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Japan wants to ink peace treaty with Russia during new Reiwa Era, minister says

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier repeatedly highlighted that he would like to sign the peace treaty with Russia during the life of the current generations

TOKYO, May 7. /TASS/. Japan’s government would like to sign a peace treaty with Russia during the new Reiwa Era, which started in the country on May 1 with Emperor Naruhito’s ascension to the throne, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Kono said on Tuesday.

"We would like to solve two problems during the Reiwa Era if possible: to ink the peace treaty with Russia and return to our motherland the citizens abducted by North Korea," TV channel NHK quoted him as saying. The Japanese foreign minister highlighted that during the previous Heisei Era Japan was not involved in any wars and will exert every effort further on for "the peace epoch to continue in the Reiwa Era as well."

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier repeatedly highlighted that he would like to sign the peace treaty with Russia during the life of the current generations of Japanese and Russians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to galvanize the negotiations on the peace treaty in November last year in Singapore based on the Joint Declaration as of October 19, 1956. On the sidelines of a G20 summit in December the two state leaders agreed to create a mechanism to solve the problem. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono are in charge of the project, while Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Japanese Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Takeo Mori conduct direct negotiations on it.