Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba revealed Friday evening that Tokyo and Washington have been holding talks on reviewing the 2006 bilateral accord over the realignment of U.S. bases in Japan.
"What the Japan-U.S. agreement is basically aiming for is to maintain deterrence and at the same time alleviate the burden on Okinawa. We are currently holding talks flexibly and taking a calm approach," Genba said in a hastily convened news conference. "But I cannot say anything further because we are still in the middle of discussions."
He meanwhile stressed that recent news reports that the U.S. is contemplating making some changes to the deal Tokyo and Washington agreed on to move 8,000 marines to Guam was "a misunderstanding," but would neither confirm nor deny the veracity of the stories.