Investigative sources say prosecutors in Japan's Okinawa Prefecture indicted a member of the US Marine Corps earlier this month for allegedly attempting to sexually assault a woman and injuring her.
Prefectural officials and investigators say the 21-year-old Marine Lance Corporal was indicted by the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office on June 17, after being arrested in May for allegedly trying to assault an adult woman and injuring her.
They say the woman resisted and the Marine left the scene, but the police found him after receiving a call and arrested him outside a US military base.
It came to light earlier this week that a US Air Force member based in Okinawa was indicted in March for the alleged kidnap and sexual assault of an underage girl last December.
On Thursday, the vice governor of Okinawa lodged a protest with the US forces in Japan over the December incident, saying it is causing concern for people who are forced to live next to US bases in Okinawa.
The vice governor also protested the delay in notifying the prefecture about the incident.
Okinawa Governor Tamaki Denny spoke to reporters on Friday about the latest case involving the US Marine Corps. He said that he feels anger beyond description.
He also pointed to the need to review a communication system for notifying the prefecture about incidents involving US military personnel.
Okinawa, where about 70 percent of the US military facilities in Japan are concentrated, has seen a number of incidents involving US military personnel. Protests about the situation are likely to intensify after the recently revealed allegations of sexual assaults in the prefecture.