Japan Press Weekly

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2014 October 29 - November 4 [POLITICS]

JCP Inoue: US should decontaminate its former military base sites

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Inoue Satoshi on October 28 argued at a House Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting that the U.S. should take responsibility for decontaminating the compounds of its military bases to be returned to Japan.

Tokyo and Washington on October 20 concluded a new agreement complementing the current Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The supplementary accord obliges Japan to continue to be responsible for removing toxic substances from returned U.S. base sites.

Inoue insisted that it is impossible to deter contamination unless the U.S. is held responsible for the clean-up.

The JCP parliamentarian criticized the new bilateral agreement and urged the government to negotiate with Washington over a revision of the SOFA itself.

Inoue also questioned the Foreign Ministry whether Japanese local governments are allowed to carry out on-the-spot investigations on U.S. bases when those sites’ contamination is brought to light.

The ministry’s North American Affairs Bureau Director General Tomita Koji only replied, “That matter is now under negotiation with the U.S. government.”


Past related article:
> New Japan-US agreement may be tactic to secure Okinawa governor’s reelection [October 21, 2014]