TOKYO, August 7 (Itar-Tass) – There should be no hotheaded actions in the course of talks with Russia as regards the problem of the Southern Kurile Islands, the Asahi newspaper said Tuesday quoting the Japanese Foreign Minister, Koichiro Gemba, who spoke in the northern city of Sapporo.
He called for exercising restraint at the talks “in spite of the willingness to settle the problem as early as possible.”
“That’s a very knotty issue /the problem of the so-called ‘northern territories’, which Japan is making claims to – Itar-Tass/ and there’s no making mistakes as we try to resolve it,” Gemba said.
Tokyo has been displaying readiness to resume active talks with Russia on the ‘territorial problem’ and on the signing of a peace treaty, which the two countries never signed formally after the end of World War II.
In the last days of July, Gemba made a visit to Russia and held talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The sides said after the meeting they continue viewing the problem of ‘northern territories’ – the islands of Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan, and the Habomai archipelago – from different angles but they agreed to continue dialogue in a calm atmosphere and to develop bilateral economic relations at the same time.