Ex-US base worker charged in murder of woman in Okinawa

TOKYO (AA) – Japanese prosecutors have charged a former United States marine working on an American military base on Okinawa island in the rape and murder of a local woman.

Local news agency Kyodo reported Thursday that Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, 32, is charged with murder, rape and dumping the body of the 20-year-old victim, in one of two recent scandals involving U.S. base employees in southern Okinawa prefecture.

Shinzato was arrested on May 19 and investigative sources earlier said he had admitted to the April 28 crime, but has kept silent since appearing before prosecutors.

Police had found the victim’s body in a forested area of Onna village based on Shinzato's statement.

Criticism of the U.S. presence in Okinawa has recently mounted, after the arrests of Shinzato and an American navy officer suspected of drunk driving and injuring two people in a collision a few weeks later.

The U.S. Navy responded to the scandals by imposing a temporary drinking ban on its personnel in Japan, which it later eased -- except in Okinawa.

The people of the prefecture have long felt oppressed by hosting around two-thirds of the entire U.S. military establishment in Japan since the end of World War II.