By Sumayya
Japanese Leader Sanae Takaichi sent a strong complaint to the United States on Sunday after a US soldier stood seized on suspicion of stealing from and killing a Japanese lady in Okinawa.
Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, remains suspected of killing Anna Yagi, 39, in a hotel in Naha, the capital of the furthest south zone, on Saturday and taking her cash holder and bag, police expressed. Ballard denied the claims, police expressed.
“The happening of such a highly cruel and wicked event remains deeply sad,” Takaichi expressed in a note.
“The cabinet of Japan strongly complains to the US flank and strongly searches for top help with the inquiry,” as well as the tightening of rules and complete steps to block it from taking place again, she expressed.
The US embassy and the soldier group expressed deep sadness over the event and expressed they were working together with the Japanese authorities.
The soldiers expressed in a note that the suspect, who performs with the III Marine Expeditionary Force and lives at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, stood in Japanese lock-up.
“The soldier group takes these claims very seriously and expects every soldier to keep to the highest rules of action,” it expressed.
Most of the 18,000 Japan-based soldiers remain placed in Okinawa, which the US kept from the close of World War Two until 1972. Their presence has frequently built anger among locals over topics like noise, plane crashes and the way workers act.
The 1995 attack on a 12-year-old Okinawan girl by three US soldiers sparked massive rallies.
Saturday’s killing could slow down Takaichi’s work to move near soldiers from the busy Futenma air base to a further away place at Henoko. Rivals want the forces shifted out of the zone completely.
Okinawa, which sits 100 km (60 miles) from Taiwan at its closest spot, remains viewed by Tokyo and Washington as vital in stopping probable army attacks from China.
