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

Japan is kicking up much fuss on the international arena, persistently raising a hue and cry over the "abduction issue". This is no more than a brazen-faced and ridiculous artifice to cover up the hideous crimes Japan committed against humanity in the past and dodge reparation for them at any cost.

Japan's settlement of its past crimes is not an issue which it can gloss over by such sleight of hand.

The Japanese reactionaries are persistently making much fuss about the "abduction issue" which had already been settled in the past. This is aimed to brand the victim as an assailant like a thief crying "Stop the thief!" though they are obliged to apologize for the crimes the Japanese imperialists committed in the past. Nothing is more brazen-faced than this behavior.

　If Japan is truly interested in improving the relations with the DPRK, it should put on the agenda the issue of Japan's settlement of its past crimes before raising the "abduction issue" which has lost its meaning and buckle down to solving it.

Japan's liquidation of its past crimes is the core and basic issue in improving the DPRK-Japan relations.

Japan's ballyhooing about "the normalization of the relations with the DPRK" before settling its past crimes is nothing but hypocrisy and wordplay. It is hard to expect the improved relations between the DPRK and Japan unless its past crimes are redeemed.

Japan had better stop playing its poor trick and opt for redeeming its past crimes as early as possible.