Present there were officials of the Committee on Measures for Former Korean "Comfort Women" for Japanese Army and Drafting Victims, victims of crimes committed by the Japanese imperialists against humanity, bereaved families, working people and youth and students in the city, members of the home-visiting group of Joson University of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, the secretary general of the Central Headquarters of the Koreans' Side of the Fact-Finding Group for the Probe into the Truth about the Forcible Drafting of Koreans and Japanese activists for demanding Japan's postwar compensation.

Also present there were media persons in Pyongyang, correspondents of China and Russia here and reporters of Japan's Kyodo News Service.

Hong Son Ok, chairwoman of the Committee on Measures for Former Korean "Comfort Women" for Japanese Army and Drafting Victims, in a report said that victims of the sexual slavery for the Imperial Japanese Army and forcible drafting and A-bomb victims are appealing to the people to help them give vent to their grudge through generations, cursing Japan which does not feel any responsibility for its crimes.

The meeting heard testimonies made by victims of the crimes committed by the Japanese imperialists against humanity.

Jon Ryong Bok, victim of the forcible drafting by the Japanese imperialists, testified to the fact that he was kidnapped and taken to Japan in his early years and forced to do slave labor.

The Japanese government has gone so impudent as to dodge its responsibility, without making any apology and reparation to the victims though 65 years have passed, he said, stressing that he would never forget the crimes Japan committed against the Korean people.

The participants watched a video showing victims of the sexual slavery for the Imperial Japanese Army making testimonies.

The victims of the sexual slavery indicted the Japanese imperialist aggressors for forcibly taking away or kidnapping Korean women, wantonly violating their chastity and dignity, and urged the Japanese government to unconditionally make apology and reparation for the crime-woven past.

Ro Hyon Hwa, victim of the sexual slavery for the Imperial Japanese Army, Kim Won Gyong, member of the bereaved family of forcible drafting by the Japanese imperialists, and Ri Kye Son, A-bomb victim, who spoke at the end of the video showing stressed that it is the duty and responsibility of the Japanese government to make apology and reparation for the pain Japan inflicted upon the Korean victims and their descendents.

Prof. Kenichi Asano at Doshisha University of Japan, activist for demanding Japan's postwar compensation, said in his speech that the Japanese government has refused to admit its crimes and make apology and reparation to the Korean people for the past years, stressing that it is an urgent duty of Japan to redeem its past from a legal and ethical point of view.

Read out at the meeting was a letter addressed to the Japanese government by victims and bereaved families who attended the meeting on behalf of all the victims and bereaved families in the DPRK.

The letter accused the Japanese government of having not only dodged apology and reparation to the victims for 65 years but shamelessly justified and whitewashed them.

All the victims, bereaved families and other people in the DPRK lodge a protest with the Japanese government against their act of having persistently dodged the settlement of such hideous crimes as drafting more than 8.4 million Koreans to battlefields of wars of aggression and sites of hard labor, killing more than one million and reducing 200,000 Korean women to sexual slaves for the Imperial Japanese Army, the letter said, adding that they strongly urge it once again to opt for making apology and reparation for the crime-woven past as early as possible.

If the Japanese government truly stands for the future of the country and is willing to be as a dignified member of the international community, it should meet the requirements of all the victims and other Koreans and honor its responsibility and obligation while the victims are alive, the letter stressed.