Japan to halt work on US base relocation in Okinawa: PM
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he will temporarily halt construction work on relocating a US base on the Okinawa island, amid intense protests by locals to the presence of American troops.
The Japanese government has been seeking to move the US-run Futenma air base to the town of Henoko. It is filling in parts of a bay in Henoko to create off-coast runways for American aircraft.
The government plan to relocate the base to Henoko comes under a 1996 agreement with the US to move the base to a less heavily populated area on Okinawa.
Locals, however, want the base entirely removed from the Okinawa prefecture.
A legal battle has ensued between the local and central governments over the relocation to Henoko, involving lawsuits and counter-lawsuits.
Abe said on Friday that his government would accept to delay the construction on the bay to allow talks between Tokyo and Okinawa over the issue.
He said, however, that the plan to eventually relocate the Futenma air base to Henoko will remain unchanged.
The presence of the US base has faced immense protest from locals in Okinawa, the only part of Japan to suffer a bloody land battle during World War Two.
The prefecture is home to 50,000 American forces. The Japanese there complain about crime and noise associated with the base.
Cause for resentment against the base has been numerous sex abuse cases involving the American troops. The US forces were reportedly involved in over 1,000 sex crimes in Japan between 2005 and 2013.
The rape of a schoolgirl by three US servicemen in 1995 triggered mass rallies across the Asian country back then.
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