Maehara restates vow to develop ties with Russia by tackling isle row+

TOKYO, Feb. 8 Kyodo -
Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara reiterated Tuesday his vow to develop Japan's
relationship with Russia by trying to move forward on a decades-old territorial
row.
Maehara said ahead of his trip to Moscow later this week that he shares with
Prime Minister Naoto Kan the view that Japan's relationship with Russia is
important and has the potential to develop further. ''From a strategic
viewpoint, we have to boost our ties by solving the territorial dispute and
signing a peace treaty,'' he said.
Kan triggered a backlash from Russia on Monday after he slammed Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev's visit last November to one of four Russian-held
islands claimed by Japan as an ''unforgivable outrage'' at an annual rally to
press for the early return of the disputed islands off Hokkaido.
Maehara told a press conference that he believes Kan ''expressed his thought''
and that he will also convey to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov Japan's
position that the four islands are an integral part of the country.
Maehara, who will make a four-day trip to Moscow from Thursday, is scheduled to
hold talks Friday with Lavrov and co-chair a meeting of the Japan-Russia
Intergovernmental Committee on Trade and Economic Issues with Industry and
Trade Minister Viktor Khristenko.
Maehara pledged at the Monday rally to stake his political life on realizing
the return of the four islands. He said his frustration over Japanese foreign
policy was a motive for pursuing a political career.
The foreign minister added he believes Japan ''cannot completely end World War
II'' without the settlement of the territorial row with Russia. He said Tokyo
will seek to enhance ties with Russia in wide-ranging areas including the
economy.
Tokyo and Moscow have been at odds over the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri and
Shikotan as well as the Habomai islet group, which were seized by the Soviet
Union following Japan's surrender in World War II on Aug. 15, 1945.
The territorial dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a postwar
peace treaty. The islands are known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in
Russia as the Southern Kurils.
==Kyodo