TOKYO, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Friday that moving a U.S. military facility off Okinawa as advocated by some officials is not an option.
The Wall Street Journal reported while some Japanese officials want the operations now conducted at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma removed entirely from the Japanese island, Okada said it is more reasonable to focus on moving U.S. troops away from populated areas.
The United States has had a military presence on Okinawa since World War II. It reached agreement with Japan in 2006 to close the Marine airfield and relocate some facilities to a rural Okinawa location. Eight-thousand Marines also are to be redeployed to Guam by 2014.
"We can't be spending too much time on this given the dangerous situation in Futenma," the foreign minister said of the helicopter airfield's proximity to residential areas. "Moving the facilities outside of the (Okinawa) prefecture isn't an option."
Foreign policy experts say the U.S. government wants to reach an agreement regarding the military site before U.S. President Barack Obama's November visit to Japan, the Journal said.
