Japan Press Weekly

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2016 July 6 - 12 [US FORCES]

USFJ repeats selfish arguments on Facebook

The Headquarters of U.S. Forces Japan posted on its Facebook page an article that denies any inequality in the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), Akahata reported on July 9.

The article asks at the beginning, “Did you know the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement does not, and never has, conferred ‘immunity’ on SOFA members?” It went on to note that “if a suspect (who is a U.S. serviceperson or a U.S. base worker) is arrested by Japanese police, the Japanese authorities conduct their investigation and decide whether or not to prosecute under Japanese law” and that “if the Japanese authorities choose not to prosecute, the SOFA gives U.S. Commanders the authority to prosecute individuals for violations of U.S. law.”

This article, however, neglects the important fact that the SOFA gives the U.S. military a free hand in deciding whether to hand a U.S. suspect under U.S. detention over to Japanese authorities.

In addition, the most serious problem of the bilateral agreement is that if a U.S. military-related person commits a crime during “on-duty hours”, whether U.S. or Japanese authorities take them into custody, the SOFA grants U.S. authorities the primary jurisdiction over the case. The posted account also fails to mention this fact.

In late June, the USFJ posted on its Facebook another article claiming that U.S. military facilities are not highly concentrated in Okinawa, which has drawn widespread public criticism.

Past related article:
> USFJ on Facebook: it is ‘misperception’ that Okinawa hosts 74% of US bases in Japan [June 30, 2016]