What the chief executive of Japan uttered in his "policy speech" can be described as an orientation of its policy toward the DPRK for this year. But there is nothing new in it as it fully reflected Japan's existing hostile stand towards the DPRK.

This is nothing but a trite political bargaining of the Japanese authorities far away from the core issue of the DPRK-Japan relations.

Japan's way of thinking which calls for regarding the settlement of abduction, nuclear and missile issues as a precondition for normalizing the relations with the DPRK is as shameless and wicked act as demanding a sort of reward from a victim.

As clear to everybody, there have been no normal diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Japan and those of distrust and confrontation have persisted so far entirely because Japan has recklessly pursued a hostile policy toward the DPRK without making honest repentance and reparation for its past crimes.

The normalization of the bilateral relations should begin with Japan's sincere settlement of the crimes committed by it against the Korean people in the past century under any circumstances.

It is absolutely impossible to establish normal relations on the basis of confidence unless Japan settles the deep rooted grudge of the Korean people against it which committed so hideous crimes against them.

Japan's redress of its past crimes is a fundamental issue of putting an end to the history of the unfortunate relations between the two countries and normalizing the bilateral relations.

Nevertheless, Japan is insisting on the preferential solution of what it called "abduction issue" and other issues and putting them up as a precondition for normalizing the bilateral relations, persistently dodging the liquidation of its past. This is preposterous, indeed.

It is due to the mean attitude of Japan persistently denying its crime-woven past and clinging to the hostile policy towards the DPRK that the two countries have become geographically near yet distant countries and antagonism between them is steadily growing acute in the present century.

Once again explicitly speaking, the relations between the DPRK and Japan can never be put on normal footing unless the latter redresses its past and rolls back its hostile policy toward the former.

Japan would be well advised to give up such foolish political bargaining as trying to wrest any concession from the DPRK, while avoiding the settlement of its past.

The army and the people of the DPRK find it hard to repress their towering resentment at the hostile policy pursued by the Japanese reactionaries towards it generation after generation and will surely force them to pay for it.