Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday dismissed calls for the disaster reconstruction minister to resign after he made remarks implying that the nuclear refugees from Fukushima Prefecture should be left to fend for themselves.

At a Tuesday news conference, the minister, Masahiro Imamura, defended the government's decision to delegate help for "voluntary evacuees," calling it their "own responsibility, their own choice" not to return to their radiation-tainted homes.

"I want (Imamura) to continue to be alongside those affected by the disaster and devote every effort to his duties with the aim of (achieving) reconstruction as soon as possible," Abe told a full session of the House of Representatives.