Prime Minister Shinzo Abe admitted Thursday that allowing people with dual citizenship to become state ministers and high-ranking government officials was a problem and that the issue should be further probed.

Responding to a question from fellow Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Haruko Arimura during an Upper House budget committee session, Abe said, ¡°Not only diplomats, but foreign ministers, vice foreign ministers and their advisers could also find themselves having to tackle diplomatic negotiations.¡±

¡°It¡¯s the prime minister¡¯s job to put the right person in the right position, but even the prime minister undertakes summit diplomacy¡± and could be open to conflict of interest if they held two passports, he added.