Japan will request a record defence budget next year amid growing worries over North Korea and tensions with China, reports said Friday.
The defence ministry has decided to seek 5.168 trillion yen ($51.5 billion) in spending for the fiscal year starting April 2017, up 2.3 percent from this year's initial budget, Jiji Press reported, citing unnamed government sources.
If approved by parliament, the budget package would mark the fifth straight increase and a new record, it said.
Top business daily Nikkei and other media also carried similar reports, which a defence ministry spokesman said he could not confirm.
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