Despite the outcry in Okinawa, replacing U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma with a new base outside the prefecture will be difficult given Japan's worsening security environment, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned Monday.
Addressing a Diet committee, Abe also criticized North Korea for ratcheting up its rhetoric after the U.N. Security Council resolved to strengthen sanctions against the hermit state following its third nuclear test in February.
"Units of the U.S. Marines need to stay together," he said. "I have to say that it would be an infeasible policy to separate the Futenma unit and move it outside the prefecture."