US soldier hits Japan schoolboy
3 Nov 2012 12:57 AM GMT
The US ambassador to Japan on Friday rushed into firefighting mode for the second time in a month after a soldier allegedly attacked a schoolboy on an island already angry with the US military presence.
Ambassador John Roos appeared in front of television cameras pledging full US co-operation after claims that a drunken serviceman broke a curfew and hit a 13-year-old in a private home. ‘Let me be absolutely clear. I am very upset, it's an understatement to say I am very upset with the reported incident in Okinawa,’ Roos told reporters after being summoned to the Japanese foreign ministry in Tokyo.
Less than three weeks ago a teary-eyed Roos told Okinawans he shared their ‘anger’ after two US servicemen were arrested over the alleged rape of a local woman on the island.
That incident led to a nationwide nighttime curfew for all service personnel in the country as US authorities moved swiftly to try to neutralise a potentially explosive issue. Okinawans, the reluctant hosts to more than half of the 47,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen stationed in Japan, are angry about the huge US presence on their semi-tropical island chain. Crimes committed by servicemen have tended to act as lightning rods for protestors who want their bases shut.
Ambassador John Roos appeared in front of television cameras pledging full US co-operation after claims that a drunken serviceman broke a curfew and hit a 13-year-old in a private home. ‘Let me be absolutely clear. I am very upset, it's an understatement to say I am very upset with the reported incident in Okinawa,’ Roos told reporters after being summoned to the Japanese foreign ministry in Tokyo.
Less than three weeks ago a teary-eyed Roos told Okinawans he shared their ‘anger’ after two US servicemen were arrested over the alleged rape of a local woman on the island.
That incident led to a nationwide nighttime curfew for all service personnel in the country as US authorities moved swiftly to try to neutralise a potentially explosive issue. Okinawans, the reluctant hosts to more than half of the 47,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen stationed in Japan, are angry about the huge US presence on their semi-tropical island chain. Crimes committed by servicemen have tended to act as lightning rods for protestors who want their bases shut.
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