Rodong Sinmun Wednesday observes in a signed commentary in this regard:

Japan continues making groundless accusations against the DPRK, trumpeting about "the issue of abduction" whenever an opportunity presents itself. This is nothing but a petty trick of the Japanese political heavyweights to prolong their remaining days by using the issue as a bargaining chip and, at the same time, divert elsewhere the attention of the international community demanding Japan redress its past crimes.

In a word, the behavior of Japan is intended to create the impression that it is interested in the settlement of the "issue of abduction" in a bid to win popularity, recover from its policy failures and, at the same time, paint itself as "a victim" and thus evade the responsibility for its past crimes.

The Japanese reactionaries implored for what they called "cooperation" and "support", peddling "the issue of abduction" in different countries though it had already been settled. The recent row kicked up by them even in the international arena, not content with that solicitation diplomacy, only brings into bolder relief Japan's shamelessness and moral vulgarity.

Japan owes too much to the Korean people.

They always keep tabs on the vicious forcible drafting of Koreans, allurement and abduction and mass killings committed by the Japanese imperialists in the past and will force them to pay for those crimes any time.

Any mean sleight of hand employed by Japan to persistently shun the settlement of its past crimes would only bring it to moral ruin. Japan would be well advised to bear this in mind and honestly fulfill its obligation to redress its past wrongs.