• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Russian patrol boat fires on Japan boat

Posted on: Tuesday, 15 August 2006, 23:55 CDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese fisherman died after a Russian patrol boat fired on a fishing boat on Wednesday, prompting Japan to protest over what appeared to be the first fatality in 50 years in a territorial dispute.

Japan's Foreign Ministry said it had asked the Russian side for details and that, if the fisherman had indeed been shot to death, it may seek both an apology and compensation.

In a statement it demanded the immediate release of the crabbing craft and its three remaining crew members, who were seized east of Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido.

A spokesman said Foreign Minister Taro Aso would call Russia's acting ambassador to the ministry later on Wednesday to reiterate Tokyo's protest. Earlier, a government source said the Russian action appeared to have been excessive use of force.

Kyodo news service quoted Mikhail Galuzin, a diplomat at the Russian embassy in Tokyo, as saying the border patrol had fired after the boat defied an order to stop and had seized it in Russian waters.

Japan and Russia have been locked in a long-running dispute over the islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kuriles in Russia.

The simmering feud has prevented them from signing a peace treaty more than 60 years after the end of World War Two.

The four islands, as close as 15 km (9 miles) from Hokkaido, were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of the war in 1945, forcing about 17,000 Japanese residents to flee.

Russia has said it is willing to hand over two islands but Japan insists that all four must be returned.

Fishing disputes are common in the area, and Russian border patrols often try to capture Japanese fishermen. But the last time a Japanese fisherman was shot dead by a Soviet vessel was nearly 50 years ago, in October 1956, Japanese officials said.

"Seizures of Japanese fishing boats by Russia in the waters are not rare, but shooting is very rare," a Japan Coast Guard official said.

The 4.9-tonne Japanese boat was in the disputed waters when the border guard opened fire, another Coast Guard official said.

"We received a report that the fishing boat was fired on and one of the four fishermen was dead," he said, adding that the other three men were unhurt. Kyodo news service reported that the fisherman was shot in the head.

The Russians took the boat and the fishermen to one of four nearby islands claimed by both Russia and Japan, while the Japan Coast Guard sent two patrol boats to the scene of the incident to gather information, the official said.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category