PITTSBURGH (Kyodo) Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Thursday he has no intention of changing his basic stance on the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa, suggesting he will still seek to move it out of the prefecture.
Hatoyama said he will not rush into discussing the matter with President Barack Obama and will focus bilateral talks for the time being on reconstruction support for Afghanistan.
In their first face-to-face talks in New York, Hatoyama assured Obama that the Japan-U.S. alliance remains the cornerstone of Tokyo's security policy. But he did not take up his plan to re-examine a bilateral agreement stating the military facility will be moved from the city of Ginowan to a less densely populated area of Nago.
Hatoyama, who was sworn in Sept. 16 and is on his first diplomatic trip abroad as prime minister, also told reporters that a public funds injection may be necessary to help rehabilitate struggling Japan Airlines Corp.