Japan reiterated on Thursday that it will only sign a peace treaty with Russia if it returns the disputed Kuril Islands, the BBC Russian Service reported.
The four islands, which lie off Japan’s northern-most island of Hokkaido, were seized by Soviet troops at the end of World War II. The dispute over the islands – which Russia calls the southern Kurils and Japan the Northern Territories – has stopped the two countries from signing a treaty to end the war.
Speaking in parliament on Thursday, Japanese Parime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Tokyo wanted all four islands returned and would not accept a Russian offer to return part of the islands but not all.
Last week, Japan dropped the provocative wording, “illegal occupation,” for the long-running dispute, and agreed to refer to the islands as being “occupied without legal grounds” by Russia.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sparked a diplomatic row with Tokyo in November 2010 by making the first ever visit by a Russian leader to the Kuril islands.
The history of the Kuril Islands dispute
He later said Russia would increase its military presence there. Japan’s then prime minister Naoto Kan called Medvedev’s visit an “inexcusable rudeness.”