Japan and the United States were set to agree Monday to set up a defense coordination mechanism amid what they see as lingering "uncertainties and instabilities" in the Asia-Pacific region, despite recent positive developments on the Korean Peninsula.
At the so-called two-plus-two meeting of defense and foreign ministers, the two governments were also to set out measures on environmental pollution caused by the U.S. military in Japan. This follows recent reports of hazardous chemicals detected in warehouses, soil and water on U.S. bases, government officials said.
The two sides were set to sign a new five-year accord on Japan's host-nation financial support for U.S. military facilities, making official an earlier announced agreement to trim the annual 180 billion yen obligation by some 3.3 billion yen a year, the officials said.
On U.S. military bases in Okinawa, the two countries were to note in a written joint statement for the first time that the Japanese side "took up the problem," alluding to a local request to impose a 15-year limit on U.S. military use of a new facility to be constructed to host helicopter operations of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station.