The Buraku Liberation League of Japan recalled that the police corps of the joint investigation headquarters made up of policemen of Kyoto, Kanagawa, Yamaguchi and Shimane prefectures searched the houses of the chairman and a vice-chairman of the Chongryon Central Standing Committee under the pretext of "violation of foreign currency law". This is a politically-motivated suppression of Chongryon by the Japanese government, it noted, adding:

Japan-DPRK relations have not improved due to the Abe regime.

The recent search will further bedevil these relations. The human rights issue of Japan is being raised even at the UN.

The search is a discrimination against Koreans in Japan.

We condemn the suppression of Chongryon and strongly demand the Abe regime opt for mending Japan-DPRK relations with sincerity.

The All-Japan Trade Union of Harbor Workers said:

The government's atrocity such as search of the houses of the chairman and a vice-chairman of the Chongryon Central Standing Committee is an act made without reason and a political crime aimed to bar Japan-DPRK relations from being improved and to incite hostility of both sides.

Lurking behind the search is a political, threatening and discriminative intention.

We hardly repress astonishment at the vulgarity and incompetence of the Abe regime.