Japanese PM Publicly Lectures Obama (Video)

Earlier in 2016, Rina Shimabukuro was found dead along the side of a road in Okinawa, Japan. In May, Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a former U.S. marine now working as a civilian contractor at the Kadena Air Force Base, was arrested on suspicion of murdering Shimabukuro after her blood was found in his car.

“I demand that the U.S. respond in a strict manner to absolutely make sure similar incidents do not happen again,” Shinzo Abe, Japan’s Prime Minister, said, reports NHK World News.

The Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa has long been a source of crime on the island, and tension between the U.S. and Japan.

With Obama now in Japan for a G7 summit, Prime Minister Abe took the opportunity to deliver a public scolding to the visiting American President.

“I firmly lodged a protest against President Obama as the Japanese Prime Minister with regard to the most recent case in Okinawa,” Abe told Obama before an international press conference, reports ABC News. “The entire time for the small group discussion was sent on this specific case in Okinawa. And I feel profound resentment against this self-centered and absolutely despicable crime.”

The public airing of grievances sets a tense tone before Obama’s visit to Hiroshima on May 27.

“The entire Japan was deeply shocked due to this most recent case,” Abe continued. “I conveyed to the President such feelings of the Japanese people should be taken to heart sincerely.”

Obama responded, saying he extends his “sincerest condolences and deepest regrets” for the “tragedy” in Okinawa.

“The United States will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation to ensure that justice is done under the Japanese legal system,” Obama continued.

The two nations have not discussed closing the base.

“We consider it inexcusable, and we are committed to doing everything that we can to prevent any crimes from taking place of this sort,” Obama added. “We want to see a crime like this prosecuted here the same way that we would feel horrified and want to provide a sense of justice to a victim’s family back in the United States.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MspVMjGG_pg

Sources: ABC News, NHK World News, YouTube / Photo Credit: Pete Souza/White House