Friday 16 September 2022

Japanese Government Responsible for Nullifying DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration: Foreign Ministry

Pyongyang, September 16 (KCNA) -- Song Il Ho, ambassador of the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK, made public the following press statement on Thursday which reads:


The historic DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration published 20 years ago raised expectation and hope of the public inside and outside for the end of the inglorious past and a start with a clean slate.


We had received the Pyongyang declaration with seriousness as a landmark for the improved bilateral ties and have so far exerted strenuous efforts for its implementation, holding various forms of contacts, dialogues and talks with the Japanese side.


The basic spirit of the declaration is the establishment of effective political, economic and cultural ties between the two countries based on Japan's sincere apology for its crimes against the Korean nation during the 40-odd-year armed occupation of Korea and its reparations and compensations for them.


Japan, however, has used it for its dirty political purposes by denying the nature and essence of the bilateral ties and citing the "solution of abduction, nuclear and missile issues" as its purpose.


The Japanese government has spared no means and methods to resurface the abduction issue that had already seen a solution, to cover up its crime-woven past and incite anti-DPRK atmosphere at home and abroad. It has dramatized the "story of threat" from the DPRK and escalated military muscles for aggression under that pretext, thereby seriously harassing regional peace and stability.


It is the height of hypocrisy for Japan to stain itself as "a victim" without an iota of guilty conscience for its infliction of unprecedented misfortune and pain on the Korean nation after depriving it of its huge human, material and spiritual wealth, far from reflecting on the crimes.


Two decades have passed since the publication of the declaration, but Japan has only rendered it null and void and pushed the bilateral ties to the lowest ebb of confrontation through a series of all sorts of sanctions measures with an aim to strip the DPRK of its rights to independence and development.


The Japanese government can never shirk the responsibility for its perfidious acts about the declaration.


We keep tabs on all the unwarranted and reckless anti-DPRK and anti-Chongryon (General Association of Korean Residents in Japan) moves committed by Japan and will certainly force it to pay for them.


How the bilateral ties will turn out entirely depends on the attitude of the Japanese government. -0-


www.kcna.kp (Juche111.9.16.)

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