50 Million Japanese Sign Islands Petition
<i> Reuters</i>
TOKYO —
Fifty million Japanese have now signed a petition calling on Moscow to return a group of small islands the Soviet Union has held since 1945, Kyodo news agency said Wednesday. The signatures on the petition, which was started in 1965, represent about 40% of Japan’s 123 million people.
The dispute over who should rule the islands off northern Japan has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from signing a treaty formally ending World War II hostilities.
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