The controversial boss of NHK, who has defended Japan's practice of wartime sex slavery, has launched a power grab at the public broadcaster.
In a revelation that looks set to stir further controversy at the embattled service, executive directors of the company claim Katsuto Momii had made them write undated letters of resignation.
This would allow the chairman effectively to fire them whenever he chooses.
The directors - who have charge of the day-to-day running of the broadcaster, including editorial control - are selected by the chairman of the time with the consent of the government-appointed committee that dictates NHK's management policy, a spokesman for the broadcaster said on Tuesday.
"They are also discharged by the chairman with the consent of the committee," he said, without offering an explanation for Momii's demand for their undated resignations.
"I don't have the material to answer the question. I am not in the position to do so either," he said.
It is the latest controversy to hit NHK, one of the world's biggest broadcasters, and one that could further undermine its reputation for impartiality.
That was called into question at Momii's first press conference as head of the corporation in which he said the national broadcaster should not contradict the government.
In the same press conference he said Japan's "comfort women" system - where foreign women in subject states were forced into sexual slavery for the imperial military - was not unique to Japan and had been practised by many other countries.
No mainstream historian - and few regular Japanese people - accept this interpretation, which he subsequently defended as a personal opinion.
Kyodo News and the Tokyo Shimbun have reported Momii called an extraordinary board meeting on January 25, the day he began the job, and told the directors to give him their resignations.
"You were chosen by the former chairman. I will decide my own path," he told the directors, according to the Tokyo Shimbun, which cited sources close to the broadcaster.
Momii was selected as NHK chairman by the management committee, some of whom were hand-picked by conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last year.
The choice of Momii is thought to have been approved by Abe.
