UPDATE - Abe, Putin agree to meet in Japan in December

UPDATES THROUGHOUT

By Todd Crowell

TOKYO (AA) – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Friday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to meet in Japan in December during a discussion on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

Japanese news agency Kyodo reported that the talks will be held Dec. 15 in Nagato city in western Yamaguchi Prefecture, the ancestral home of the Abe family and the premier’s parliamentary constituency.

During their meeting Friday, Abe and Putin discussed economic cooperation and a territorial dispute involving four islands off of northern Hokkaido which dates back to World War II.

"I believe the development of the Far East region with big potential is Russia's top priority issue," Abe was quoted as saying before his meeting with Putin.

"The growth of the Asia-Pacific leads the global economy. Japan, as Russia's neighbor, will promote Japan-Russia cooperation in the region strongly," he stressed.

Putin also underlined the importance of “the governments support[ing] the initiatives of the private sector”.

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, had earlier announced that trade minister Hiroshige Seko would assume a new cabinet level post for economic cooperation with Russia.

He will hold this new portfolio in addition to his other cabinet responsibilities as minister of international trade and industry.

The Vladivostok meeting was the fourth between the two leaders since Abe became prime minister in late December 2012. The last meeting was in May this year at the Russian presidential retreat in Sochi.

During his trip, Abe was expected to announce that the state-owned Bank for International Cooperation and the Mitsui trading company plan to cooperate for more Japanese investment in Russia.

The big question overhanging over relations, however, was what to do with Tokyo’s desire to reclaim the four islands off Hokkaido that it calls the “Northern Territory” and the Russians call the Southern Kurils.

The Russian red army occupied the island chain shortly after joining in World War II in Aug. 8, 1945. They are known as Etorofu, Kunishiri, Shitokan and the Hobomai islands and stretch north across the Pacific Ocean from the Japanese island of Hokkaido to the southern tip of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.

All Japanese residents of the four islands were expelled at the end of the war.

For years Moscow has said it could return two of the islands, Shikotan and the Hobamai in return for Japanese investment. However, these two islands make up only about 10 percent of the disputed territory.

Tokyo has long held out for the return of all four.

There was no indication from the government spokesmen that Tokyo might have retreated from its formal demand to return all four or was willing to accept some kind of compromise.

For 70 years since the surrender, Tokyo has refused to sign a formal peace treaty, which is considered necessary for any serious Japanese investment in the Russian Far East.