Even though the International Whaling Commission (IWC) said Tokyo has not proved that Whale killing had a research motive, Japan is planning to resume the whale hunts in the Antarctic later this year.

The IWC's Scientific Committee said in a report on Friday that it wasn't able to determine whether lethal sampling is necessary for whale stock management and conservation.

An IWC experts' panel in April made similar comments about a revised Japanese Antarctic whaling plan that was submitted after the International Court of Justice ruled last year that Japan's earlier hunts were not truly scientific.

It is said that the IWC banned commercial whaling in 1986, but Japan still continued to killing whales under an exemption for research.

It was found that after the ICJ's ruling, Japan sent a nonlethal expedition to the Antarctic for the 2014 season.

Now Japanese officials said on Friday that they will submit additional data to support their argument. They said Japan is still planning to resume whaling in the Antarctic this winter season.

Joji Morishita, Japan's representative to the IWC, said, "We have not changed any policies and our goal. He said Japan will respond sincerely to scientifically backed comments in Friday's report, but criticized it as lacking consensus".

In its revised proposal for the upcoming whaling season Tokyo plans to catch 333 minke whales each year between 2015 and 2027, about one-third of what it used to target.

Japan's actual catch has dropped in recent years because of declining domestic demand for whale meat. Protests by the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd also contributed to the lower catch. The government has also spent large amounts of tax money to sustain whaling operations in the nation.