US President Barack Obama has expressed “his sincerest condolences and deepest regrets” for the “tragedy” of a Japanese woman’s death in the hands of a US military base staff member in Okinawa, after being harshly lectured by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“The US will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation to ensure that justice is done under the Japanese justice system,” Obama told Abe at a press conference in Japan’s Shima on Monday.
The two met shortly after the American head of state arrived in Japan on Wednesday to take part in the G7 summit.
Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a former US Marine, was arrested last week for the murder of 20-year-old Rina Shimabukuro, after police found DNA matching the dead woman’s in his car.
Shinzato, who lives in southern Okinawa, worked at the US Air Force’s Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.
“We want to see a crime like this prosecuted here in the same way that we would feel horrified and want to…