Japanese foreign minister to take close look at Kuril Islands
14:38 13/01/2012 TOKYO, January 13 (RIA Novosti) - Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said on Friday he is planning to “review” the disputed Kuril Islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan, from aboard a patrol boat, as well as from Hokkaido Island.
The ongoing row over the Kuril Islands has prevented Japan and Russia from signing a formal peace treaty following the end of World War II.
“I want to see everything with my own eyes. I also want to talk to residents and hear what they think about the return of the islands [to Japan],” Gemba said at a news conference, adding that he would visit Hokkaido on Saturday.
Last August, Japan's former foreign minister, Seiji Maehara, made a tour of Russia's disputed Southern Kuril Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
In December 2010, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sparked a diplomatic row with Tokyo by making the first ever visit by a Russian leader to the islands. He later said Russia would increase its military presence there.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan called Medvedev's visit an "inexcusable rudeness."
Maehara first visited the islands in 2006.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
