TOKYO, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday refuted claims that he offered false statements and tried to withhold facts over a controversial state-backed cherry blossom viewing party, that opposition parties are seeking clarity over.
The Japanese leader has come under fire from the opposition camp for allegedly using government funds to finance the annual party, a claim he has consistently denied, along with those that he had used the event to cajole political support.
"It's not true that I have been hiding something and making false statements to parliament," Abe told a parliamentary session in response to an opposition party member calling for the prime minister to step down over the scandal.
"The event has been carried out in line with the government's long-held practice. But as I know there has been growing criticism from the Japanese people, I will sincerely reflect on this and conduct a thorough review as part of my responsibility," Abe said at a plenary session in the upper house of parliament.
The Japanese premier, amid increasing pressure from the opposition camp and the public and against a backdrop of a string of scandals implicating Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers and members, has since scrapped the party.
In light of the opposition camp pointing out that state spending on the party had swelled under the Abe administration since 2012 and intimating that the event was surreptitiously being used by the prime minister for personal gain by inviting hundreds of his own supporters, Abe, on Thursday, vowed an all-out "comprehensive" review of the event.
