Japan PM to press Obama on crime in Okinawa

JIJI PRESS

text

Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday to review the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement in the wake of the arrest last week of a former U.S. Marine for abandoning the dead body of a Japanese women in the prefecture.

During their meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo, Onaga demanded thorough measures be taken, including a review of the bilateral agreement, to prevent a recurrence of such incidents.

Abe suggested that he will call on U.S. President Barack Obama to compile preventive measures, during their bilateral meeting to be held on Thursday on the sidelines of the two-day Group of Seven summit in Mie Prefecture from the same day.

“The latest incident can never be tolerated,” Onaga told Abe. “It happened because there are U.S. bases in Okinawa.”

Last Thursday, Okinawa police arrested Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a former Marine and worker at a U.S. base in the prefecture, for abandoning the body of the woman.

(JIJI PRESS)