No quick Futenma decision: Hatoyama

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Saturday he is not ready to reach a conclusion by the end of the year on the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture.

"I'm not yet at that stage," Hatoyama told reporters in Tokyo, referring to a media report that he is expected to come to a conclusion by yearend.

Hatoyama's comment came after Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Saturday reiterated his hope that the government will reach a decision by the end of the year on Futenma's relocation.

"It is desirable to reach a conclusion by the end of December" in light of the compilation of the fiscal 2010 state budget, Okada said in a speech in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture.

Okada acknowledged that Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama does not entirely share his view, but added, "Our views are not so different."

Hatoyama said Friday he is speaking with the ministers concerned to work out Japan's position on the issue involving Futenma air station, which is straining ties between Tokyo and Washington. He suggested that he would basically abide by discussions held by a Japan-U.S. high-level working group set up to examine the matter.

Hatoyama told reporters after meeting with Okada and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa that he is keenly aware of the need to find a speedy solution to the base's relocation and that the government "must recognize the extreme suffering" of Okinawans.

However, the prime minister has not clearly indicated the timing for his final decision on the matter.

Okada, who recently visited Okinawa, has proposed consolidating the Futenma facility with the nearby U.S. Kadena Air Base. However, the idea has run into opposition from both the United States and local governments that host the base.

A government official said the foreign minister is therefore starting to seriously consider a settlement centering on the existing plan.

Under a 2006 Japan-U.S. accord, following years of negotiations, the Futenma functions are to be relocated from downtown Ginowan to the U.S. Marine Corps Camp Schwab in the less densely populated area of Nago in northern Okinawa, by 2014. The plan involves the construction of two runways in the coastal area of Camp Schwab.

As a condition for implementing the 2006 bilateral accord, the Defense Ministry has proposed that some drills conducted by F-15 fighters from the Kadena air base in central Okinawa should be transferred out of the prefecture, and the prime minister has been examining the plan, according to government sources.

In Okinawa, calls have been growing for Futenma's flight operations to be transferred out of the prefecture.

Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima said Friday it would become "extremely difficult" to move the Futenma facility to Nago, as agreed in the 2006 accord, if an opponent of the plan wins the Nago mayoral election next January.

Incumbent Yoshikazu Shimabukuro has adopted a similar position to Nakaima and conditionally accepts the relocation. However, former local education board head Susumu Inamine, who is opposed to the transfer of the Futenma functions to Nago, is planning to run against the mayor.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is planning to make several overseas trips next month, including one to India on Dec. 29-30 for a summit with his Indian counterpart and another to Indonesia to attend a democracy forum, government sources said Friday.

The prime minister is trying to arrange the meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for talks possibly covering an economic partnership agreement and measures against global warming and terrorism, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Friday that arrangements are being made for Hatoyama to attend a U.N. climate change conference, known as the COP15, in Copenhagen on Dec. 18.