Japan creates defence ministry

Published December 16, 2006

TOKYO, Dec 15: Japan on Friday created a full-fledged defence ministry for the first time since World War II, when the United States stripped the defeated country of its right to a military.

The upper house voted, with support from both the ruling coalition and main opposition, to create the defence agency. The lower house had earlier passed the bill, meaning it becomes law, a parliamentary official said.

Post-war Japan has had a ‘Defence Agency’ with lower standing than full-fledged ministries as the 1947 constitution declared the country to be pacifist.—AFP

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