US military forces conducted on Monday paratrooper drills over a military base in Japan's Okinawa prefecture despite the agreement prohibiting parachute drop exercises in this area, local media reported.
TOKYO (Sputnik) — Nearly 30 US paratroopers practiced parachute jumps out of MC-130 special mission aircraft with all of them landed on the Okinawa territory, what violated the agreement of 1996 stipulating relocation of paratrooper exercises to the island of Ioto, Kyodo news agency reported.
TOKYO (Sputnik) — Nearly 30 US paratroopers practiced parachute jumps out of MC-130 special mission aircraft with all of them landed on the Okinawa territory, what violated the agreement of 1996 stipulating relocation of paratrooper exercises to the island of Ioto, Kyodo news agency reported.
The Japanese Defense Ministry informed the authorities of the Okinawa's Kadena city about the drills only late on Sunday, the news agency specified.
Local residents reportedly oppose the drills because of the incident that occurred in 1965, when a trailer dropped by parachute from a plane over Yomitan settlement killed an 11-year-old girl.
The authorities of Kadena together with local citizens claimed that the paratrooper drills were unacceptable, the media added.
Okinawa occupies less than 1 percent of the country's territory but hosts some 70 percent of US bases in Japan.
This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.