The Defense Ministry said Friday it expects the U.S. military to suspend flights of its CH-53E transport helicopters in Okinawa for an "indefinite period" after a crash-landing days earlier left the ruling Liberal Democratic Party reeling ahead of the Oct. 22 Lower House election.

The move came even though the U.S. Marine Corps in Japan said in a press release Thursday that it had ordered a "96-hour operational pause" for all CH-53E helicopters stationed in the prefecture in a bid to ensure the readiness and "the safe conduct of our aviation community."

Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, however, said that he had agreed with the deputy commander of U.S. Forces Japan during talks in Tokyo on Thursday that no timeline had been set for the operational pause.