TOKYO, October 26 (RIA Novosti) - Enhancing economic and political relations with Russia, settling the territorial dispute and signing a peace treaty are priorities of the new Japanese government, Japan's prime minister said on Monday.
Tokyo's continued claim over four South Kuril islands (Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and Habomai) has so far prevented Russia and Japan from signing a formal peace treaty to end World War II hostilities.
"We will develop economic and political relations with Russia ... to finally settle the territorial dispute and sign a peace treaty," Yukio Hatoyama said in a policy speech to the parliament.
Japan's parliament, the Diet, opened an extraordinary session on Monday, nearly six weeks after Hatoyama took office, the country's NHK television channel reported.
"In regard to Russia, we view it as Japan's partner in the Pacific region and will develop cooperation with it," the Japanese prime minister said.
Hatoyama told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last month he wants to resolve the dispute with Russia, and sign a peace agreement.
Hatoyama said that the issue must be resolved "in our generation in order to form new relations between Japan and Russia."
In speaking about other foreign policy priorities, the Japanese premier said Tokyo would seek to strengthen its role globally in order to become "attractive for other countries," primarily Asian nations and the United States.
Hatoyama said Japan would also make further efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and solve the problem of Japanese citizens abducted in the 1970-1980s by North Korean secret services.
NHK said opposition legislators will debate Hatoyama's policy speech from Wednesday through Friday.
