TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pledged Monday to promote investment in refurbishing nuclear plants to ensure energy security, as his government seeks to expand resource-poor Japan's electricity supply.

His remarks came after Japan's Cabinet approved a new basic energy plan last month, emphasizing nuclear power and renewables as the primary carbon-free sources to safeguard electricity stability in the future and achieve decarbonization.

Ishiba also said at a parliamentary session that he will consider further utilizing liquefied natural gas, as he agreed with U.S. President Donald Trump in their first in-person summit in February that Japan would boost its LNG imports from the United States.

Amid growing calls for Japan to play a key role in nuclear disarmament, Ishiba voiced eagerness to ask foreign leaders to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both of which suffered U.S. atomic bombings in the closing days of World War II in 1945.

In 2023, former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Ishiba's immediate predecessor, hosted the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima and toured the city's peace museum, showcasing the reality of the bombing, with leaders of major economies, including then U.S. President Joe Biden.