Japan enacts law asserting claim on Russian-held islands+

TOKYO, July 3 Kyodo -
The Diet on Friday enacted a revised law declaring that a group of
Russian-administered islands off Hokkaido is an ''integral part'' of Japan.

The law to promote the return to Japan of the islands -- Kunashiri, Etorofu,
Shikotan and the Habomai islet group -- from the decades-old occupation cleared
the House of Councillors in a unanimous vote on Friday morning following a
House of Representatives passage last month.
The law to amend a decades-old previous law emphasizes Japan's political
authority over the disputed islands and is aimed at accelerating campaigning
for sovereignty over them.
The enactment is expected to provoke Russia at a time when Prime Minister Taro
Aso plans to hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on
the sidelines of a Group of Eight summit in Italy later this month.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on June 11 condemning the
bill's passage through the lower house. On June 24, Russia's parliament also
blasted the lower house passage.
The bill says that Japan will ''make the utmost efforts to realize the early
return of the islands, which are an integral part of our country.''
The bill aims for the further promotion of so-called ''visa-free exchange
programs'' between Russian residents of the islands and former Japanese
residents and their families.
The amendment is also aimed at raising public awareness of the matter.
Tokyo has been calling for control of all four islands, known in Japan as the
Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kurils, which came under the
control of the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.
The dispute has prevented Japan and Russia from signing a bilateral peace
treaty since the end of World War II.
==Kyodo