U.S. envoy to Japan expresses regret over alleged sex crimes by military personnel in Okinawa

TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel expressed regret Saturday over the handling of two cases of alleged sexual assault by U.S. service members on Okinawa, which have rekindled resentment over the heavy U.S. troop presence on the strategic island in Japan's far southwest.

The case broke late last month, sparking an outcry following reports that two U.S. service members had been accused of sexual assault months earlier.

Both cases were first reported in local media in late June. In March, a U.S. Air Force member was arrested for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a teenage girl, and in May, a U.S. Marine was arrested for attempted rape resulting in injuries. No further details about the alleged victims have been released.

Okinawa police said they did not announce the cases due to confidentiality concerns over the victims. The Foreign Ministry, at the police's discretion, also did not inform Okinawa Prefectural officials.

The cases remind many Okinawans of the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. servicemen, which sparked mass protests against the U.S. presence there. That event led to a 1996 agreement between Tokyo and Washington to close a major U.S. air base, though the plan has been repeatedly delayed because of protests at the site designated for its replacement elsewhere on the island.

Emanuel said he deeply regretted what happened to the victims, their families and their community, but he did not apologize. Obviously you have to let the criminal justice process play out. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't express your regret on a human level.

“We have to do better,” he said, adding that the U.S. military's high standards and protocols for educating and training its troops simply weren't working.

Emanuel said the United States might be able to propose measures to improve training and transparency with the public during talks between the foreign and defense ministers of the United States and Japan, scheduled for later this month in Tokyo.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Friday that Japanese authorities would do everything possible to more quickly reveal alleged crimes linked to U.S. military personnel in Okinawa while protecting the privacy of victims.

The cases could be a setback for defense relations at a time when Okinawa is seen as increasingly important in the face of rising tensions with China.

About 50,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Japan under a bilateral security agreement, about half of them in Okinawa, where residents have long complained about the heavy U.S. troop presence and the accidents, crime and noise it causes.

Emanuel commented on this issue during his visit to Fukushima, on Japan's northeastern coast.

Earlier Saturday, the ambassador traveled to the nearby town of Minamisoma to join young surfers and sample locally caught flounder for lunch, in a bid to highlight the safety of the region's seawater and seafood amid continued discharges of treated and diluted radioactive water from the tsunami-destroyed Fukusima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

China has banned Japanese seafood because of the discards, a move Emanuel has criticized as unjustified.

The story continues

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