US civilian in Okinawa charged over Japanese woman's death ahead of Obama's visit
Thomson Reuters
An American working at a US military base on the Japanese island of Okinawa was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of dumping the body of a 20-year-old Japanese woman, media said, a case likely to stir anti-US sentiment ahead of President Barack Obama's visit.
Okinawa police charged the 32-year-old US civilian working at the Kadena airbase with "abandoning a corpse", public broadcaster NHK said. It did not mention any murder or other charge.
A spokesman for Okinawa police declined to comment.
Obama is to attend a Group of Seven summit next week and become the first US president to visit the city of Hiroshima, destroyed by a US atomic bomb 71 years ago.
Okinawa, the site of a bloody World War Two land battle, hosts the bulk of US military forces inJapan, and many residents resent what they see as an unfair burden. US installations take up about 18 percent of Okinawa's land.
In 1995, a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl was raped by three US servicemen on Okinawa, sparking huge protests.