The US military said yesterday it opened a hearing for four US Marines accused of gang-raping a Japanese woman, even though Japanese prosecutors decided not to press charges.
The case in Hiroshima is going ahead amid public outrage over a separate alleged rape by another Marine on the southern island of Okinawa, the biggest hub for US troops in Japan.
The US Marines said they held a so-called Article 32 hearing -- the military equivalent of a preliminary court hearing -- on Thursday and yesterday of the four Marines at their base in Iwakuni, near Hiroshima.
A 20-year-old woman alleged that the four military men in October raped her in a car and then stole her money.
"The US government has a responsibility to prove the facts about allegations," said Master Gunnery Sergeant John Cordero, spokesman for the Iwakuni base.
He stressed that the preliminary hearing did not necessarily mean the military would take action against the men as they are presumed to be innocent under the law until it is proven otherwise.
"Any allegations about Marines will be investigated by the Marine Corps, and we consider any allegations seriously," Cordero said.
Japanese prosecutors in November dropped the case against the military personnel, citing inconsistencies in the woman's allegations.
Police have declined further details. But Kyodo News said the woman changed her story and told police she consented to have sex with one of the four men.
The US stations troops in Japan under a security alliance with its key Asian ally, which has been officially pacifist since its defeat in World War II.
There has been frequent friction between US troops and residents. The city of Iwakuni on Sunday held a mayoral poll in which a candidate vowing to stop expansion of the air base narrowly lost.
Relations are particularly tense in Okinawa, where about half the US forces are stationed.
Okinawan leaders voiced outrage and the US ambassador made a personal apology after a US Marine was arrested on Monday for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl.
He remains in Japanese police custody pending charges.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS