Kuril Islands dispute

44°6′N 146°42′E

File:Kuril Dispute.png

The Kuril Islands with the disputed islands shaded

The Kuril Island dispute is a dispute between Japan and Russia over sovereignty over the southernmost Kuril Islands. The disputed islands, which were occupied by Soviet forces during the August Storm offensive at the end of World War II, are currently under Russian administration as part of the Sakhalin Oblast, but are also claimed by Japan, which refers to them as the Northern Territories (北方領土 Hoppō Ryōdo) or Southern Chishima (南千島 Minami Chishima). The disputed islands are:

• Kunashir in Russian (Кунашир) or Kunashiri in Japanese (国後島)
• Iturup in Russian (Итуруп), or Etorofu in Japanese (択捉島)
• Shikotan in both Russian (Шикотан) and Japanese (色丹島)
• the Habomai rocks in both Russian (Хабомай) and Japanese (歯舞諸島)

Background

Japanese residents on Iturup (then called Etorofu) at a riverside picnic in 1933

The dispute results from an ambiguity over the Treaty of San Francisco (1951). Under Article 2c, Japan renounces all right, title, and claim to the Kuril Islands, and to that portion of Sakhalin and the islands adjacent to it over which Japan acquired sovereignty as a consequence of the Treaty of Portsmouth signed on 5 September 1905 (later repudiated by the Soviet Union). It was in accord with earlier agreements between Allied powers and one of the conditions of the USSR to enter in war with Japan.

However, the Soviet Union chose not to be a signatory to the San Francisco Treaty. Article 2 of an earlier (1855) Russo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce, Navigation and Delimitation (the Treaty of Shimoda), which provided for an agreement on borders, states "Henceforth the boundary between the two nations shall lie between the islands of Etorofu and Uruppu. The whole of Etorofu shall belong to Japan; and the Kurile Islands, lying to the north of and including Uruppu, shall belong to Russia." Note that Kunashiri, Shikotan and Habomai Islands are not explicitly mentioned in the treaty.

There was practically no hostile activity between the USSR and Japan after the Battle of Khalkin Gol ended the Japanese-Soviet Border Wars in 1939 and before the USSR declared war on Japan (Operation August Storm) on August 8, 1945. After occupying the islands between August 18 and September 3, 1945, Russia expelled the Japanese inhabitants two years later.

During the 1956 peace talks between Japan and the Soviet Union, the Soviet side proposed to settle the dispute by the return of Shikotan and Habomai to Japan, but an American intervention warning Japan that a withdrawal of the Japanese claim on the other islands would mean the United States would keep Okinawa, caused Japan to refuse these terms.

Recent Developments

On July 7, 2005, the European Parliament issued an official statement recommending the return of the territories in dispute, to which Russia protested immediately.

As late as 2006, Russia's Putin administration offered Japan the return of Shikotan and the Habomais (about 6% of the disputed area) if Japan renounce its claims to the other two islands, referring to the Soviet-Japanese joint declaration of 1956 signed by the USSR and Japan promised at least Shikotan and the Habomais to be returned to Japan before a peace agreement could be made.

Recently, Russia's economic boom has spread to the Kurils, leading islanders to turn their backs on Tokyo's trump card of financial aid in a deadlocked territorial row.

February 6, 2008, The Japanese newspaper Japan Today reported that the Russian president has suggested to Japanese Prime-Minister Yasuo Fukuda ending all the territorial disputes on the Kuril Islands and has sent him a letter inviting him to come to Russia for discussion.

See also

• Kuril Islands
• Soviet-Japanese relations and Russo-Japanese relations
• Foreign relations of Japan
• Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875)
• All-Russian Committee for Defence of Kuriles

Further reading

• Stephan, John J. The Kuril Islands Russo-Japanese Frontier in the Pacific. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974. ISBN 0198215630

External links

• Chishima: Frontiers of San Francisco (A documentary film about Kuril Island dispute.)
• Japan's Northern Territories (Japanese government website)
• News from Kuril Islands (News Blog in German and English)
• Map of the region showing the history of the Russo-Japanese border
• The convoluted case of the coveted Kurils analysis by Kosuke Takahashi (November 25, 2004)
• Northern Territories dispute highlights flawed diplomacy by Gregory Clark (Economist), Japan Times (March 24, 2005)
• Creative thinking on the Kurils analysis by Kosuke Takahashi (April 20, 2005)
• Akaha and Vassilieva, "Lessons for Improved Japan - Russia Relations", Asahi Shimbun, June 20, 2005, Monterey Institute of International Studies
• Kuril Island Society, which is committed to raise awareness about pristine wildlife sanctuary covering most of the disputed region.
• Little known facts in history of the dispute (in Russian).
• Russian view on the history of the dispute (in Russian)
• Time line of Russian occupation, by former Japanese residents
• http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2865970.ece Russia tightens grip on disputed islands]

• Takahara, Kanako (September 22, 2007). "Nemuro raid survivor longs for homeland" (Newspaper article). Japan Times. Retrieved 2008-02-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |accessyear=, |coauthors=, and |month= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)