Bill divides voters over troops abroad

Japanese ruling party officials signed off on Monday on bills to implement a drastic change in security policy that would expand the role of the nation's military in the US-Japan alliance and allow it to fight abroad for the first time since World War II.

The planned changes were reflected in new US-Japan defense guidelines unveiled last month to meet new challenges. However, surveys show Japanese voters are deeply divided over the shift.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet adopted a resolution last July reinterpreting the pacifist constitution to drop a self-imposed ban on exercising the right of collective self-defense, or militarily aiding a friendly country under attack.