Japan presses to kill more whales

TOKYO, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Japan is threatening to break with the International Whaling Commission if it is not allowed to kill whales off its own shores.

"It's decision time," said Joji Morishita, Japan's chief negotiator at the commission.

A proposal before the commission would let Japan kill whales off its own coast in exchange for a commitment to scale back on its controversial "research whaling" in Antarctic waters, said William Hogarth, the commission's chairman.

The commission banned commercial whaling in 1986 but that has not stopped bitter debate between whaling countries, such as Japan, and anti-whaling countries, such as Britain and the United States.

The commission allows whales to be killed for scientific research and Japan, critics argue, has taken advantage of that to kill whales for human consumption and not just research, Kyodo reported Monday.

Japan repeatedly has said it will withdraw from the commission or establish a new whaling commission if it is not permitted under international rules to kill whales commercially.