(CNN) -- Japan is set to go ahead with some of its whaling activities even though a recent international court ruling ordered the country to end its whale hunt in the Antarctic. The East Asian nation halted its annual Antarctic whaling mission after the U.N.'s International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled last month the hunt violated an international moratorium on commercial whaling. The Japanese fisheries ministry announced last week it would still proceed with a smaller research program in the northwest Pacific. The mission's departure, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed until after a state visit by U.S. President Barack Obama, according to local media reports. The whaling fleet is now expected to leave Japan's shore on Saturday.
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Japan will proceed with a whaling mission in the Pacific
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A U.N. court found the nation's Antarctic hunt violated a ban on commercial whaling
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Japan says the whaling is scientific; plans to submit a revised proposal soon
He also said Japan would explore ways to deal with anti-whaling activists, who are often involved in scuffles with @placeholder whaling vessels.