WASHINGTON (Kyodo) The United States will continue to work with Japan on implementing the accord to relocate the Futenma military base within Okinawa, a U.S. official said Monday, a day after Hirokazu Nakaima, who wants the airfield moved out of the prefecture, was re-elected governor.

"We have a road map, and that has been affirmed by the joint statement between Japan and the United States earlier this year," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told a press briefing. "We continue to work with Japan on a path forward."

Nakaima has called for the relocation of the base outside of Okinawa but has left room for negotiations with the central government.

Crowley said Sunday's election was "an internal domestic political decision for the people of Japan" and that talks between Okinawa and Tokyo officials over the relocation are "a Japanese matter."