Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara is considering visiting Russia in February in order to hold talks with his Russian counterpart on the settlement of a bilateral dispute over the Kurile Islands.
Maehara is carrying out his first inspection of the disputed Kurile Islands (called the Northern Territories in Japan) since Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's controversial visit to one of them on November 1.
Both countries have laid claim to the islands since they were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.
"I want to travel to Moscow as soon as possible," Maehara said at a press conference on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido.
The minister called earlier on Saturday for stronger ties with Russia as an initial step to resolving the issue.
Maehara is carrying out his inspection by air and through binoculars from Hokkaido.
Medvedev's visit, which caused Japan to temporarily recall its ambassador to Moscow, was the first trip by a head of state of Russia or the former Soviet Union to the South Kuril Islands.
Tokyo's continued claim over four South Kuril Islands (Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and Habomai) to the northeast of Japan has so far prevented Russia and Japan from signing a formal peace treaty to end World War II hostilities.
TOKYO, December 4 (RIA Novosti)
