SAPPORO (Kyodo) -- Senior government officials have recently made remarks that appear to support a suggestion that Japan should select the disputed Northern Territories as the final disposal site for high-level nuclear waste from power plants.

The comments by the officials at a gathering in Tokyo earlier this month have drawn strong criticism from the governor of Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, the main island of which is geographically closest to the four islands controlled by Russia but claimed by Japan.

Hokkaido Gov. Naomichi Suzuki said Thursday that industry minister Yoji Muto apologized for the remarks by the officials in response to a statement by a participant at the meeting, "Why not build a disposal site on the four Northern Territories?"

The prefectural government said, "As the Northern Territories are part of Hokkaido, the comments are unacceptable and reckless," adding it has lodged a protest with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as well as its affiliated organization.

Suzuki quoted Muto as saying, "We are sorry for causing a fuss with the thoughtless remarks."

The unresolved sovereignty issue over the four islands has prevented Japan and Russia from signing a postwar peace treaty. They were seized by the Soviet Union, Russia's predecessor state, in the weeks following Japan's World War II surrender on Aug. 15, 1945.