On May 19, the Japanese government announced that it would hold an on-line symposium in the UN over the “abduction” issue.

It is said that the June 29 on-line symposium to be hosted by Japan together with U.S., Australia and EU would issue an appeal for the importance of international solidarity beginning with a keynote remark of Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan and a subsequent floor to be taken by the representatives of abduction-related bodies and NGO associates.

In the meantime, the Japanese Embassy in the U.S. circulated even a press statement on May 21 whereby it had invited the missions of various countries to the UN, families of abducted victims and experts on human rights, etc. to the on-line symposium.

I want to state clearly that the abduction issue was already resolved in an impeccable and irreversible manner by our efforts in good faith.

Japan is ignoble enough to be given to the diplomacy of sycophancy and solicitation of taking up the abduction issue anywhere both at home and abroad. Not content with this, it has gone so far as to scheme to orchestrate the anti-DPRK smear campaign even in the UN arena. Then what lies behind such a scheme? Its sinister intention is to cover up, by all means, its thrice-cursed, super-class crimes such as forced abduction and drafting of more than 8.4 million Koreans, the massacre of more than 1 million Koreans and forcing of 200,000 Korean women into sexual slavery during 40-odd years of its unlawful and illegal occupation of Korea in the last century.

Lurking behind this is also a political expediency to extend the tenure of Suga cabinet. Suga cabinet is now trying to use the abduction issue to escape a power crisis caused by the global malignant pandemic disease and its subsequent economic downturn by one-to-one reproduction of the same old trick employed by its predecessor Abe to extend his stay in power.

As Japan holds on to the abduction issue, this would only betray more clearly its baseness and insidious intention before justice and conscience of humankind.

This time, Japan showed itself once again to the world that the abduction issue does no longer stand between the DPRK and Japan and that, as had been also admitted by the inside of Japan, it is an internal issue of Japan which was framed up by those with inveterate feelings of negation against the DPRK in collusion with those living off the “abduction industry”.

Japan will surely have to pay dearly for committing without any hesitation its most vicious hostile acts against the DPRK under the signboard of “abduction”.

Those countries that take up the refrain of Japan without discerning its true colours are well-advised to restrain themselves after reflecting upon the negative consequences that this farce would incur.

Ri Pyong Dok, Researcher of the Institute for Studies of Japan

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Democratic People’s Republic of Korea