratic Party declared Saturday at its party convention that the existence of the Self-Defense Forces violates the pacifist Constitution, reversing a 12-year-old stance on the legality of the SDF.
“We aim to reduce the scale of the (forces), which are apparently unconstitutional, to reassign them to the duties of border security, disaster relief and international cooperation so we can have an unarmed Japan,” the declaration said.
Unable to view this article?
This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software.
Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.
If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see this support page.
We humbly apologize for the inconvenience.
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
SUBSCRIBE NOW
PHOTO GALLERY (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.