TOKYO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo has offered to shoulder 6 billion U.S. dollars, in funds and loans, as part of the cost to relocate 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam, Kyodo News reported Friday.

    Japan would supply 3 billion dollars in fiscal funds, in addition to 3 billion in loans to be paid back by the United States, Kyodo quoted sources as saying.

    An agreement on the realignment cost sharing between the two countries has yet to be reached in a two-day working level meeting at Tokyo ending on Friday. U.S. Defense Deputy Undersecretary for Asia and Pacific Affairs Richard Lawless, said on Thursday in Tokyo that an agreement may "not necessarily" be expected.

    Due to their disagreement on the cost issue, the two nations have failed to meet the March 31 deadline to nail down an implementation plan, as decided in October 2005.

    Washington requested Japan to pay 75 percent, or 7.5 billion dollars, of an estimated 10 billion-dollars relocation cost, though Tokyo apparently was unwilling to meet the demand.

    "From the very beginning, Japan has never considered talking about this by percentage," Japanese Defense Agency Vice Minister Takemasa Moriya said on Thursday. Enditem