Although Mr. Abe and Mr. Putin had held a bilateral meeting on Friday to discuss negotiations over the disputed islands — which Russia calls the southern Kurile Islands and Japan calls the Northern Territories — Mr. Abe took the opportunity while sharing the stage with the Russian president to address him directly. “Vladimir, shall our generation not be the one to have the courage to fulfill our responsibilities?” Mr. Abe said. In an earlier interview with Bloomberg News, Mr. Putin had said, “We’re not talking about some exchange or some sale,” whereby increased Japanese economic investment would yield a return of the islands to Tokyo’s control. Talks between the two may resume in December, when Mr. Putin is scheduled to visit Mr. Abe’s home prefecture of Yamaguchi, Japan. During the panel discussion, Ms. Park called for Russia’s continued support in enforcing a United Nations resolution to prevent North Korea from developing a full-scale nuclear weapons program.

Source: New York Times September 03, 2016 08:37 UTC