/ AFP
Officials are reviewing the off-base code of conduct for U.S. troops in Japan following the killing of an Okinawan woman, allegedly by a U.S. Marine, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday.
Crimes including rapes, assaults, hit-and-runs and drunk driving by U.S. military personnel have long triggered protests on the southern Japanese island, which has for years urged other regions of the country to share the burden of hosting U.S. troops.
"We plan to hold discussions including whether the existing rules are effectively functioning," Motegi said, adding that "matters such as patrols and curfew management" would be under review in talks with the United States.
The high-level bilateral consultations will examine off-duty conduct and the "liberty" policy governing off-base private activities of U.S. military personnel, he said.
The existing policy, updated in 2024 following a string of sexual assaults by U.S. military personnel in Okinawa, includes a ban on them drinking in public off-base between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. or going to bars during those hours.
Japanese police arrested a U.S. Marine stationed on Okinawa early this month on suspicion of killing a 39-year-old woman at a hotel in Naha, the capital of Okinawa Orefecture. Word of the arrest drew outrage.
The U.S. military enacted a two-day operational pause after the Marine's arrest to reinforce discipline and standards, followed by a monthlong midnight-to-5 a.m. curfew.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Tuesday that "we began high-level, working-level consultations between Japan and the United States last week on what effective measures should be taken."
"The Japanese government will continue to do everything in its power both to address this case and to ensure that it does not happen again," she told a legislative committee session.
Motegi spoke by phone over the weekend with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who offered his "sincere condolences" over the alleged crime and pledged U.S. cooperation in the investigation.
Crimes committed by U.S. personnel have long been a thorn in relations between the close security allies.
A Japanese court sentenced a U.S. Marine accused of choking and attempting to rape a woman in her 20s to seven years in prison last year.
In 2017, a former U.S. Marine and civilian military base worker was sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a local woman in Okinawa.
The United States has approximately 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on Okinawa.
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