Pyongyang, August 25 (KCNA) -- The North, South and Overseas Sides Committees for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration Thursday issued the following joint press release on the lapse of 101 years since the Japanese imperialists fabricated the "Korea-Japan Annexation Treaty":

101 years have passed since the Japanese imperialists fabricated the brigandish "Korea-Japan Annexation Treaty".

The treaty was an unpardonable state-sponsored crime as they illegally fabricated it with military threat and in a coercive manner to "justify" their colonial rule over the Korean nation.

The Japanese imperialists cooked up the said treaty in the wake of "Ulsa Five-point Treaty," bringing the disgrace of a stateless nation to the Koreans and imposing unspeakable misery and pain and enormous sacrifices upon them.

This being hard facts, Japan has made neither apology nor reparation for the shuddering crimes since its defeat. On the contrary, it has become more frantic in its hostile acts against the Korean nation as evidenced by its attitude towards the issue of Tok Islets and the issue of distorting its history.

All Korean Committee for Implementing June 15 Joint Declaration states as follows reflecting the will to check the evermore shameless moves of Japan for reinvasion, force it to settle its crimes committed throughout its history and thus preserve the dignity and sovereignty of the nation:

1. The committee decided to hold a north-south joint academic seminar in Pyongyang and Seoul on August 29 on the lapse of 101 years since the Japanese imperialists' fabrication of the "Korea-Japan Annexation Treaty."

It was agreed to name the seminar "The North-South Joint Academic Seminar for Checking Japan's Reinvasion of Tok Islets and Urging Japan to Redress Its Past" and adopt "Japan's Liquidation of Its Past and the Issue of Tok Islets" as its theme.

2. The committee strongly denounces the south side authorities for torpedoing under the pretext of unreasonable "May 24 step" the joint academic seminar which the north, the south and overseas sides agreed to hold in Kaesong in order to resolutely hold in check Japan's moves to grab Tok Islets, which touched off bitter resentment among all Koreans at home and abroad, and force Japan to settle its past crimes.

3. The committee decided to conduct various positive activities to foil Japan's reinvasion and make it settle the crimes committed against the Korean nation without fail, voicing firm solidarity with political parties, organizations and personages at home and abroad.