Russia's Foreign Ministry said that Japanese protests over South Korean fishing near the Kuril Islands is "inappropriate" because the area around the disputed islands belongs to Russia.

Russia signed an agreement in December, allowing 26 South Korean boats to catch 15,000 tons of saury worth $23 million near the Pacific Ocean islands this year. The islands were seized from Japan by the Soviet Union in the closing days of World War II, and remain in Russian hands.

Japan, which wants the islands back, has been demanding that South Korean boats stay out of the disputed waters, arguing that doing so would undermine its territorial claim to the islands.

While noting that Russia maintains "friendly" relations with Japan, the Russian statement said that "at the same time, we consider it necessary to state, that we consider such protests from the Japanese side inappropriate, the more so because of the reference to the South Kurils belonging to Japan."