President Barack Obama speaks after a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the Group of Seven, or G7, summit meetings in Shima, Japan, on Wednesday, May 25.
Obama apologizes for Okinawa killing
00:49 - Source: CNN

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Obama arrived in Japan Wednesday

He will visit the Hiroshima memorial on Friday

CNN  — 

After a strong statement of protest by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, President Barack Obama Wednesday expressed “his sincerest condolences and deepest regrets” for the murder of a Japanese woman allegedly at the hands of a former U.S. Marine.

Obama arrived in Japan Wednesday for a meeting of the G-7.

“The U.S. will continue to cooperate fully” and will continue to ensure “justice is done under the Japanese legal system,” Obama said.

Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a civilian worker at the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture, was arrested on suspicion of abandoning the body of the 20-year-old woman.

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The 32-year-old suspect also indicated that he killed the woman, who was reported missing last month, according to authorities.

“We want to see a crime like this prosecuted here in the same way that we would feel horrified and want to provide a sense of justice to a victim’s family back in the U.S.,” Obama said. “I think the Japanese people should know we are deeply moved and working with he Japanese government to prosecute not only this crime but prevent these kinds of crimes from happening again.”

Abe said that he felt “profound resentment for this self-centered and despicable crime this case has shocked not just Okinawa but all of Japan.”