TOKYO, November 22. /TASS/. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono has refrained from calling the southern Kuril Islands the country’s "ancestral territory" as Japanese cabinet members and other officials usually do, the Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday.

According to the news agency, the Japanese top diplomat evaded answering the relevant question. "Since the next round of [high-level] talks is expected to take place soon, I would like to refrain from making statements on the issue," Kono said, as cited by Kyodo.

The next meeting between the Russian and Japanese leaders is expected to be held on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires at the end of November.

Earlier in the week, the Japanese foreign minister also evaded answering a question as to whether Tokyo would take the 1993 Tokyo Declaration on Japan-Russia Relations into consideration during talks. The document particularly says that both countries are ready to hold talks on the status of all the four southern Kuril Islands.