The chief Cabinet secretary of Japan said it would heed the impact of the operation of Mangyongbong on the efforts of other countries for tackling the issue of nuclear and rocket programs of Pyongyang.

And the foreign minister imprudently asserted that Japan expects Russia to take a responsible approach to settling the Korean issue.

This is just manifestation of the Japanese reactionaries' inveterate hostile policy toward the DPRK.

Japan is not entitled to say this or that about the liner.

The liner is just an international tourist ship which contributes to promoting the economic ties and humanitarian exchange under an agreement between the DPRK and Russia.

Japan has put an embargo on the liner for more than one decade, blocking the sea route of Koreans in Japan for visiting the homeland. Not content with this human rights abuse, it is faulting even regular economic exchange and visits between countries, revealing once again the hideous nature of its policy hostile to the DPRK.

What dignitaries of Japan uttered to link the bilateral cooperation between the DPRK and Russia with a military purpose is just sophism to justify its policy hostile to the DPRK.

Since the end of the Second World War, Japan has resorted to undisguised political and economic blockade and military moves against the DPRK in a sinister bid to realize the wild ambition for "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." This only drew criticism and rejection by the international community.

In 2003 when the DPRK remained a non-nuclear state, Japan hatched a plot to justify its moves against the DPRK and the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) by branding the liner as a drug-smuggling boat.

The Japanese regime is justifying its policy hostile to the DPRK, terming the steps taken by it for bolstering its military muscle to tackle the U.S. imperialists' nuclear blackmail a "threat" to Japan and the world.

The recent accusation of the Japanese reactionaries against the liner is just part of the smear campaign.

It is their purpose to suffocate the DPRK through complete economic blockade and secure a favorable opportunity for launching reinvasion.

Japan is, indeed, the sworn enemy of the Korean people as it is seized with inveterate hostility toward the DPRK.

Such mean act of Japan can never stun the DPRK. Japan had better not run riot, refraining from such narrow-minded behavior.