The article goes on:

Japan left no means and methods untried to exterminate the Korean nation and erase Korea on the world map in the past.

It is an undeniable historical fact that Koreans suffered untold damage due to Japan.

The issue of Japan's redemption of its past should have been settled right after the end of the Second World War.

But it has remained unsettled still now.

It is because the ruling forces of Japan have distorted its past history contrary to the will of its people to redeem the past and advance along a right way.

All successive ruling forces in Japan have shunned overtly and covertly the redemption of its past, embellishing its crime-woven past history.

Japan has maintained the stand of never admitting its past crimes against the Korean people.

Such stand makes it hard to convert the hostile relations between the DPRK and Japan into normal ones.

The issue of Japan's settlement of its past is not merely confined to the DPRK-Japan relations.

Whether Japan redeems its past or not is a barometer judging whether it admits its past crimes or not, repeats its crime-woven history or not, and has will to take the road of peace or not. It is also a very sensitive political matter concerning peace and security in Asia.

For Japan to come clean with its past crimes is the only way to become a full-fledged member of the international community.