The statement said Japan can never be pardoned as it has cracked down Chongryon and Koreans in Japan and attempted to seize the Korean Hall of Chongryon, far from making an apology and reparation for its wrongdoings to the Korean people.

It went on:

Chongryon is a dignified overseas Koreans organization of the DPRK for defending the legitimate rights of the Koreans in Japan, and the Korean Hall of Chongryon has played the role of the diplomatic mission of the DPRK for the DPRK-Japan friendship and peace in Northeast Asia under the condition that there are no diplomatic relations between the two countries.

When looking back on history, the Japanese authorities adopted a hostile policy toward the DPRK as its state policy and have made desperate efforts to inflict sanctions on the DPRK and stifle it and resorted to ceaseless political suppression and national persecution of Chongryon and Koreans in Japan.

To protect the rights and properties of the Koreans in Japan, who are direct victims of the forcible drafting of Koreans committed by Japanese imperialists in the past and their descendants, is the state obligation of the Japanese authorities and unavoidable legal and moral responsibilities.

The Japanese authorities should stop at once the illegal decision of allowing the sale of the Korean Hall of Chongryon and persecution and crackdown upon Chongryon and Koreans in Japan.