Japan has cancelled this year's whale hunt off Antarctica just days after an international court ruled against the killings.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would comply with the court order, although the ministry in charge of the hunt canceled it for this year only, leaving open the possibility that Japan may try to revive it under different legal reasoning.
The ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Monday said that the scientific output from Japan’s whaling programme in Antarctica “to date appears limited” and suggested that the hunt was continued because of politics rather than science.
Japan signed a 1986 moratorium on whaling, but has continued to hunt up to 850 minke whales in the icy waters of the Southern Ocean each year, citing a 1946 treaty that permits killing the giant mammals for research.
Whaling was once widespread around the world, but Japan is now one of only a handful of countries that continues the practice. The meat is popular with Japanese consumers, who consider it a delicacy.
While the hunt is not widely popular in Japan, it is backed by a vocal group of nationalistic lawmakers who paint opponents as trampling Japanese culture.
Mr Abe expressed his disappointment in the ruling during a meeting with members of the Japanese government legal delegation.
Koji Tsuruoka, the head of the delegation, told reporters Mr Abe had “sternly reprimanded” him for losing the case.
However, Mr Abe also told them Japan will abide by international legal rulings, echoing comments made earlier by other Japanese officials.
Analysts have said Japan may have no choice but to obey the court at a time when the country is calling on China to adhere to international legal norms in a heated territorial dispute over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries.
The cancellation of the Southern Ocean hunt this year does not cover the smaller-scale killing of whales in the northern Pacific under a programme that Japan also says is for research.
New York Times/Reuters