TEHRAN, December 26 - Japan said Wednesday it is withdrawing from the and will resume commercial whaling next year, sparking criticism from activists and anti-whaling countries including Australia.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Japan is withdrawing from International Whaling Commission (IWC), syaing it will resum commercial hunting of whales.
The move sparkled criticisms from activists as well as anti-whaling countries such as Australia.
The announcement comes after Japan failed earlier this year to convince the IWC to allow it to resume commercial whaling.
Top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the commercial hunts would be limited to Japan's territorial waters."We will not hunt in the Antarctic waters or in the southern hemisphere," he added.
Tokyo has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the IWC, and has been regularly criticised for catching hundreds of whales a year for "scientific research" despite being a signatory to a moratorium on hunting the animals.
Suga said Japan would officially inform the IWC of its decision by the end of the year, which will mean the withdrawal comes into effect by June 30.
Japan has hunted whales for centuries, and the meat was a key source of protein in the immediate post-World War II years when the country was desperately poor.
Source: AFP
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