Koizumi, Putin fail to narrow gaps on isles dispute

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Russian President Vladimir Putin were unable Sunday to narrow differences over a decades-long territorial dispute ahead of an expected visit by the Russian leader to Japan early next year, a Japanese official said.

The two leaders fell short of going into specifics on the dispute over Russian-held islands off Hokkaido and instead agreed to accelerate talks on the issue at all levels, including on the occasions of the recently agreed mutual visits by foreign ministers, before Putin's planned trip, the official told reporters.

At their meeting held shortly after the two-day annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit, Koizumi told Putin that it is their responsibility to tackle the issue of concluding a World War II peace treaty between the two countries, according to the official.

Putin reaffirmed the need for Japan and Russia to resolve the territorial dispute and conclude a bilateral peace treaty, the official said.

Japan has demanded the return of the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri and Shikotan, and the Habomai group of islets, which the Soviet Union seized at the end of World War II. The territorial row has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty.

According to Russia's Interfax news agency, Putin suggested there still remain gaps between the two countries over the territorial and other unsolved issues, although he was satisfied with the amicable talks with Koizumi.

Putin told Koizumi he will visit Japan early next year but that Russia has yet to set a date it can propose for the visit, the Japanese official said.

Koizumi expressed hopes that Putin will visit Japan in late March, when the 2005 World Exposition will begin in Aichi Prefecture, the official said. A frozen mammoth found in Siberia will be displayed at the expo, which opens March 25.

During the 45-minute talks, neither Koizumi nor Putin referred to the 1956 Japan-Soviet declaration or the 1993 Tokyo declaration, the Japanese official said.

Before departing for Santiago, Putin said he will seek to resolve the territorial dispute based on the 1956 declaration, which calls for the return of two of the four islands to Japan.

But Japan is seeking to resolve the territorial row under the 1993 Tokyo declaration, which names the four islands and says a peace treaty should be signed after the dispute over sovereignty on them is resolved.

Koizumi and Putin also agreed to seek an early resumption of the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear arms program by cooperating to urge North Korea to understand the importance of the talks, the official said.

North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia have held three rounds of talks since August last year but a fourth meeting set for September has been postponed indefinitely.

Koizumi thanked Putin for signing a bill to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and agreed that the two countries will cooperate in implementing the pact aimed at fighting global warming, the official said.

With Russia's ratification in early November, the pact will take effect in February.

Source: Kyodo News