TOKYO: US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel expressed “deep regret” over a series of sexual assaults by US servicemen in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, in an op-ed in Jiji Press on Thursday.

“We would like to express directly to the people of Okinawa our deep regret over these alleged incidents,” Emanuel said in the article co-authored with Lt. Gen. Roger Turner, commanding general of the US Marine Corps’ III Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Okinawa.

“Should the Japanese legal system find the allegations to be true, then we will have fallen well short of our own expectations and values,” Emanuel and Turner said, while stressing that the US side will continue to support local law enforcement efforts.

They said that US forces are taking concrete steps to improve training and education for personnel in Okinawa, including reinforcing regulations for off-base liberty time, increasing sobriety checks for drivers leaving military installations and introducing uniform rules of conduct and behavior.

They also pledged to improve communication with the local community.

The op-ed said, “We have always been grateful for the gracious hospitality we have received every day from residents across the archipelago.”

Other US officials have also expressed regret over the incidents in Okinawa.

“We are deeply troubled by the severity of the allegations,” US Defense Department spokesman Patrick Ryder told a news conference on July 2.

In an interview with Jiji Pres on July 3, Daniel Kritenbrink, US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said that “we’re going to work really hard to prevent this from happening again.”

JIJI Press