TOKYO: Japan vowed yesterday to resume whaling programme in the Antarctic despite passage of a resolution opposing its hunt by an international body, terming the negative vote regrettable.
The International Whaling Commission on Thursday adopted a resolution saying Japan should abide by a ruling by International Court of Justice (ICJ) earlier this year that its decades-old and disputed “scientific whaling” programme was illegal and should stop. Participants at IWC’s biennial meeting in Slovenia passed the non-binding resolution by a 35-20 majority, a move Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said was “extremely regrettable.” “We are carrying out preparations for new plan for scientific whaling to resume in 2015-2016, a plan that takes ICJ ruling into account,” he said. reuters
