TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese government has delayed until next year a decision on whether to pursue changes in an accord on the relocation of a United States military base on the southern island of Okinawa, the Japanese news media reported Tuesday.

The Kyodo news agency said Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama had put off a decision on the future of a Marine Corps air station at Futenma, while the newspaper Asahi Shimbun said the decision had been postponed until May.

Spokesmen for the prime minister’s office, the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry could not confirm the reports. Tensions over the future of the air base have been threatening to strain ties between the United States and Japan.

According to a 2006 agreement between the countries that would reorganize American troops in Japan, Futenma was to be moved to a less crowded part of Okinawa, but Mr. Hatoyama has talked about the possibility of changing the relocation site, or even removing the base from the island.

Okinawa residents complain about noise, pollution and crime caused by the base, and many people want the airfield closed and its operations moved off the island entirely.

The reorganization plan, negotiated and agreed to by the previous conservative Japanese government, was aimed at lightening the load on Okinawa, which is host to more than half of the 47,000 American troops in Japan.

The plan also called for moving 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam by 2014, but the American military says that plan cannot move forward until the Futenma air base’s relocation is finalized.

Mr. Hatoyama has promised that Tokyo would adopt a less subservient relationship with Washington, but he has also emphasized that the security alliance with the United States is the cornerstone of Japan’s diplomacy.