Japan Pretending to Be Victim via Abduction Claim: N. Korea

August 23, 2018

Seoul- A North Korean panel has insisted that Japan is raising the abduction issue as a way to pretend to be a victim, the Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday.

In a spokesman's statement issued on Wednesday, the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee also said Japan cannot take even a step toward the future without making compensation for the past.

North Korea will never open its gate leading to a wide world before atonement for the past is made, the statement said, warning against even the slightest expectation for the resolution to the problem of Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang decades ago.

These claims came at a time when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is showing eagerness to improve Japan-North Korea relations by resolving the abduction issue.

Pyongyang apparently aims to put pressure on Tokyo by stressing its position that compensation for the past is a prerequisite for bilateral dialogue.

The statement warned that Japan will get caught in a wave of justice and peace-oriented history and sink deep in the Pacific Ocean if it focuses on becoming a military power without apologizing and compensating for the past. Jiji Press