Japan: Russian president visit to isle regrettable

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Monday that a visit by Russia's president to a disputed island was "regrettable," as a fresh territorial row added to his headaches, with Tokyo still struggling to repair strained ties with China.

Dmitry Medvedev's visit to what Russia calls Kunashir Island comes shortly before his trip to Japan for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in mid-November.

"Japan's stance is that those four northern islands are part of our country's territory, so the president's visit is very regrettable," Kan told a parliamentary panel.

Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara echoed the comment, and said any such visit would "hurt the feelings of the Japanese people."

The Soviet Union occupied the four disputed islands, known as the Southern Kuriles in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, at the end of World War Two and the territorial row has weighed on relations between Tokyo and Moscow ever since, preventing the signing of a formal peace treaty.

Most people in the islands depend on fishing for their livelihood and Japan, a major fish consumer, would gain rich fishing grounds if the islands were returned. The islands are also close to oil and gas production regions of Russia.

(Reporting by Yoko Nishikawa, Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)