Lt. Gen. Earl Hailston, chief of U.S. forces in Okinawa Prefecture, visited Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine on Thursday and offered an apology for an incident in which a U.S. Marine is alleged to have molested a 14-year-old girl living in the city of Okinawa.
Hailston, accompanied by U.S. Consul General of Okinawa Robert Luke, told Inamine that he would like to apologize to all the people of Okinawa and the family involved for the anxiety the incident has caused.
This is the first time a chief of U.S. forces in Okinawa has made such a visit to apologize directly to the Okinawa governor.
When a 12-year-old schoolgirl was raped by three U.S. soldiers in September 1995, only a U.S. consul general apologized directly to then Gov. Masahide Ota. One of the three soldiers was convicted of conspiring in the rape though he did not actually rape her.