U.S. replaces diplomat after comments irk Japan

TOKYO The United States has replaced the head of the Japan desk at the State Department, the U.S. embassy in Tokyo said on Thursday, after reported comments by the diplomat had threatened to strain ties between the two close allies.

Japanese media had quoted Kevin Maher, director of the office of Japan affairs at the State Department, as telling U.S. college students that residents of the southern island of Okinawa -- host to about half the U.S. military in Japan -- were masters of "manipulation" and "extortion".

Embattled Prime Minister Naoto Kan has promised to implement a 2006 agreement to shift a U.S. Marine airbase in Okinawa to a less populated part of the island, but faces stiff opposition from local residents, many of whom associate the U.S. bases with crime, accidents, noise and pollution.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell conveyed his deep regrets about the statements attributed to Maher and repeated that they did not reflect U.S. government policy, the U.S. embassy said in a statement, which announced that veteran diplomat Rust Deming had been appointed as director of the office of Japan affairs at the state department.

The furor over Maher's reported comments emerged as Kan's government was scrambling to pick a new foreign minister to replace Seiji Maehara, who abruptly resigned on Sunday after admitting he had accepted, albeit unknowingly, about $3,000 worth of donations from a Korean national living in Japan.

The unpopular Kan, who is struggling with a divided parliament where the opposition is blocking bills needed to implement a $1 trillion budget for the fiscal year starting on April 1, promoted junior cabinet minister Takeaki Matsumoto to the key diplomatic post on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Linda Sieg; Editing by Michael Watson)