US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today met with a senior Japanese foreign ministry official who visited the Pentagon to discuss the sinking a week ago of a Japanese fishing trawler by a US nuclear powered submarine, officials said.
Senior Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Seishiro Eto was briefed on normal submarine surfacing procedures and the ongoing search for survivors after the USS Greeneville struck the Ehime Maru while surfacing off Hawaii, said Rear Admiral Craig Quigley.
A somber-faced Deputy Defense Secretary Rudy De Leon quickly ushered Mr Eto into the Pentagon for meetings that lasted two hours, twice as long as scheduled.
Mr Quigley said Mr Rumsfeld met with Mr Eto during the visit.
The meeting, which was requested by the Japanese government, followed the US Navy's disclosure earlier this week that civilians were at key controls of the USS Greeneville when it struck the Ehime Maru while surfacing off Hawaii's Waikiki Beach on February 9.
US Coast Guard and navy vessels continue searching for the nine people missing from Ehime Maru, including four high school students, at the request of the Japanese government.
AFP