According to the statement, the "Unyo-maru" incident in 1875 was used as a pretext for fabricating the treaty as it was a product of the "theory of conquest of Korea by force of arms" and the brigandish policy on "diplomacy for the conquest of Korea" advocated by the bellicose Japanese reactionary ruling quarters after Meiji Restoration.

In the middle of the 19th century, Japan adopted the policy on "diplomacy for the conquest of Korea" as soon as it embarked upon the road of efflorescence through "Meiji Restoration". It was the policy of aggression aimed to launch a provocation for aggression and armed invasion by imposing the sinister diplomatic document (Sogye) calling for new negotiations for "the resumption of diplomatic relations" between Korea and Japan upon the feudal government of the Ri Dynasty. Its objective was to conquer Korea and turn it into its colony.

Pursuant to the above-said policy, the Japanese aggressors provoked the "Unyo-maru" incident in 1875.

Japanese warship "Unyo-maru" illegally intruded into the waters off Chojijin of Kanghwa Island, the territorial waters of Korea, without any prior notice and the hoisting of the national flag of Japan under the pretext of obtaining drinking water during its voyage in September of 1875. It met shelling for self-defence by Korean soldiers.

This was a premeditated conspiratorial case orchestrated by Japan to secure a pretext for armed invasion of Korea from its outset.

As the truth behind the incident was known to the public and its criminal nature revealed, the Japanese government advanced a "diplomatic policy for peaceful negotiations", a version of the policy on "diplomacy for the conquest of Korea by force of arms", in November that year. It made a proposal for imposing the shackling "Friendship Treaty of Trade" upon the feudal government of the Ri Dynasty.

The wild ambition of Japan to invade and dominate Korea by leaving no means and methods untried was more saliently revealed in the course of the negotiations with the Korean feudal government in the subsequent period.

The "Kanghwa Island Treaty" was an unequal one forced upon Korea by the Japanese aggressors through high-handed military threat and blackmail and cunning intrigues from A to Z.

It was an entirely aggressive and shackling one as it granted the Japanese side every favorable condition and privilege for invading Korea while imposing on the Korean feudal government only subjugation and obligations.

It was also a criminal one that blocked the independent development of the Korean society and paved the way for the large-scale invasion of Korea by European and U.S. capitalist powers.

The treaty was a criminal treaty as it hampered Korea's independent development and indicated a way favorable for the Japanese aggressors' colonial domination over it by deliberately stipulating a privileged position and rights to invade Korea in the future.

As shown by the contents of the treaty, it was an unequal one which granted the Japanese aggressors a unilateral privilege such as the right to free trade, the right to free navigation in coastal waters, the right to survey, extraterritorial rights, the right to consul presence, the right to conclude a supplementary treaty, etc. while forcing only subjugation and obligations upon the Korean people.

By the strength of the "Kanghwa Island Treaty" the Japanese aggressors deprived the federal government of the Ri Dynasty of huge colonial concessions, laying a foundation for realizing their wild ambition for unchallenged domination over Korea. As a result, Korea was gradually reduced to a colony of Japan.

The criminal nature of the treaty also found its expression in that it set the stage for large-scale invasion of Korea by European and U.S. powers which watched for a chance of aggression, turning it into a theatre of competition by capitalist powers.

Right after the conclusion of the treaty, the U.S. led other aggressor forces in the invasion of Korea.

The U.S. realized the Korea-U.S. negotiations by using the Qing Dynasty and concluded the aggressive and unequal "Korea-U.S. Treaty" in 1882.

The "Korea-U.S. Treaty" helped make a framework of justification for European powers to invade Korea with the involvement of the Qing Dynasty and provisions of the treaty for aggression. It was a curtain-raiser to invading Korea.

After the conclusion of the "Kanghwa Island Treaty" by Japan, UK, Germany, France, Czarist Russia and other European powers made their ways to Korea one after another to impose unequal treaties upon the government of the Ri Dynasty.

Korea thus turned into a theatre for aggressors' competition, deepening the national crisis.

The fabrication of the "Kanghwa Island Treaty" was an unpardonable act of aggression as the crafty and vicious Japanese aggressors wantonly violated the Korean nation's sovereignty and an unprecedented crime as it turned Korea into a theater of European capitalist aggressor forces' operations to conquer it.

The Japanese reactionaries are going reckless, persistently pursuing their hostile policy toward the DPRK and stepping up the moves to stage a comeback to Korea, instead of honestly reflecting on the hideous crimes committed by Japan against the Korean people in the past and apologizing for them.

These are, however, nothing but rash actions perpetrated by them oblivious of the lesson taught by their past.

The Korean people learned the historical truth that they can defend neither the nation's dignity nor the country's sovereignty when a country is weak in military muscle. They will surely force Japan, the sworn enemy, to settle all its past crimes under the banner of Songun and fully pay for the blood shed by them in the past without fail.