It is a well-known fact that when a massive earthquake occurred in the Kanto area on September 1, 1923, Japan orchestrated a massacre of Koreans by spreading malicious rumours in a bid to divert the growing public dissatisfaction with the government.

It is natural to apologize and take responsibility for committing a wrongdoing.

Instead of making a sincere apology and reparation for the crime, however, Japan has persistently attempted to cover up the truth behind the massacre and evade its responsibility.

More than a century has passed since the great Kanto earthquake, but the case is far from fading into obscurity. Rather, the truth behind it is revealing itself more vividly.

More evidence proving that the Japanese government was behind the massacre is being discovered. Yet, the Japanese government is taking such an impudent attitude that it was "not involved in the massacre and has no intention to apologize".

The Japanese authorities have turned their face away from the massacre, claiming that “there is no material from which to explore the fact.” They went so far as to say that “they are not going to express any regret at the massacre of Koreans during the great Kanto earthquake.”

They have also denied Japan’s responsibility for the massacre, asserting that "there are diverse views" and "it is a matter historians have to decide."

These days in Japan often witness a horrible atmosphere indicative of the nightmare of the massacre in Kanto. When there occurs a quake, even though it was small, hate remarks and articles are viral on the Internet.

With no guilt for the unprecedentedly unethical crime, the Japanese reactionaries bent on moves against the DPRK and Chongryon are whipping up hostility towards the DPRK across society and trying to justify their crackdown on Chongryon and Koreans in Japan. This is arousing the indignation of the Korean people and the international community.

As the saying goes, ten years are an epoch. The ten years have passed more than ten times but the Japanese reactionaries remain unchanged in their sinister intention.

They are still making desperate efforts to plant militarism into the minds of the people, especially the rising generation, by embellishing the crime-woven history of aggression through distortion of history and visits to the Yasukuni Shrine. They are dead set on moves for aggression through arms buildup and overseas dispatch of the "Self-Defence Forces".

The Korean people never forget the bitter past when they were put under the military rule of Japan, and are firmly determined to settle the old scores with the sworn enemy.

Kim Wi Hyok