The government and Okinawa Prefecture met on the 6th for the first Okinawa Policy Council in 13 years, reviving a forum on reducing the US base burden and promoting the prefecture's economy. The council last convened before the September gubernatorial election, which the Liberal Democratic Party's Gento Kogure won.
All cabinet ministers attended, including Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. "It is important to push Okinawa's promotion measures forward as a national strategy," she said at the opening, adding that she would do her utmost to reduce the base burden "in a form that can be seen."
Kogure asked the government to prevent a repeat of crimes by US service members and to secure Okinawa promotion budgets for economic growth. He called for base-burden reduction and expanded promotion measures to be the government's top priority.
Killing in Naha
Kogure raised the killing of a woman at a hotel in Naha in October. A Marine private first class assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan has been indicted on charges of robbery-murder. The case "is causing anxiety among residents," Kogure said.