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U.S. quicker to alert Japan of deserters

TOKYO — Japan and the U.S. officially agreed Thursday to have the U.S. military provide information on its deserters immediately after desertions occur and enable Japanese police forces to make arrests, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Itsunori Onodera said.

The U.S. military will also shorten the time needed to determine whether missing service members deserted or simply went missing, as part of the agreement by the Japan-U.S. Joint Committee in light of the arrest and indictment of an alleged Navy deserter in the death of a Japanese taxi driver in March.

A request to Japan’s prefectural police forces for arrest will be made immediately after the U.S. military identifies a deserter. The U.S. side will provide as much information as possible, including the name, birth date, nationality, rank and photo of the personnel concerned, the Foreign Ministry said.

Under the U.S. forces’ rules until now, a service member would be automatically considered a deserter 30 days after going missing, and in cases less than 30 days, the U.S. authorities would determine whether he deserted or went missing.

But Onodera said the U.S. military will shorten the time required and designate a missing service member as a deserter if his or her whereabouts is not confirmed within one to two days.

The Japan-U.S. Status-of-Forces Agreement does not require the U.S. side to inform Japan of any deserters or missing troops, but Onodera said Thursday’s agreement was made as part of improved implementation of the accord, which governs the operations of U.S. forces in Japan.