TOKYO: Japan’s prime minister expressed his “strong indignation” Friday after an American working on a US military base in Okinawa was arrested on suspicion of abandoning the body of a woman who disappeared last month.
“I have no words to express, considering how the family feels,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters. “We urge the US side to take thorough measures to prevent the recurrence of such events.”
The arrest sparked outrage on Okinawa, where anti-US military sentiment is high because of a heavy American troop presence. It could fuel further opposition to the relocation of a US Marine Corps air station on the southern Japanese island, a long-delayed project that Abe has been trying to push forward in the face of large protests.
Police said Kenneth Shinzato, 32, was arrested Thursday after he was questioned and investigators found the body at a location he provided, a forest in central Okinawa. Investigators determined that the body is that of a 20-year-old woman missing since April 28, when she messaged her boyfriend that she was going for a walk.
Police said they suspect Shinzato was also responsible for her death. He has not been charged.
In Washington, Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook said the man arrested was a US military contractor. “This is an appalling tragedy,” he said. The US military extends its “deepest sympathies to the people of Japan, and express our gratitude for the trust that they place in our bilateral alliance and the American people.”
Kyodo News agency said Shinzato used to be a Marine.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said the US military was cooperating fully with local authorities in their investigation. “This is a terrible tragedy and it’s obviously an outrage,” he told reporters in Washington.
“I have no words to express, considering how the family feels,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters. “We urge the US side to take thorough measures to prevent the recurrence of such events.”
The arrest sparked outrage on Okinawa, where anti-US military sentiment is high because of a heavy American troop presence. It could fuel further opposition to the relocation of a US Marine Corps air station on the southern Japanese island, a long-delayed project that Abe has been trying to push forward in the face of large protests.
Police said Kenneth Shinzato, 32, was arrested Thursday after he was questioned and investigators found the body at a location he provided, a forest in central Okinawa. Investigators determined that the body is that of a 20-year-old woman missing since April 28, when she messaged her boyfriend that she was going for a walk.
Police said they suspect Shinzato was also responsible for her death. He has not been charged.
In Washington, Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook said the man arrested was a US military contractor. “This is an appalling tragedy,” he said. The US military extends its “deepest sympathies to the people of Japan, and express our gratitude for the trust that they place in our bilateral alliance and the American people.”
Kyodo News agency said Shinzato used to be a Marine.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said the US military was cooperating fully with local authorities in their investigation. “This is a terrible tragedy and it’s obviously an outrage,” he told reporters in Washington.
