Pyongyang, October 26 (KCNA) -- The DPRK remains unchanged and consistent in its foreign policy stand to uphold to the last the idea of independence, peace and friendship and thoroughly embody it and thus contribute to the development of international relations and global independence.

Rodong Sinmun Wednesday says this in a signed article.

The DPRK has favorably developed its relations with those countries friendly to it though they were in the hostile relationship with the former in the past, the article notes, and goes on:

The DPRK established diplomatic ties with almost all Western countries over the past more than decade.

But the DPRK-U.S. relations have not been mended yet. The U.S. is wholly to blame for this.

In the new century the U.S. has pursued its hostile policy toward the DPRK and increased its pressure on it in every aspect, driving the situation to a dangerous phase.

It is the principled stand of the DPRK to counter the U.S. high-handed stand with the toughest stand. The U.S. has escalated its moves for a new war in different regions of the world but it has so far dared not ignite the second Korean War against the DPRK. It is because the DPRK's foreign policy is principled and it has powerful deterrent for self-defence.

The DPRK has willingness to improve its relations with the U.S. if the U.S. rolls back its hostile policy toward the DPRK and shows goodwill to it, though belatedly.

A key issue in repairing the DPRK-Japan relations is for Japan to redeem its past crimes.

Japan's settlement of its past wrongs is not an issue of paying the debts pending between states or not. The crimes committed by Japan to exterminate the Korean nation can never be covered up and there should be a proper apology and reparation for them.

The extreme deterioration of the relations between the DPRK and Japan is attributable to Japan's evasion of its responsibility to redress its past crimes and its hostile policy toward the DPRK. The relations between the DPRK and Japan can be normalized if Japan liquidates its crime-woven past and rolls back its hostile policy toward the former.

Repairing and normalizing the DPRK-U.S and the DPRK-Japan relations is not an issue hard to settle. It is quite possible to solve it if the U.S. and Japan deal with the pending issues on the principle of mutual respect, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit.