The Abe administration has decided not to submit to the upcoming Diet session a controversial bill aimed at punishing people involved in plotting serious crimes, government sources said on Wednesday.
The government has so far presented bills to the Diet three times to revise the organized crime punishment law, citing its obligation under an international treaty it signed in December 2000 to fight cross-border organized crime. The Abe administration also sees the need to tighten security ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
But the administration will suspend its attempts to secure passage of the bill, which was intended to punish people involved in planning serious crimes even if they do not commit them, as the proposed measures had stirred fierce opposition.