North Korea slams Japan for failing to honor Pyongyang Declaration of 2002

ANKARA (AA) – North Korea accused Japan on Friday of failing to honor the historic Pyongyang Declaration of 2002, which sought to normalize relations between the two countries.

Song II-ho, the ambassador in charge of negotiations for the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and North Korea, said in a statement that despite the passage of two decades, Tokyo has pushed bilateral ties to the lowest ebb of confrontation.

"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 state-run Korean Central News Agency reported, citing his statement.

His statement came just a day before the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Pyongyang Declaration, which was inked on Sept. 17, 2002, in Pyongyang by then-Japan Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Song stated that the declaration gave the people of both countries hope that they could forget the past and start over.

"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," the North Korean diplomat said.

Japan's depiction of itself as a "victim without an iota of guilty conscience" for inflicting unprecedented misfortune and pain on the Korean nation after depriving it of its huge human, material, and spiritual wealth, he claimed, adding, "it is the height of hypocrisy."

He warned that Japan would pay a price for its "unwarranted and reckless" anti-Pyongyang actions, and that bilateral relations would be determined by Tokyo's attitude.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid