Kitazawa eyeing talks with Okinawa governor in May on Futenma issue+

TOKYO, April 19 Kyodo -
Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa is eyeing visiting Okinawa in early May for talks with Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima on the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air base within the prefecture, government sources said Tuesday.
Kitazawa hopes to break the deadlock in the issue through talks with Nakaima before a meeting of Japanese and U.S. foreign and defense ministers expected to be held ahead of Prime Minister Naoto Kan's visit to the United States in late June, the sources said.
But the situation is expected to remain stalemated as Nakaima and Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine are calling for reviewing a Japan-U.S. accord in May 2010, which designates the relocation of the Futenma air base from Ginowan to Nago, both in Okinawa. They are calling on the central government to move the air base outside Okinawa.
The government was seeking to have talks with the Okinawa prefectural government on the relocation issue in late March in expectation of a meeting of Japanese and U.S. foreign and defense ministers in Washington during Japan's Golden Week holiday season between late April and early May.
But the government has postponed the ministerial meeting to concentrate on addressing the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, including the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.