It is preposterous for Japan to claim that no progress is made due to the stance of the DPRK while vociferating about the settlement of the abduction issue whenever an opportunity presents itself. This is a mean and wicked act little short of turning white to black.

If Japan is to raise the abduction issue it should frankly admit, repent of and settle the abduction of Koreans and the forcible drafting of them by the Japanese imperialists in the past as well as the abduction of citizens of the DPRK in recent years.

Japan is kicking up a racket calling for "pressure" and "sanctions" against someone, citing the abduction issue as a pretext. This is disgusting, indeed.

Lurking behind the action taken by the Japanese reactionaries to extend the sanctions is a sinister intention. By persistently making fuss about the abduction issue Japan seeks to divert elsewhere the concern and vigilance of the international community triggered off by its moves to become a military giant and launch reinvasion. Such clumsy calculation reminding one of the country peddler is not all Japan seeks through the extended sanctions against the DPRK. It also seeks the purpose of evading the redemption of its past and justifying its human rights abuses against Koreans in Japan.

There are not a few countries in the world that committed crimes against humankind in the past but it is only Japan that adds crimes to those already committed by it and persistently resorts to sleight of hand to go without settling its past while shelving the issue of its redemption although the old century is replaced by the new one. Japan seeks to hush up the fulfillment of its commitment to redress its past through such clumsy trick.

Whenever it raises the abduction issue Japan talks about "people's sentiment." But the Korean people's bitterness toward Japan is incomparably stronger than that of Japanese toward Koreans. Japan should properly understand the anti-Japanese sentiment of Koreans and their will to certainly force Japan to redeem its past.

The Japanese authorities would be well advised to drop their way of thinking and attitude as imposters, drawing a lesson from the miserable end of their predecessors who were politically ruined after being censured and condemned by the public at home and abroad for working hard to do harm to the DPRK through sanctions and pressure.