Tokyo and Okinawa are set to return to the courts Friday after the central government said it will sue the Okinawa Prefectural Government over its failure to cooperate on relocating a U.S. military base, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Thursday.

The lawsuit will recommence a bitter legal to-and-fro over the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from Ginowan to the Henoko area of Nago in the prefecture.

In March, the two sides accepted out-of-court mediation by the Naha branch of the Fukuoka District Court, which urged them to stop squabbling and talk. Each withdrew its lawsuits against each other.