Japan Press Weekly

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2025 April 30 - May 13 [US FORCES]

Okinawa Prefectural Assembly adopts unanimous statement protesting against assault of two women by US soldier

The Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, in a special plenary session on May 9, unanimously adopted a statement in protest against the assault of two Japanese women by a Marine on a U.S. military base in March.

The case in question is that of a U.S. Marine who was indicted on charges of sexually assaulting a Japanese woman on the base and injuring another woman who tried to stop him.

The assembly criticized the repetition of sex crimes involving U.S. servicemen. It then demanded that: the U.S. military reevaluate its human rights education for all its personnel; both the U.S. and Japanese governments take responsibility for providing post-incident care, apologies, and compensation to the victims; and the progress on these efforts be reported to Okinawans.

The assembly also demanded that the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) which gives special privileges to the U.S. Forces Japan be fundamentally revised. In particular, it pressed for the urgent revision of the SOFA provision which stipulates that the Japanese police, in principle, cannot take U.S. military suspects into custody before their prosecution if the criminal offenses occur while off duty.

Past related article:
> Drastic overhaul of SOFA & reduction of US bases needed to help prevent crimes by US soldiers [April 25, 2025]