TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Sunday lodged a protest with the United States after a US Marine was arrested on suspicion of robbing and murdering a Japanese woman in Okinawa.
Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, is suspected of killing Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel in Naha, the capital of Okinawa prefecture, on Saturday and stealing her wallet and backpack, police said. Ballard denied the allegations, according to police.
“The occurrence of such an extremely brutal and vicious incident is extremely regrettable,” Takaichi said in a statement.
She said the Japanese government strongly protested to the US side and demanded maximum cooperation with the investigation, tighter discipline and comprehensive measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The US embassy and the Marine Corps expressed condolences over the incident and said they were cooperating with Japanese authorities.
The Marine Corps said in a statement that the suspect, who is assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force and based at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, was in Japanese custody.
“The Marine Corps takes these allegations very seriously and expects every Marine to adhere to the highest standards of behaviour,” the statement said.
Most of the approximately 18,000 US Marines stationed in Japan are based in Okinawa, which remained under US administration from the end of World War II until 1972. Their presence has repeatedly generated resentment among local residents over noise, aircraft crashes and the conduct of military personnel.
The 1995 rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl by three US servicemen triggered widespread protests across the prefecture.
Saturday’s killing could further complicate Takaichi’s efforts to relocate some Marines from the crowded Futenma air base to a more remote facility at Henoko. Opponents of the relocation plan want US troops moved out of Okinawa altogether.
Okinawa, located about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Taiwan at its closest point, is considered strategically important by Tokyo and Washington for deterring potential military aggression by China.