Tokyo, Sep 12, 2020, SPA -- Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday, Friday the government, under his successor, will come up with a new plan for dealing with missile threats by the end of the year, Kyodo reported. While there will be no change in the country's exclusively defense-oriented policy under the pacifist Constitution, growing regional threats have called for a review of security policy, Abe said in a statement released just days before he is to leave office. The move comes after the government in June scrapped a plan to deploy the land-based, U.S.-developed Aegis Ashore missile defense system for technical problems and began considering an alternative to the costly system. "I believe we must improve our deterrence and reduce our country's risk of attacks by ballistic missiles and other means," Abe said. "While holding sufficient discussions with the ruling parties, (the government) will set an appropriate path within the year to deal with the difficult security environment surrounding Japan," he said in the statement released in his personal capacity and without Cabinet approval. --SPA 00:19 LOCAL TIME 21:19 GMT 0019 www.spa.gov.sa/w1409516