Japan Offers Russia to Split Disputed Islands’ Area in Half

Japan’s foreign minister said a dispute with Russia over a string of islands could be solved by splitting the total land area in half, the Associated Press news agency reports.

Russia and Japan both claim a group of islands seized by the Soviets near the end of World War II. The dispute has prevented the countries from a signing peace treaty to formally end World War II hostilities.

At a parliamentary committee Wednesday, Foreign Minister Taro Aso raised the possibility of drawing a line across the largest of the four main islands to divide the total area of the chain in half, the Yomiuri reported.

Russia would get 75 percent of the biggest island, Etorufu, while Japan would get the remaining 25 percent, plus the other three islands, Aso said.

He said a debate with Russia focusing only on the number of islands would get nowhere. He added that progress toward resolving the dispute must be made before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s term ends in May 2008.

“President Putin is influential and willing to settle the territorial issue, so it must be settled while he is still in office,” Aso said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki would not say whether the government would pursue Aso’s proposal. But he said the foreign minister’s comments were in line with the overall goal of reaching an agreement that suits both countries.

Russia calls the island chain the southern Kurils, while Japan calls them the Northern Territories.

Tensions between the countries worsened in the wake of the shooting death of a Japanese fisherman whose boat was seized by the Russian coast guard in the disputed northern waters last summer.

In a teleconference with Putin in late October, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for negotiations over the territories to be accelerated.

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