TOKYO: The governor of Okinawa said Monday he would request a review of a pact seen as giving the US military preferential treatment in Japan, following a murder allegedly committed by an American Marine.
Prosecutors indicted the Marine last month on suspicion of murdering a 39-year-old Japanese woman at an Okinawa hotel, in a case that triggered outrage and reignited controversy over the US military presence on the southern island.
The United States has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on Okinawa, and crimes committed by its personnel have been a thorn in relations between the close security allies.
"I'll call for a fundamental review of the SOFA," said Okinawa governor Genta Koja, referring to the 1960 Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement accused of rendering US military bases virtually extraterritorial and immune to Japan's domestic laws.
