Sadakazu Tanigaki, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, urged Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday to settle the dispute over the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma by year's end by sticking to the original deal with Washington and moving it within Okinawa.
Tanigaki told reporters after their 20-minute chat at the prime minister's office that he also urged Hatoyama to finish compiling the fiscal 2010 budget within this year to prevent the struggling economy from sinking further.
Tanigaki told reporters Hatoyama's move Tuesday to put off making a decision on the Futenma relocation would "undermine trust in the Japan-U.S. relationship."