President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pause during translation as they speak to media in Shima, Japan on May 25. | AP Photo Japan's Abe publicly scolds Obama The prime minister expressed 'profound resentment' for the murder of a citizen by a former Marine last week in Okinawa.

SHIMA, Japan — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the highly unusual move of publicly lecturing President Barack Obama on Wednesday evening, saying he has "firmly lodged a protest" against his fellow leader for the murder of a citizen by a former Marine last week in Okinawa.

Kenneth Franklin Shinzato has already confessed to stabbing and strangling the 20-year-old Japanese woman who had been working as a contractor at Kadena Air Base.


That's not enough for Abe, who linked this to a long and bitter history of American personnel stationed here preying on Japanese citizens, most famously in the 1995 rape case when three American servicemen raped a 12-year old girl. Just this past March, another Marine was arrested for raping a woman.

"I feel profound resentment for this self centered and despicable crime," Abe said, through his translator. "This case shocked the entire Japan."

"I have asked the president to carry out effective measures to prevent a recurrence of such crimes,” Abe said.

Obama, who'd only just landed in Japan for the G7 meeting and for then what was supposed to be a forward-looking reconciliation visit with Abe to Hiroshima on Friday, said he is trying to address Abe's concerns and offered his "sincere condolences and deepest regrets" for the incident.

Obama pledged full cooperation. "This has shaken up people in Okinawa as well as people throughout Japan," Obama said. "We consider it inexcusable and we are committed to do everything we can to prevent any crime of this sort ... The Japanese people should know how deeply moved we are about what has happened."

Abe set a high bar, while warning that this incident could create problems with the future of American forces stationed in Japan.

"I convey to the president that such feelings of the Japanese people should be sincerely taken to heart," he said. "I also urge the United States to make sure to take effective and thorough means to prevent a recurrence and rigorously and strictly address the situation."