A resolution adopted at a meeting held in Kobe condemned the authorities for independently slapping cruel sanctions on the DPRK in breach of the May, 2014 DPRK-Japan inter-governmental Stockholm agreement.

The resolution demanded the immediate lift of the sanctions as they escalate the tension in Northeast Asia and infringe upon the rights of the Koreans in Japan.

It is advisable for the government to make an apology for its past colonial rule and promote the exchange with the DPRK but not to opt for banning it, the resolution said.

The government's exclusion of the Koreans schools from the tuition-free program for senior high schools is a criminal act against international law, it charged.

The chairman of the Saitama Prefectural People's Council for Japan-Korea Friendship and Solidarity said the DPRK's satellite launch is an exercise of an independent right of a sovereign state and urged the government to work for normalization of diplomatic relations in accordance with the Japan-DPRK Pyongyang Declaration.

The Japanese Women's Society for Solidarity with the Korean Women denounced the government for worsening the bilateral relations by applying unreasonable independent sanctions.