Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday expressed “outrage” after the arrest of a US military base employee linked to the death of a woman on Okinawa, a week before a high-profile visit to Japan by US President Barack Obama.
Police sources said the American suspect, an ex-Marine, had admitted strangling 20-year-old office worker Rina Shimabukuro, who had been missing since late April. Her decomposing body was located among weeds in the village of Onna in central Okinawa, on Thursday, after the suspect gave a statement to police earlier in the day, the sources said.
A photo taken early Friday shows the overgrown spot where the body of Rina Shimabukuro was found. Photo: Kyodo
Okinawan police arrested Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, 32, for allegedly disposing of the Shimabukuro’s body, a spokesman said without elaborating.
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Local media said Shinzato, a US citizen and former US Marine, lives in southern Okinawa and works in a civilian role at the US Kadena Air Base.
The southern island of Okinawa was the site of a brutal World War II battle but is now considered a strategic linchpin by hosting numerous US military bases that support the two countries’ decades-long security alliance.
People protest in front of the US Kadena Air Base in Okinawa on Friday after the arrest of base worker Kenneth Franklin Shinzato in relation to the death of Rina Shimabukuro. Photo: Kyodo
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“I feel extremely strong outrage,” Abe told reporters at his office, calling on the US to take action.
