"Carrying out economic activities for the third country on the four northern islands contradicts the position of our country and is extremely concerning," Kono said at the hearings of the of the foreign affairs committee of the lower house of the Japanese parliament.
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In March, Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of the Sakhalin Region in the Russian Far East said that two power plants for two fish factories would be constructed on Shikotan, one of the Kuril Islands, referred to by Tokyo as the Northern Territories. Kozhemyako added that two major investors, one of which is the US company Caterpillar Inc., had already expressed their readiness to construct the power plants.
The Kuril Islands are the subject of the long-standing territorial dispute between Russia and Japan. Tokyo lays claim to Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan islands and the Habomai group of islets. The territorial dispute has prevented Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty following World War II.