Kuril Islands dispute between Russia and Japan

1. Kuril Islands dispute between Russia and Japan • There is no peace treaty. • Kuril Islands dispute is the main • diplomatic agenda since 1945. • Today, the window of opportunity seems to be open.

2. Views of Japan’s Influence, 2012 Views of Russia’s Influence, 2012

3. Russia China North Korea South Korea

5. Kuril Islands dispute between Russia and Japan • There is no peace treaty. • Kuril Islands dispute is the main • diplomatic agenda since 1945. • Today, the window of opportunity seems to be open.

6. Why there is no peace treaty between Russia and Japan? • Mainly because, the Soviet Union did not sign San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951. • In 1956, Japan and the Soviet Union tried to make a peace treaty, but failed mainly because of Kuril Islands dispute. ←After San Francisco Peace Conference, Yoshida and Acheson shake hands.

7. What is the relationship between Japan and the Soviet Union in WW2? Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact 1941 April August 8 The Soviet Union unilaterally renounced the treaty.

8. The End of WW2 8.8 Soviet declared war on Japan Bombing of Tokyo November 17, 1944 to August 15 1945, the day Japan surrendered. 8.6 Hiroshima 8.9 Nagasaki

9. The Invasion of the Kuril Islands (Kuril Islands Landing Operation) August 18-21 August 11 Invasion and Disarmament August 21 –September 4

10. Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union Siberian Internment (the Japanese term) By the end of World War II there were from 560,000 to 760,000 Japanese POWs in the Soviet Union and Mongolia interned to work in labor camps. About 10% of them died, mostly during the winter of 1945–1946.

11. The Japanese representatives The Surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945

12. The Constitution of Japan enacted on May 3, 1947

14. September 8, 1951 The San Francisco Peace Treaty Shigeru Yoshida Prime Minister 1946 to 1947 1948 to 1954.

15. September 8, 1951 The San Francisco Peace Treaty Articles 2 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty (1951)(c) Japan renounces all right, title and claim to the Kurile Islands… Under the treaty, Japan ceded southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, but the beneficiary was not indicated in the treaty. Nor were the Kuril Islands defined and specifically listed.

16. Andrei Andreevich Gromyko Minister of F.A. of the Soviet Union 1957 to 1985

17. Security Treaty Between the United States and JapanSeptember 8, 1951

18. Remained Problems 1955-1956 1. Japan could not join United Nations, mainly because of Veto by the Soviet Union. 2. Japanese POWs in the Soviet Union and Mongolia interned to work in labor camps. Siberian Internment. (the Japanese term) Ichiro Hatoyama 3. Kuril Issues. Dec. 1954 – Dec. 1956 4. Fishing Rights around Kuril Islands.

19. Separate Negotiation between 1955-1956 YakovAlexandrovich Malik Mamoru Shigemitsu Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

20. August 1956, Dulles’s threat Kuril Islands By July 1956, Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, suggested during a visit to Moscow that he would accept a peace treaty following the return of only two of the disputed islands, the Habomais and Shikotan. Tokyo, however, rejected this notion… In August 1956, in the midst of Soviet-Japanese negotiations in London, Secretary of State Dulles informed Foreign Minister Shigemitsu that if Japan gave up its claim to the southern Kuril islands, then the United States might feel obliged to retain Okinawa in perpetuity. News of this exchange soon fed rumors in both Moscow and Tokyo that Dulles was attempting to derail the Soviet-Japanese talks. “A Historical Reevaluation of America's Role in the Kuril Islands Dispute Bruce A. Elleman” John Foster Dulles Secretary of State 1953-1959 1972 Okinawa