Japanese govt to revise defense programs

TOKYO - The Japanese government announced Friday it decided to revise the country's two current defense programs, which was made by the government of Democratic Party of Japan in 2010.

The decision was made in a cabinet meeting and the government also decided to form a panel on revising the programs, namely the National Defense Program Guidelines and the Mid-Term Defense Program.

An interim report about the revision would be presented in June and the government hopes to map out the new programs by the end of 2013.

Meanwhile, the government also drew up a temporary defense program so as to better protect Japanese territories and enhance the emergency response capacity of the Self-Defense Forces.

Earlier this month, the Japanese government decided to suspend the current defense programs in order to pave way to revise the new programs.