AP News, February 7th, 2007
Japan's prime minister pledged Wednesday to regain four disputed northern islands from Russia, saying it was time to end the bickering between Tokyo and Moscow over the prime fishing grounds. "The territorial issue is a matter of national concern, and it is important for each person to be interested in the problem to mobilize efforts," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at an annual rally to garner support for the islands' return.
"Progress in Japan-Russia relations has a big potential to benefit both countries. It is crucial to make persistent effort to resolve the dispute over the Northern Territories, which is the long-pending problem," Abe said.
Moscow seized the four-island chain, called the southern Kurils by Russia and the Northern Territories by Japan, from Tokyo in the closing days of World War II. The dispute has kept the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty.
Later, Abe told reporters there is no change in Tokyo's position that the issue must be resolved before a treaty can be signed.
Wednesday was Japan's Northern Territory Day, marking the anniversary of an 1855 Japan-Russia friendship treaty that gave Japan possession of the islands.
The event, attended by 1,500 people, including government officials, civic groups and ordinary citizens, also attracted dozens of ultra-right activists who shouted their territorial demands on speaker-loaded trucks outside the venue.
Abe's government has campaigned for more assertiveness in Japan's foreign affairs and international military role. As part of the goal, the government is also pushing for education reforms to foster patriotism.
Northern Territories Minister Sanae Takaichi, also at the rally, urged schools to place more emphasis on the issue to promote "accurate" understanding of the issue through education.
The islands, surrounded by prime fishing waters, are part of a chain running from Japan's northern main island of Hokkaido to Russia's eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.
Russia said Wednesday it was prepared to look for mutually acceptable solutions to the problem, but insisted that its control of the islands was not up for negotiation.
"Our position is well-known, and it has not changed. We proceed from the principle of inviolability of the results of World War II," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said.
"At the same time we are open to continuing dialogue with Tokyo with the aim of looking for mutually acceptable solutions in Russian-Japanese relations," Kamynin said on Russia's state-controlled Channel One television, commenting on Abe's earlier remarks.
In recent months, there have been frequent seizures of Japanese boats; Russian authorities have stepped up patrols in and around the islands, escalating tensions.
About 17,000 people, nearly all Russians, live on the islands. Thousands of Japanese who lived there were forced out just before the end of World War II.
Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in November to expand economic and political exchanges and end differences over the islands.
