Submarine incident: US appoints "Japan envoy"

The United States has appointed a special envoy to Japan, two weeks after the sinking of a Japanese fishing vessel by an American submarine.

The Pentagon said the US Navy's second-in-command, Admiral William Fallon, will travel to Tokyo next week to apologise in person for the incident.

He'll deliver a letter from President Bush, as well as briefing the Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshiri Mori, on the progress of investigations into the accident, which left nine people missing, feared dead.

Japan had demanded an envoy after reports that civilians on board the submarine had distracted the crew. A US Naval Court of Inquiry convenes in March to examine the incident.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service