Pyongyang, November 19 (KCNA) -- The Headquarters of Measures for the Settlement of the Abduction Issue of the Democratic Party of Japan at its board meeting on Nov. 5 approved a proposal for "additional economic sanctions against north Korea" the keynote of which is Japan's unilateral listing of the DPRK as a "state sponsor of terrorism," etc. for the settlement of "abduction issue and nuclear issue." Abe, who was forced to step down from the post of prime minister, blustered there that the U.S. "delisting of the DPRK as a 'state sponsor of terrorism' was a blunder" and "it is possible to settle the abduction issue and the nuclear issue only through dialogue and pressure with main emphasis on pressure."

Minju Joson Wednesday observes in a signed commentary carried in this regard: Japan is rolling up its sleeves to intensify its anti-DPRK campaign over the "abduction issue," crying out for its unilateral listing of the DPRK as a "state sponsor of terrorism" and "additional economic sanctions." This is a vivid revelation of Japan's despicable intention to stifle the DPRK at any cost.

The same can be said of "its assertion for the settlement of the humanitarian issue" through the solution of "the abduction issue," the commentary notes, and goes on:

As far as the "abduction issue" is concerned, it means, in essence, the issue of the crimes committed by Japan in the past because it forcibly drafted or abducted more than 8.4 million Koreans and forced 200,000 Korean women into the sexual slavery for the Imperial Japanese Army. This issue should be settled, to begin with.

However, Japan is accusing the DPRK, the biggest victim of the Japanese imperialists' past crimes, while shelving those hideous abductions which deserve curse and denunciation from all people. How can this be interpreted as a true stand to settle the issue?

The reality clearly proves that the Japanese reactionaries are running reckless bereft of reason, seized by anti-DPRK confrontational hysteria.

The Japanese reactionaries can never evade the responsibility for having pushed the DPRK-Japan relations to the worst crisis.