"The efforts must not be stopped in order to develop Japanese-Russian relations taking into account the state interests, to settle the issue of the northern territories and to reach peace agreement by increasing political contacts to resolve this situation," Kishida told reporters, adding that it was not normal, that Russia and Japan had not concluded the peace agreement 60 years after the re-establishment of the diplomatic relations between the two states.
Japan and Russia never signed a permanent peace treaty after World War II due to a disagreement over four islands which Russia calls the Southern Kurils and Japan the Northern Territories: Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai. The disputed islands, located in the Sea of Okhotsk, were claimed by Soviet forces at the end of the war.
The relations between the two states have recently been re-energized. In September, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took part in the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, during which he held three-hour talks with the Russian president. One of the outcomes of the meeting was the announcement of Putin's visit to Japan on December 15, which had been postponed from 2014.
