Japan to pay 6 billion dollars for US troops' relocation

The United States and Japan had agreed that Tokyo would pay 6.09 billion U.S. dollars for moving nearly 8,000 American Marines out of Japan to the Pacific island of Guam, local media reported Monday.

Under the accord the two sides reached on Sunday, Japan would contribute nearly 60 percent of the cost estimated at 10.3 billion dollars, Japan's defense agency chief Fukishiro Nukaga was quoted as saying.

Japan would pay 2.8 billion dollars and provide the rest of its share in loans, Nukaga said after a meeting with the U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Sunday.

"We have come to an understanding that we both feel is in the best interest of our countries," Rumsfeld said.

The United States and Japan failed to strike a deal on the issue in Washington earlier this month.

The two countries agreed on a broad plan last October to streamline the 50,000 US troops stationed in Japan, but differed on how to share the cost of moving the nearly 8,000 Marines from Japan to Guam and some other issues.

The United States had suggested that Japan pay 75 percent of the total cost over seven years, but Japan had agreed to pay only 3 billion dollars.

Source: Xinhua