Okinawa to nullify landfill work for new US base

Anti-base activists raise their fists in front of a gate of the US Marine Corps' Camp Schwab at the tiny hamlet of Henoko in Nago on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, January 15, 2015, in this photo taken by Kyodo. [Photo/Agencies]

TOKYO - The governor of Japan's Okinawa prefecture said Monday his prefecture will nullify an order approved to carry out landfill projects for a new US base.

Takeshi Onaga, who stands against the US base in the southernmost island prefecture, said the local government is to revoke the order approved by his predecessor.

The ongoing landfill work is for a replacement of the controversial US Futenma airbase located in the populated area in Ginowan city. The new base site is in a coastal area in Henoko within Okinawa.

The Okinawa prefectural government and local residents are at odds with the Japanese central government on the US base relocation issue and have called for moving the airbase outside the prefecture.