Pyongyang, September 14 (KCNA) -- A seminar took place in Tokyo on Sept. 3 to mark the 9th anniversary of the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration.

Present there were Motofumi Asai, former director of the Hiroshima Peace Institute of Hiroshima City University, Haruki Wada, honorary professor at Tokyo University, and other Japanese officials, officials of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) and Koreans in Japan.

A "written request for normalization of Japan-DPRK relations" addressed to the Japanese prime minister and foreign minister was adopted at the seminar.

The following is the full text of the written request:

Nine years have passed since the adoption of the historic Japan-DPRK Pyongyang Declaration. But the abnormal relations between Japan and the DPRK still persist.

We feel proud that the declaration is an official one which was signed by the top leaders of the two countries at that time and published before the world and strongly hope for an early implementation of the declaration.

But it is very regrettable that Japan has failed to settle what was done in the colonial era even after the lapse of 66 years since the end of the war. The Japanese government should deeply reflect on this internationally disgraceful matter.

The Japanese government is, however, unilaterally applying various sanctions against the DPRK under the pretexts of abduction, nuclear and missile issues, etc.

Intolerable is the infringement upon vital rights. They include damage caused by economic sanctions including trade embargo, human rights abuses by the refusal to allow the portcall of ship Mangyongbong, infringement upon the right to national education through a halt to providing subsidies to children of Korean schools and non-implementation of the tuition-waiver program for senior high schools.

Now that inter-Korean dialogue and the DPRK-U.S. negotiations started in the latter half of July, there came into being a great trend of dialogue. The stand taken by the Japanese government so far may sideline it from the six-party talks and deprive it of an opportunity of dialogue with the DPRK.

It can be said that it is urgent to lift sanctions for the purpose of resuming the Japan-DPRK inter-governmental negotiations and this would not only pave the way for the resumption of dialogue but signify an important step for implementing the Japan-DPRK Pyongyang Declaration.

To settle the inglorious past, in particular, is a very necessary process for carving out a bright future and, furthermore, a process leading to realizing denuclearization and peace in Northeast Asia.

We will mark the tenth anniversary of the Japan-DPRK Pyongyang Declaration in 2012 which can be an exciting year for Northeast Asia. We make the following requests to the Japanese government so that it may not miss such year, immediately open the door to implementing the declaration and make a switchover in normalizing the Japan-DPRK relations:

Firstly, resume the negotiations for normalizing the Japan-DPRK relations at an early date and realize the normalization of the relations till the autumn of 2012.

Secondly, to this end, immediately lift various sanctions against the DPRK and open the way for resuming dialogue.