Japan has reportedly decided to exclude South Korea’s Dokdo islets and multiple islands belonging to Russia from a bid to nationalize outlying territory.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said the Japanese government’s plan to nationalize the waters within its maritime borders to conserve its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), will exclude the Russian and South Korean territories to which Tokyo lays claim.

The Dokdo islets and four Russian islands northwest of Hokkaido will be excluded because a survey of those territories is not possible due to South Korean and Russian control over the areas.

Tokyo will designate all its waters as conservation areas by June 2011 and will ban mining for marine resources in those regions.