TOKYO, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, on his second official visit to Okinawa on Saturday, told the mayor of Ginowan city in central Naha that finding a resolution to the relocation of the U.S. military airfield is proving "tough" for the government.

    Okada's trip to Japan's southernmost prefecture followed a ministerial-level working group meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo on Friday, during which Washington expressed its mounting concern about the expected delay in resolving the controversy over an alternative site for the heliport functions at the Futenma base in Ginowan.

    U.S. officials urged Japan to settle the controversy as soon as possible by implementing an earlier bilateral accord on the matter, first reached in 2006, which would see the relocation of the heliport functions at the Futenma facility, to a less densely populated coastal area adjacent to the Marine Corps' Camp Schwab in Nago, northern Okinawa, by 2014. The plan involves constructing two runways in a V-shape in the coastal area of Camp Schwab.

    During the group's Friday meeting, the United States described the existing relocation plan as, "the only feasible option."

    "Going on like this may lead to the situation that should be feared the most," Okada told Ginowan Mayor Yoichi Iha at the start of their meeting on Saturday -- referring to the possibility that the danger to local residents posed by the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station, located in a crowded residential area of Ginowan, will not be removed for some time to come.

    Okada, stated on Saturday that he wanted to exchange opinions with the people of Okinawa on the issue involving the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station.

    Prior to visiting U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Zukeran, where part of the land used by the facility will be returned if the relocation of Futemma and the transfer of around 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam goes ahead, Okada addressed local citizens in Nago on Saturday.

    Along with many Okinawan people, Nago citizens are becoming increasingly incensed by the burden the U.S. facilities place on local areas and continue to draw the government's attention towards issues of crime, noise and pollution attributed to the bases' presence.

    During talks held on Friday, the U.S team said that if the Hatoyama administration looked for a new site for Futenma's heliport functions, Washington might implement budgetary measures to address problems arising from the bases' antiquated buildings, equipment and other resources.

    Tokyo has urged Washington to allow until next year before a final decision is made, citing strong opposition to the 2006 bilateral agreement from the Social Democratic Party, not to mention local residents and leaders in Okinawa.

    The U.S. base realignment plan in Okinawa and the delaying of clear policy to resolve the issue is becoming the most visible policy issue of the new DPJ government as the DPJ's original manifesto is being called into question and the bilateral ties with Washington are being tested.