Japan PM says Okinawa rape case "unforgivable"

By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's prime minister Tuesday denounced the suspected rape of a 14-year-old girl by a U.S. Marine on the southern island of Okinawa, an episode with echoes of a 1995 case that jolted the U.S.-Japan alliance.

The Marine, 38-year-old Tyrone Hadnott, based at Camp Courtney on the island, was arrested Monday on suspicion of raping the schoolgirl when the two were in a car Sunday.

He has denied raping the girl but acknowledged forcing her to kiss him, an Okinawa police spokesman said.

"It is unforgivable," Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told a parliamentary panel in his first public comments on the latest incident on Okinawa, host to a huge U.S. military presence.

"It has happened over and over again in the past and I take it as a grave case."

Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed anger over repeated incidents despite frequent promises by U.S. officials to prevent them. "This will have a big impact on future U.S-Japan relations," he told a news conference.

In 1995, the rape of a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen sparked huge protests calling on the U.S. military to leave Okinawa, where residents have long resented crime, noise and accidents they blame on the U.S. presence.

But diplomatic experts said such political fallout could be limited this time if the two governments are careful.

"I don't see that there is the sort of dry kindling there for this to light," said Derek Mitchell, a senior fellow at Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"I think the alliance is on much more solid ground."

The 1995 rape case coincided with bitter trade talks on Japan's auto market as well as doubts about the significance of the alliance after the end of the Cold War.

Japan is home to some 50,000 U.S. troops under a security alliance that is a pillar of Japan's postwar diplomacy.

OKINAWA REACTION KEY

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Japan on Tuesday had summoned the U.S. charge d'affairs in Tokyo over the incident, and he met Japan's vice foreign minister.

"I'm sure he expressed our deep regret regarding the issue, and also underlined the fact that we intend to cooperate in every way possible," McCormack said. Earlier, he said, mid-level officials from the U.S. embassy had also gone to Japanese officials to express regret.