House of Councilors lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who were involved in a slush funds scandal have begun to express their wish to explain themselves at a parliamentary ethics panel.

The development comes as LDP members in the upper chamber of the parliament believe facing the Deliberative Council on Political Ethics may become a prerequisite for receiving the party's endorsement in next summer's Upper House election.

However, some have expressed concern that attending panel hearings could "open a Pandora's box," as there are unexplained accusations unique to the Upper House side over the scandal, in which some revenues from fundraising party ticket sales were kicked back to lawmakers.

LDP lawmakers in the House of Representatives, the lower parliamentary chamber, are also generally opposed to such moves because they may embroil the Lower House side.

Former senior Upper House members of the LDP faction once led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, including Junzo Yamamoto, deputy chairman of party members' general assembly in the chamber, held a meeting on Wednesday, in which they are believed to have deliberated how to deal with the ethics panel.

The public's distrust toward the LDP over the slush funds scandal was clearly a factor behind the ruling bloc's disastrous losses in last month's Lower House election. Tetsuo Saito, chief of the LDP's junior coalition partner Komeito, urged his LDP counterpart, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, on Saturday to resolve the matter.

Ishiba told a meeting of LDP lawmakers Monday that he plans to settle the issue of political reform by year-end, and urged scandal-embroiled lawmakers to utilize the ethics panel.

Some LDP Upper House lawmakers are willing to face the panel, as refusal to testify at an ethics hearing was one of the factors taken into consideration when the LDP leadership decided against endorsing 12 party members in the October Lower House election. Ishiba has called on upper chamber lawmakers to reflect on their actions in an appropriate manner, suggesting that a similar measure may be taken for the Upper House election.

At a meeting of roughly 20 former Abe faction Upper House members on Nov. 6, some attendees expressed their wish to testify before the ethics panel. "I want to attend (a hearing) and get it over with," one middle-ranking member said. "I want to finish it by the end of this year."

Meanwhile, some are worried about allegations that the Abe faction kicked back not only revenues in excess of members' ticket sales quotas, but the full amount of ticket sales to Upper House lawmakers seeking reelection.

"There are fears that opposition parties may find explanations insufficient and summon witnesses," a veteran member said. "If that happens, the damage to the House of Councilors election will be immeasurable."

Many in the House of Representatives are reluctant about scandal-linked lawmakers' ethics panel attendance, with one LDP member saying, "We have finished atoning for (the scandal) by going through the Lower House election."

They are worried that the attendance of Upper House members at ethics hearings may prompt opposition calls for similar action in the lower chamber.

"It is unreasonable for lawmakers who went through the election to attend" hearings, former education minister Masahiko Shibayama told reporters after a meeting Tuesday of the LDP's political reform task force.