April 10, 2010
Yokosuka, Kanagawa Pref., April 10 (Jiji Press) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada indicated Saturday that Japan-U.S. working-level talks on the relocation of a U.S. military base in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, will not be held for the time being.
Working-level talks are not necessarily needed, Okada said, adding that there are other ways to discuss the issue of relocating the U.S Marine Corps' Futenma air station.
Okada suggested that he will continue coordination on the Futenma issue with U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos. He was speaking to reporters after visiting the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.
The Japanese government is reviewing a 2006 Japan-U.S. agreement on the relocation of the Futenma base within Okinawa, but the United States has stuck firmly to the original plan.
Japan is currently considering alternative plans to shift the base in two stages within the prefecture while transferring some of the military drills at Futenma to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, north of Okinawa.
(2010/04/10-20:49)
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