Minju Joson Tuesday observes in a signed commentary in this regard:

The statement did not mention the issues of settlement and reparation for such hideous crimes against humanity as forcible drafting of Koreans and sexual slavery for the Imperial Japanese Army committed by the Japanese imperialists.

This "apology" was not an honest apology for the past crimes but a poor charade intended to calm down the public opinion at home and abroad critical of Japan's wrong attitude toward the settlement of its past.

What merits a serious attention is that in the statement the Japanese chief executive made repentance and apology to south Korea only for Japan's past crimes.

Japan's biased and wrong attitude toward its past crimes is evidently one more unpardonable crime against the DPRK and its people. Such wicked attitude only brings to bolder relief the brazen-faced nature and moral vulgarity peculiar to Japan.

Japan can never evade its obligation to make apology and reparation to the DPRK for its crime-woven past.

Nevertheless, ultra-right conservative forces of Japan are raising outcries over the prime minister's statement expressing "apology," making protests and the like. Meanwhile, right-wing media including Sankei Shimbun echoed their outcries, blustering that the prime minister's private view is unacceptable. This row cannot be construed otherwise than frenzy of political hysterics prompted by their black-hearted intention to totally deny Japan's past crime-woven history and evade the settlement of its past at any cost.

No matter what sleight of hand the Japanese reactionaries may employ to cover up the crime-woven history and dodge the settlement of the past this can never work in this bright world.