KCNA urges Japan to redress its past first
KCNA
Pyongyang, March 11 (KCNA) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Kawaguchi recently said that "it is the basic policy of the Japanese Government to settle the abduction issue and the issue of nuclear development, etc. in the direction of normalizing the relations between Japan and the DPRK."
Her remarks can not be construed otherwise than disturbing ones as they are intended to deliberately put obstacles in the way of normalizing the relations between the two countries by refusing to see the nature of the issues and projecting those matters which can hardly be treated as pending issues.
As the DPRK has already clarified more than once, the issue of abduction admits of no argument as it had already been settled.
However, Japan, not content with noisily talking about the issue, sent "families of kidnapped Japanese" to the U.S. recently in a bid to convince the American public that "abduction was terrorism" and put international pressure on the DPRK. It is a height of folly.
As for the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, a product of the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK, it is an issue to be solved between the DPRK and the U.S. through dialogue and negotiations in view of its origin and the circumstances of its outbreak. Therefore, Japan has no justification to meddle in it.
Japan's much talk about the DPRK's "nuclear issue" only proves that it is behaving without any principle just to join the U.S. in its anti-DPRK nuclear racket.
Such moves diametrically run counter to the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration and are anachronistic acts intended to justify the unprecedented crimes Japan committed against the Korean people in the past.
It is the most urgent outstanding issue in normalizing the relations between the two countries for Japan to apologize and compensate for its past colonial rule over Korea. That's why the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration referred to this issue, among other things, and Japan admitted, in the spirit of humility, the facts of history that it caused tremendous damage and pain to the Korean people during its colonial rule over Korea and expressed its heart-felt apology and repentance of them.
It is as clear as noonday that the abnormal relations between the two countries can not be put on a right track unless Japan redeems its past, a key point of the Pyongyang declaration and a key link in normalizing the bilateral relations.
Japan should refrain from breaking its faith with the DPRK in violation of the spirit of the declaration, toeing the U.S. line. It should not forget its commitment but opt for redressing its past, to begin with.
