Russian Regional Development Minister Viktor Basargin on Feb. 1 submitted a list of investment projects on the Russian-administered southern Kuril Islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories, to South Korean businessmen. Japan responded Feb. 2 with a statement objecting to the Russian move. The exchange is only the most recent example of Russia's efforts to display sovereignty over the islands and of Japan's negative response to such efforts. Japan and Russia have contested the southern Kuril Islands since Russia occupied them at the end of World War II. The return of the four islands is a strategic imperative in Japan and a major issue in domestic Japanese politics — interactions that have not, and will not, stop the two countries from cooperating in other areas. Even so, the Russian resurgence in the region is not something an already-insecure Japan welcomes.