The Minister for Okinawa and the Northern territories, as the southern Kuril Islands are called in Japan, Taro Kono, conducted a remote inspection of the Kuril Islands from Hokkaido and angered the Japanese. About it writes RIA Novosti with reference to the Agency “Dsidsi Tsushin”.
During the event, the Minister noted that he will make every effort to resolve the territorial problem, based on his experience in negotiations with Russia as Japanese foreign Minister. The official also noted that his grandfather Ichiro Kono, as Minister of agriculture and forestry, negotiated with the USSR on the Kuril issue.
However, Japanese users reacted negatively to the Minister’s statement. “What kind of experience is this Kono talking about?! The results of its activities are zero!”, — said one of the readers. “Minister Kono can only refer to his grandfather Ichiro Kono,” said another.
Earlier, users of the Japanese service Yahoo News Japan were outraged by the story of the TV and radio company STV News about the beginning of road construction on Shikotan, one of the Islands of the Southern Kuril Islands. The story also pointed out that once former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised to “personally put an end to the territorial issue with Russia.” At the same time, after his departure, there is a sharp acceleration of the “Russianization” of the Kuril Islands. Japanese readers were outraged by this course of things.
Following world war II, a peace Treaty was not concluded between Moscow and Tokyo due to an unresolved territorial dispute over the Islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai group. The Japanese call the Southern Kuril Islands “Northern territories” and do not recognize them as Russian. Moscow does not recognize the fact of a territorial dispute.