Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba on Saturday told Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima that he intends to push for more changes to a bilateral pact on U.S. military personnel, following a recent agreement that conditionally gives Japan more jurisdiction over crimes involving nonmilitary personnel at U.S. bases.
"We would like to keep making utmost efforts" to persuade the United States to make more changes to the operational implementation of the Status of Forces Agreement, Genba told Nakaima during the visit, acknowledging that the public has strongly criticized Japan's lack of jurisdiction as unfair.
Genba arrived in the prefectural capital Friday to explain the agreement struck Wednesday with the U.S. and to continue talks on moving a key U.S. base elsewhere in the prefecture.