Japan’s PM apologizes as US base stays on in Okinawa

May 24, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

TOKYO

Okinawans were outraged Sunday that Japan’s prime minister reneged on his campaign pledge to move a U.S. military base off their island, a decision that upholds a longstanding agreement with Washington.

Protesters held signs plastered with the Japanese character for “anger” as Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama visited the Okinawa prefectural (state) office. His broken promise over Okinawa deepens political confusion just weeks ahead of nationwide elections.

The southern semitropical island is important to the U.S. military because it is near China, Taiwan and the Korean peninsula, where tensions have risen sharply after North Korea was blamed last week for the sinking of a South Korean warship.

The people of Okinawa have long complained about the noise, jet-crash dangers and crime worries that come from housing more than half of the 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan, stationed under the bilateral defense alliance.

The U.S. and Japan agreed in 2006 to move the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station to a less crowded part of Okinawa, and Washington has insisted that Japan hold to the deal. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday on a visit to Tokyo that Japan and the U.S. were seeking to resolve the dispute by the end of May — a deadline set by Hatoyama.

On his Okinawa visit, the prime minister apologized for failing to make good on his promise to move the U.S. air base off the island, perhaps even out of Japan.

“I apologize from the bottom of my heart for the confusion that I have caused the people of Okinawa,” he said.

Prefectural chief Hirokazu Nakaima said Hatoyama had raised the residents’ hopes.

“The way he has dashed our hopes is such a disappointment. We need a solution to be worked out,” he said.

His concession restores the plan chiseled by the former governing party, or one similar to it: an Okinawa base in a coastal area less crowded than the residential sector where Futenma is now.

Japanese media reported Henoko, the coastal area chosen in 2006, will house the new base, but the plan lacked further details. Government offices were closed over the weekend, and officials were not available to comment.

The prime minister’s popularity has plunged as voters increasingly are disenchanted with his failure to act on a number of campaign pledges, including the Futenma move, as well as promises for toll-free highways and cash payments for babies.

After Clinton’s talks with Japanese officials, U.S. officials said they were hopeful an agreement could be reached quickly as the Japanese position had shifted.

One reason for the change was the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan, which an international investigation concluded was caused by a North Korea-fired torpedo.