(AFP) – Lawmakers in Okinawa adopted a resolution on Friday calling for revisions to a pact seen as giving the United States military preferential treatment in Japan, following a murder allegedly committed by an American Marine. The recent killing of a Japanese woman has triggered outrage in Japan, where any crimes involving US forces have long inflamed criticism of the troops’ presence.
The resolution, which will soon be submitted to the US embassy, was carried 45 in favour and two against, local media said. The assembly also adopted an opinion statement to the same effect, which will be sent to the Japanese government. “We are seeing the limitations of the US military’s training program and ability to maintain discipline, and have to say that it is not functioning as an organisation,” said Ryotaro Odo, who leads the assembly’s special committee on US military bases.
The assembly called for a fundamental revision of the Japan Status of Forces Agreement, including provisions on the handing over of suspects. That 1960 pact is often accused of rendering US military bases virtually extraterritorial and immune to Japan’s domestic laws. The prefectural assembly passed a similar resolution and opinion statement in 2024, following a series of sexual assaults by US servicemen in Okinawa, according to Kyodo News.
Police said on Sunday that a US Marine stationed on Okinawa was arrested on suspicion of killing a 39-year-old woman at a hotel in the city of Naha and stealing her wallet. Local media reported the woman was choked to death and that the Marine is denying the allegations. The United States has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on Okinawa. Crimes including rapes, assaults, hit-and-run and drunk-driving accidents by US military personnel have long triggered protests on the southern island.
© 2024 AFP
