A U.S. Marine's alleged rape of a minor girl in southern Japan's Okinawa Prefecture prompted Japanese politicians on Wednesday to call for a fundamental review of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement which stipulates legal procedures of cases involving Japan-based U.S. troops, Japanese media reported.
Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima complained that although the U.S. side had been asked to take measures to prevent a recurrence after each criminal case, it happened again.
At a session of the prefectural assembly, Nakaima said it will be insufficient to merely "change the exercise" of the agreement.
There must be a drastic review of the agreement to resolve all problems concerning the U.S. bases, he added.
Kazuo Kitagawa, secretary general of the ruling coalition partner the New Komeito Party, said on a press conference that the incident touched the issue pertaining to the basis of the Japan-U.S. alliance.
To extradite the suspect would have consumed much longer time if he were not at somewhere outside U.S. bases when being arrested, Kitagawa said.
From the point of dealing with such heinous crimes, we should rethink about the status agreement, he added.
According to Kyodo News, Ichiro Ozawa, president of the major opposition Democratic Party of Japan, and Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the Japanese Social Democratic Party both expressed their support for a revision of the agreement earlier in the day.
The Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, which was signed by the two governments in January 1960, regulates Japan's offer of land for U.S. bases and related jurisdiction.
According to the agreement, Japan-based U.S. military personnel are exempted from arrest warrants issued by Japanese police and will only be handed over after being prosecuted.
Source: Xinhua
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