Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga doubled down Thursday on his pledge to halt construction of a new U.S. military base in his prefecture, claiming people's human rights were being neglected by Tokyo and Washington.
Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ), Onaga said construction of a new base was progressing under a Japan-U.S. security alliance that had no truck with the freedom, equality, human rights and democracy of the Okinawa public.
"I wanted people in the world to sound an alarm," Onaga said, referring to his speech on the issue at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.