- For the computer game mod see Kuril Islands Conflict.
- Northern Territories redirects to here. For similarly named territories, see Northern Territories (disambiguation)
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) (Hoppo Ryodo) or Southern Chishima (南千島). 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 Shimoda Treaty), 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.
Japan mantains its claim to the whole of South Kurile Islands. Russian position varies from administration to administration; as of December 2004, it tends to follow the declaration signed by the USSR and Japan in 1956 which stipulated for the disputed group being divided between the two nations, Russia keeping the two northernmost islands and ceding Shikotan and the Habomais to Japan.
However, the claims of the indigenous Ainu people to the islands have gone largely ignored by the Powers.
See also
External link
- 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, 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 commited to to raise awareness about pristine wildlife sanctuary covering most of the disputed region.
