Japan's Abe steps up call for constitutional change amid controversy

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stepped up call for changing Japan's pacifist Constitution on Monday, two days ahead of a public holiday commemorating the enforcement of the postwar Constitution 70 years ago.

Abe said at a gathering in Tokyo of lawmakers in favor of constitutional amendment that this year is the right time to "take a historic step" toward changing the Constitution.

"This is the time to show the public our specific stance on the ideal Constitution," Abe said, citing the "increasingly severe security situation" as a reason for the move.

Japan's current Constitution was drawn up under the Allied occupation following the World War II, and has never been revised since it went into effect in 1947.

The Constitution is best known for its Article 9, by which Japan renounces its right to wage war and promises that "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained".

Revising the Constitution has long been a goal of Abe and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The LDP has been advocating constitutional revision since the party was founded in the 1950s, including changing the war-renouncing Article 9.

Abe's ruling LDP and other forces in favor of revising the Constitution won a two-thirds majority in last year's upper house election, bringing the prime minister's goal of constitutional revision closer to fruition.

Public opinions about amending the Constitution, however, remain differed.

According to a recent poll by Japan's Kyodo News, 51 percent of the respondents were against any constitutional amendments under the Abe administration, while 45 percent were in favor. Endit