Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka expressed his sorrow Thursday over the death the previous day of a female hit-and-run victim in Okinawa Prefecture."We would like to pray for the repose of her soul," he said, referring to Yuki Uema, an 18-year-old high school student who died of head injuries sustained in an accident allegedly caused by a drunken U.S. Marine corporal last week.Nonaka said the government has urged the U.S. to tighten discipline to prevent a similar accident from happening again.The government's top spokesman added that Tokyo has no plans to request changes in the current Japan-U.S. Status Of Forces Agreement, which stipulates that Defense Department personnel or their dependents suspected of committing crimes in Japan need not be transferred to Japanese authorities for preindictment investigation unless the crime they are suspected of perpetrating is deemed serious.
