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U.S. Commander in Okinawa Apologizes for Alleged Rape by Airman
The top U.S. military commander in Okinawa, Lt. Gen. Earl Hailston, apologized Tuesday for the alleged rape Friday of a Japanese woman by a U.S. airman, expressing sorrow over the incident and disappointment in the serviceman.
Hailston made the apology during a visit to the Okinawa prefectural government a day after Okinawa police obtained an arrest warrant for Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy Woodland on suspicion of rape, Okinawa prefectural government officials said.
Noriaki Kakazu, chief accountant of the Okinawa government, met the commander on behalf of Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine, who is on a trip to Tokyo.
Kakazu demanded that the U.S. forces hand Woodland over to Japanese authorities as early as possible, the officials said.
He also told Hailston the U.S. forces have failed to translate into action past pledges to tighten discipline and institute measures to prevent similar incidents, they said.
The commander said he wants to make sure appropriate measures are taken by the two countries, but did not make a specific promise to hand over Woodland, 24, to Japanese investigators, the officials said. Woodland is assigned to the 353rd Special Operations Group at Kadena Air Base.
The U.S. State Department said Monday it was studying a request from the Japanese government to hand over the sergeant to Japanese custody.
In Tokyo, Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka called for the U.S. to take swift action on the incident and hand over the suspect to Japanese authorities.
Japan ''cannot allow such incidents to happen,'' Tanaka told reporters.
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