Corrects title in paragraph 6 to ...Assistant Secretary of Defense... from Assistant Secretary of State
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and the United States will hold the first meeting of a working group to tackle a row over a U.S. military base on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said, days after a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to revitalize ties.
The row broke out after Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama promised ahead of his August election win to have the Futenma Marine base moved off the southern island of Okinawa, contradicting an agreement Washington reached with a previous government.
Obama said in Tokyo last week he expected the working group to focus on swift implementation of the existing deal to move the base from a crowded residential area to a more northern part of the island.
Earlier this month, thousands gathered in Okinawa to call for the base to be moved out of the area.
The base issue divides not only Tokyo from Washington, but Hatoyama's cabinet members. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has floated the idea of merging the base with another on the island, while Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa has said he is prepared to accept the current plan, reached after years of what one U.S. military official called "painful" negotiation.
Japan will be represented by Okada and Kitazawa, while Washington's delegates will be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Wallace Gregson and Ambassador John Roos, the Foreign Ministry said.
(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
