The governor of Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa has ordered a halt on the development of a controversial plan to relocate a US military base there.

Speaking at a news conference in the prefecture's capital, Naha, on Monday, Takeshi Onaga stated that he would revoke an earlier drilling permission needed to relocate the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to a sparsely-populated coastal region.

"Because rock drilling has apparently been carried out (outside the area covered by the permit), I ordered them to suspend the work while the prefecture probes the issue," he said.