TOKYO, October 19 (RIA Novosti) - The Japanese Land minister Akihiro Ota has overviewed the disputed Kuril Islands on Sunday, a day after the Cabinet minister Shunichi Yamaguchi.
"I want you to fully defend the territorial waters for the nation and its people," the minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism Akihiro Ota told coast guard officials after surveying the islands from a government ship, Kyodo news agency said Sunday.
On Saturday, Habomai island was surveyed from the Cape Nosappu by the Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs Shunichi Yamaguchi. He said Japan would continue to do everything possible to resolve the dispute.
Japan and Russia never signed a permanent peace treaty following the end of hostilities in World War II because of a disagreement over four islands, which Russia calls the Southern Kurils and Japan the Northern Territories. The disputed islands — Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai — are currently administered by Russia, but still claimed by Japan.
