Kuril Islands dispute
:
Northern Territories redirects to here. For similarly named territories, see
Northern Territories (disambiguation) |
The Kuril Islands with the disputed islands highlighted |
The
Kuril Island dispute is a dispute between
Japan and
Russia over
sovereignty over the southernmost
Kuril Islands. The disputed islands 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 (歯舞群島)
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 of
5 September 1905.
However, the
Soviet Union chose not to be signatory to the San Francisco Treaty. And 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
Habomais Islands are not explicitly mentioned in the treaty.
As of 2006, Russia's
Putin administration has 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. 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.
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Foreign relations of Japan*
Treaty of Saint Petersburg*
All-Russian Committee for Defence of Kuriles*
Japan's Northern Territories (Japanese government website)
*News from Kuril Islands (News Blog in German and English)
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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)
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Northern Territories dispute highlights flawed diplomacy by Gregory Clark, Japan Times (March 24, 2005)
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Creative thinking on the Kurils analysis by Kosuke Takahashi (April 20, 2005)
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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).
