December 17 & 18, 2025

Unlike in Japan, U.S. forces in South Korea are not permitted to conduct patrols outside their bases under a ROK-U.S. agreement. This was revealed during an interpellation by Japanese Communist Party assemblyperson Toguchi Osamu at a meeting of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly on December 10.

The Okinawa prefectural government, which conducted an independent investigation into the status-of-forces agreements the United States has with its allies, informed Toguchi that the South Korean and U.S. governments agreed in 2013 that the U.S. military cannot conduct solo patrols outside its bases in South Korea or enforce laws against anyone other than U.S. military personnel.

Last month, four U.S. military police officers on patrol mistakenly detained and injured a civilian foreign national on a street in Okinawa City. When releasing the victim, one of the officers told him that U.S. military police can detain Japanese citizens as well. Footage of this incident was posted on social media and widely shared.

Toguchi stated, “We must not allow Okinawa to revert to the era of outright U.S. military occupation before its reversion to Japan. Japan should insist upon the nation’s sovereign right.”

JCP member of the Upper House Yamazoe Taku inquired with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the legal basis for U.S. military patrols in Japan. He discovered that no agreement had been reached between Tokyo and Washington regarding the conditions under which the U.S. military could exercise police authority outside its facilities in Japan.

Article 17, Paragraph 10 (a) of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) grants U.S. armed forces the right to police in order to maintain order and security “within” the facilities and areas they use. Meanwhile, Paragraph 10 (b) of the same article stipulates that “outside” these facilities and areas, such military police may only be employed subject to arrangements with Japanese authorities and in liaison with those authorities.

However, with regard to solo patrols by U.S. forces in Okinawa, the Foreign Ministry on December 17 in response told Yamazoe that “no separate agreement has been established.”

Despite the lack of legal grounds, U.S. military police have arrested 107 people in Okinawa during its patrols since April of this year, and the Japanese Foreign Ministry has turned a blind eye to this practice.

This highlights the fact that Japan’s sovereignty is not being protected to the same extent as South Korea’s. The exercise of U.S. police authority in Japan without legal basis raises serious issues concerning national sovereignty.

Past related articles:
> US military police patrol in Naha City may have violated Japan’s sovereignty [November 2, 2025]
> US military’s anti-crime joint patrol with Okinawa police, superficial performance [April 22, 2025]