Japan's foreign minister OKs U.S. live-fire drills despite misfire incident

Japanese Foreign Minister Kawaguchi Yoriko has defended the U.S. forces in Okinawa's resumption of live-fire exercises on February 21 at Camp Schwab without completing the investigation into a misfire on farmland last July.

At a Lower House special committee meeting on February 25, Japanese Communist Party Akamine Seiken demanded that the live-fire exercises be called off. The foreign minister answered, "The U.S. forces have taken safety measures, and these exercises are necessary to maintain the Japan-U.S. security system."

The Japanese Foreign Ministry insists that the live-fire exercises are safe because the U.S. forces have set up a console on firing platforms after the incident.

The U.S. forces once installed a control device after a misfire on a taxi cab in 1987, but it did not lead to an end to such misfire incidents.

Pointing out this fact, JCP Akamine called for a halt to the exercises as the only true preventive measure. (end)