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LEAD: Defense chief, Nago mayor meet again on U.S. base in Okinawa+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, March 26_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: UPDATING WITH END OF TALKS) Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga and Nago Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro remained at odds Sunday over a plan to relocate a U.S. air station from central Okinawa to the northern Okinawa city's coastline, but agreed to continue talks later this week. After his meeting with Shimabukuro in Tokyo, Nukaga told reporters, "We agreed to draw a conclusion as soon as possible. This is some progress." He said he will hold another round of talks with the mayor in Tokyo later this week. The two had met Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday to resolve differences on the matter. At issue is a Japan-U.S. plan, worked out last October, to build a 1,800-meter runway straddling the tip of a peninsula in Nago where the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab is located in order to relocate the U.S. Marines' Futemma Air Station from downtown Ginowan. Nukaga has agreed with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to make minor changes to the plan in response to local demands. Shimabukuro told reporters that he demanded U.S. military aircraft be forbidden to fly over his city's four districts, including Henoko, to allay citizens' concerns about the planned relocation. The Nago city government wants the planned U.S. military runway moved at least 400 meters offshore due to the noise and concern for the safety of residents living under the flight path. But Shimabukuro has shown signs of making concessions to the state government in a bid to find common ground. Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine also met Nukaga later in the day. Japan and the United States agreed last October on the new relocation plan for Futemma as part of an interim report on the overall realignment package for the U.S. military presence in Japan. The plan consists of building an L-shaped airfield straddling the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab and coastal waters at the tip of Nago's Cape Henoko to facilitate relocating the Futemma base from Ginowan. Under the October accord, Japan and the United States are working to finalize the package by the end of this month, but Tokyo has made little headway on gaining a local consensus. |