Japan and the United States remained apart over the relocation of the helicopter functions of the US Marines Corps' Futemma Air Station in south Japan's Okinawa Prefecture during just-concluded senior working-level talks between the two nations in Washington, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Friday.

"I do not know if it is appropriate to say there was a considerable gap, but there is a difference of opinion," Machimura said at a press conference after a Cabinet meeting, identifying the "Futemma relocation" as the key pending issue in the US realignment talks.

The defense and foreign affairs officials discussing the realignment of US forces in Japan ended their three-day, unofficial talks Wednesday without coming to an agreement.

The Futemma relocation issue is a key concern in the overall bilateral talks for crafting a comprehensive package on the US realignment.

Separately, Defense Agency Director General Yoshinori Ono expressed regret Friday that the two sides had failed to reach an agreement, while Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said he does not share the view that the talks were a failure as the negotiation process is ongoing.

"There are one or two matters that need to be settled," Ono told reporters, apparently alluding to the Futemma relocation issue.

Both Ono and Hosoda expressed hope that an interim report on the realignment of US military forces in Japan could be compiled soon, hopefully by the end of October as scheduled.

"So long as a certain direction is determined, the report can be compiled as early as by the end of October...utmost efforts must be made to aim for such a target date," Ono said.

In Washington, US Defense Deputy Undersecretary for Asian and Pacific Affairs Richard Lawless said Thursday that Japan and the United States have agreed to try to draw up the interim report by November and to compile a final report by next spring.

Source: Xinhua