TOKYO, November 16. (RIA Novosti's Andrei Fesyun) - Japan will not change its stance on the territorial issue, which implies that a peace treaty with Russia will be signed only after ownership of all the four South Kurile islands will be determined, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced in his residence in Tokyo on Tuesday.
"Our policy is unchanged: if there is no clarity about return of the four islands, a peace treaty [with Russia] will not be signed," he said.
When asked by journalists, he pointed out that possibility of return of only two islands was not considered, citing the Tokyo declaration signed by the two countries' leaders in 1993.
The document registered the fact of the parties' "serious talks on the issue of ownership of the islands Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai". It also pointed to the need to move towards a peace treaty by settling this issue.
