On 7 June 1905, shortly after the Battle of Tsushima, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt met with Japanese diplomat Kaneko Kentarō and the issue was reconsidered.

Roosevelt agreed with the Japanese assessment that the invasion and occupation of Sakhalin was now necessary, as only the threat of direct loss of Russian territory would bring Tsar Nicholas II to consider a negotiated settlement to the war.

[1] Japan and Russia had previously shared ownership of Sakhalin; however, the Japanese relinquished their claims in the 1875 Treaty of Saint Petersburg in exchange for undisputed sovereignty over all of the Kuril Islands.

[1] The Japanese moved on to occupy Korsakov on 8 July, which was set on fire by the retreating Russian garrison after having been defended for 17 hours by 2,000 men led by Colonel Josef Arciszewski [ru].

Per the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth ending the Russo-Japanese War, the southern half of Sakhalin was ceded to Japan, with the 50th parallel north as the boundary line, becoming Karafuto Prefecture.