Rodong Sinmun Saturday observes this in a signed article.

It says:

Should the chief executive of Japan have a proper stand on the past history, he would have made this issue clear in detail and plainly expressed the stand on apology and reparation for the past crimes.

How Japan makes reparation for its past crimes will be an important criterion proving the sincerity of its apology.

The Japanese reactionaries are craftily working to cover up the truth about Japan's past crimes and bury them into oblivion in the history, far from clearly atoning for them and turning over a new leaf for peace and progress.

Such wrong stand of Japan toward its past crimes can hardly be regarded as a scheme to only evade reparation for them.

Its attempt to evade the responsibility for settling the past has come from its foolish intention to realize the old dream about "Greater east Asia co-prosperity sphere."

The Japanese reactionaries are persistently evading the settlement of the past and getting hell-bent on the distortion of history in an aim to intensify the moves for reinvasion.

Liquidation of the past is the historical task and duty that Japan should carry out without fail at any time.

Japan's continued refusal to redress the past will only invite bitter denunciation and isolation from the international community.