WORLD : Japan, U.S.S.R. Treaty Talks Fail

Japanese and Soviet negotiators trying to draft a treaty to formally end their World War II hostilities wound up talks today with “absolutely no new points of contact,” a Foreign Ministry official said.

Although both governments have expressed a desire to improve their chilly relations, the Japanese official said neither was willing to compromise on a territorial dispute over several islands in the southern Kurile chain held by the Soviets since the end of the war in 1945.

“There were absolutely no new points of contact,” said the Japanese official. He said the Soviet delegation called Soviet possession of the islands a “postwar reality” and urged Japan to “assume a stance that recognizes the results of the war.”