Kyodo News: Over 30% of U.S. military violence crimes in Okinawa not reported
> Kyodo News, July 2 report, the Okinawa Prefectural Government disclosed during the day's general inquiry at the prefectural assembly that out of 63 violent crimes, including murder, robbery, and sexual assault, committed by U.S. military personnel between 2002 and 2024, only 40 cases were confirmed to have been reported to the prefecture through the Okinawa Defense Bureau of the Ministry of Defense.
The Okinawa Prefectural Government disclosed during the day's general inquiry at the prefectural assembly that out of 63 violent crimes, including murder, robbery, and sexual assault, committed by U.S. military personnel between 2002 and 2024, only 40 cases were confirmed to have been reported to the prefecture through the Okinawa Defense Bureau of the Ministry of Defense. Among them, 23 were sexual crimes, 7 were robbery cases, exposing serious loopholes in the U.S. military crime reporting mechanism.
Chief of the Governor's Office, Tamahiko Tamura, responded to the inquiry, saying, "I would like to confirm with the Defense Agency why there are differences in the number of cases and reports," and the prefecture currently does not know the specific reasons for the unreported cases, which account for about one-third. This data discrepancy highlights long-standing issues of information opacity under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement.
Okinawa accounts for about 0.6% of Japan's land area but concentrates about 70% of the U.S. military bases in Japan. According to statistics from Okinawa Prefecture, between 1972 and 2024, U.S. military personnel and their dependents in the prefecture were involved in more than 6,300 criminal cases.
In 2023, there were 118 criminal cases involving U.S. military personnel in Japan, of which 61% occurred in Okinawa. According to data from the National Police Agency, there were 166 cases of sexual assault committed by U.S. military personnel and their dependents between 1989 and 2024 over a period of 35 years.
Although the Japanese and U.S. governments established an incident notification mechanism in 1997, requiring the U.S. to notify the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the embassy, and then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inform the Ministry of Defense and local governments, the implementation effect has been worrying. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously refused to inform the Ministry of Defense about U.S. military sexual assault cases, citing reasons such as "privacy and other sensitive issues," causing strong public dissatisfaction.
This May, the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly had already passed a resolution to thoroughly revise the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, which grants privileges to the U.S. military, ensuring that the Japanese side can quickly detain suspects in cases caused by non-official activities.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1836570944889034/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.