
The U.S. ambassador to Japan expressed regret on Saturday for the handling of two cases of sexual assaults allegedly committed by American military service members stationed in Okinawa.
The issue arose late last month, triggering an uproar over reports that two American service members had been charged with sexual assaults months earlier.
Both cases were first reported in local media in late June. In one arrest made in March, a member of the U.S. Air Force was charged with the kidnapping and sexual assault of a teenager, and in May, a U.S. Marine was arrested on charges of attempted rape resulting in injury. Further details about the alleged victims were not released.