Abe and Suga said in their recent joint news conference that they would do their best to put an end to the abduction issue.

Rodong Sinmun in a commentary on Thursday brands this as a reckless scheme to cover up the unethical crimes including sexual slavery for the Imperial Japanese Army.

The commentary says that Japan is, indeed, the hideous abduction state recognized by the international community.

It goes on:

Why is the Abe group persistently talking about the settlement of the abduction issue?

Lurking behind this is its absurd calculation to defame the external prestige of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea by building a world public opinion on the abduction issue and to avoid its reparation for the past crimes, the biggest pending issue in mending the DPRK-Japan relations, by distorting the essence of the bilateral relations and to interfere in the issue of the Korean Peninsula.

The more persistently the Japanese reactionaries seek their anachronistic hostile policy towards the DPRK while covering up their past crimes, the more denunciations and ridicules they meet at home and abroad.

The international community urges Japan, the hideous abduction state, to assume the responsibility for its unethical crimes and liquidate the past crimes at an early date.

The unethical crimes committed by Japan in the past can never be concealed and erased.

Japan should liquidate the past crimes as soon as possible, not resorting to sleight of hand.