(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-12 16:43

TOKYO - Top Japanese officials on Tuesday denounced the suspected rape of a 14-year-old girl by a U.S. Marine on the southern island of Okinawa, an episode with echoes of a 1995 case that jolted the U.S.-Japan alliance.

Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda speaks to reporters on his way to a session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos January 26, 2008. Top Japanese officials on Tuesday deplored the suspected rape of a 14-year-old girl by a U.S. Marine on the southern island of Okinawa, an episode with echoes of a 1995 incident that jolted the U.S.-Japan security alliance. [Agencies]

The Marine, 38-year-old Tyrone Hadnott, based at Camp Courtney on the island, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of raping the schoolgirl when the two were in a car on Sunday.

He has denied raping the girl but acknowledged forcing her to kiss him, Japanese media said.

"It is unforgivable," Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told a parliamentary panel in his first public comments on the latest incident on Okinawa, host to a huge U.S. military presence.

"It has happened over and over again in the past and I take it as a grave case."

Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed anger over repeated incidents despite frequent promises by U.S. officials to prevent them. "This will have a big impact on future U.S-Japan relations," he told a news conference.

In 1995, the rape of a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen sparked huge protests calling on the U.S. military to leave Okinawa, where residents have long resented crime, noise and accidents they blame on the U.S. presence.

But diplomatic experts said such political fallout could be limited this time if the two governments were careful.

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"I don't see that there is the sort of dry kindling there for this to light," said Derek Mitchell, a senior fellow at Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"I think the alliance is on much more solid ground."

The 1995 rape case coincided with bitter trade talks on Japan's auto market as well as doubts about the significance of the alliance after the end of the Cold War.

Japan is home to some 50,000 U.S. troops, under a security alliance that is a pillar of Japan's postwar diplomacy.

OKINAWA REACTION KEY

Both U.S. and Japanese authorities want to prevent a re-run of 1995 but analysts said much depends on the reaction in Okinawa.

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