Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's coalition government said Friday it will stick to its initial pledge to review plans to relocate U.S. forces within Okinawa, backtracking on earlier comments.
On Friday morning, four Cabinet ministers dealing with the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa, met to discuss how the government can reconcile the demands of local residents, who want the facility moved outside the prefecture, with those of Washington officials hoping to keep it there.
On Wednesday, Hatoyama made comments suggesting the government might agree to relocate the air station, currently in a densely populated area, to another Okinawan city in line with a 2006 Japan-U.S. accord, in an apparent reversal of his earlier stance that the facility should be moved outside the prefecture.
But Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano told a news conference the four Cabinet ministers agreed Friday that the plan to realign the forces within the prefecture must be reviewed.