Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called a suspected robbery and murder of a local woman in Okinawa by a US Marine a heinous crime and urged Washington to cooperate.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Monday protested a suspected robbery and murder of a local woman in Okinawa by a US Marine, Kyodo News reported. She called the case a heinous crime and extremely regrettable.
Speaking in parliament before her policy speech opening an extraordinary Diet session, she asked the United States to cooperate fully with the investigation, enforce discipline among its personnel and prevent similar cases.
Kyodo's digest did not publish the names of the suspect or the woman. A separate Wall Street Journal account, summarized by Just Security, named a Marine and the victim; those identifications are not repeated here because they were not in the Kyodo item used for this brief.
The protest lands as Takaichi opens the Diet session and as US forces remain a standing political issue in Okinawa. She has not announced a change in basing policy tied to this case.
Separately on Monday, Takaichi explained on X that she missed a hurriedly arranged G7 videoconference on Friday because deputies were allowed to stand in. Senior deputy foreign minister Kazuya Endo read her message, which noted Japan's March decision to release oil stockpiles.
People Sentiments Negative
- Takaichi called the suspected crime heinous and extremely regrettable.
- She urged the United States to prevent similar cases.