Japan foreign minister says review of US troops is to ensure sustainable US military presence

Japan: US troop review needed for sustainability

TOKYO — Japan’s new foreign minister said Wednesday he wants to review the deployment of U.S. troops in Japan to ease the burden on the people of Okinawa, where many U.S. bases are located.

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada also said North Korea and the possible creation of an East Asian community were likely to top the agenda at a summit this weekend among the leaders of Japan, China and South Korea.

Japan hosts about 50,000 U.S. troops, with two-thirds of them on Okinawa, under a bilateral security pact. The new Tokyo government has said it wants to review their presence.

“The only way this presence can be sustained in the long term is to make sure that the burden on the Okinawans is decreased in some way,” Okada told journalists at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan. “Only by accomplishing these goals will we be able to ensure that the U.S.-Japan alliance will be sustainable.”