河野太郎氏、北方領土「3代目」強調　策はSNSで啓発

Taro Kono emphasizes "third generation" of Northern Territories

On the 27th, Taro Kono , the Northern Minister of Okinawa, visited Hokkaido for the first time after taking office and inspected the Northern Territories from the opposite bank. While introducing his own family line from his grandfather, who worked on the Northern Territories issue for three generations in a long time, he emphasized his willingness to solve the problem. However, in the face of difficult negotiations with Russia, the specific launch was limited to strengthening awareness on social media for the younger generation.

Mr. Kono visited the Nakashibetsu Town Office in Hokkaido and exchanged views with senior officials of the Hokkaido Metropolitan Government, and said, "For my family, Ichiro Kono, Yohei Kono, and I were also involved in negotiations on the Northern Territories when I was Foreign Minister, and I thought it was a problem that we had to resolve as soon as possible." Ichiro, the former agriculture minister, was in charge of negotiations over the Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration, and his father Yohei, the former foreign minister, also worked hard to resolve the issue of the Northern Territories.

In addition to exchanging views with former islanders, Mr. Taro Kono visited Kokuro Island and other sites from Cape Nosabu in Nemuro City to observe exhibits related to the Northern Territories.

After the event, he told reporters that "new media such as SNS are also developing, so we can do a lot of things." "We would like to prepare for the prompt resumption of exchange projects with Russia, which has been suspended due to the spread of the new coronavirus," he said.

Negotiations between Japan and Russia over the issue of the Northern Territories will continue to show no progress. There were times when he declined　to comment specifically, "I would like to refrain from talking directly about things from me." 

Source: https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASN9W66RDN9WUTFK00F.html