US soldier in Japan charged with sexual abuse of teenager in Okinawa

Tokyo — Japan’s government is calling for tighter control of U.S. troops stationed in the country after a soldier was charged with allegedly sexually abusing a Japanese teenager in Okinawa. Prosecutors in the southern island region charged the U.S. soldier in March, government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters on Tuesday.

According to local media, the 25-year-old man was charged with assault, adding that he knew the girl was under 16, the age of consent in Japan.

The government expressed its “regret” over the incident to U.S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel and called for greater control over the behavior of military personnel, Hayashi said.

Okinawa occupies only 0.6 percent of Japan’s land mass, but is home to about 70 percent of all U.S. military bases and facilities in the country.

A litany of problems related to the base have long troubled Okinawans, from pollution and noise to Helicopter crashes And COVID-19 outbreakswhich led to complaints that they were bearing the brunt of the troop intake.

The gang rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. soldiers in Okinawa in 1995 sparked widespread calls to reconsider a 1960 pact governing the legal status of U.S. military personnel stationed in Japan.

Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki expressed his “deep outrage” over the latest case.

“The fact that something like this was done to a minor not only causes great fear among residents living near US bases, but is also an affront to women’s dignity,” he told reporters. “The excessive burden of military base accommodation is a daily occurrence for us and is unbearable.”

The mood against the base in Okinawa became particularly clear in connection with the plans to relocate the US naval base in Futenma.

While the central government wants to move the base to a less populated part of Okinawa’s main island, many locals would prefer to move it elsewhere in the country. A nationwide poll conducted by broadcaster NHK in 2022 found that 80% of Japanese believe the current disproportionate distribution of U.S. forces is “wrong” or “somewhat wrong.”

The latest test point for US-Japan relations comes at a crucial time, with concerns about nuclear-armed North KoreaOngoing weapons tests are increasing, along with Tensions between Washington and China about Beijing’s increasingly assertive stance regarding Taiwan’s status and its territorial disputes with other nations.