Japan presses US over Okinawa Marine arrest as protests spread
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has called for US cooperation with the investigation and discipline among its personnel after a Marine was arrested on suspicion of killing a woman in Naha.
Japan’s government has pressed the United States to cooperate with an investigation after a 20-year-old US Marine was arrested on suspicion of killing a 39-year-old woman at a hotel in Naha and stealing her wallet. The Marine denies the charges, which have not been established in court.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told lawmakers on Monday the killing was a “heinous crime” and urged the US to provide full cooperation with the investigation and enforce discipline among its military personnel. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Tokyo had protested to the US at various levels.
Japanese media reported that the foreign and defence ministries summoned the US ambassador and the commander of US forces in Japan. Kyodo News reported the suspect was sent to prosecutors on Monday, a day after his arrest.
Protests were held in Okinawa and Tokyo on Sunday. Japanese media reported about 100 people gathered outside the Okinawa prefectural government building, while another rally took place in Naha. An organiser of a Tokyo rally told AFP she planned another protest outside the US embassy on Tuesday evening.
Okinawa hosts most of the roughly 54,000 US military personnel stationed in Japan, including 18,000 Marines. The island was under US administrative control after the Second World War and returned to Japan in 1972. Crimes involving US personnel have long prompted protests there.
