North Korea slams Japan over forced laborer issue on Liberation Day

University students stage a flash-mob protest calling for Japan's apology over forced conscription of Koreans during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation, in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Wednesday, a day before the 74th anniversary of the National Liberation Day of Korea. Yonhap

Pyongyang also condemns Tokyo's "retaliatory" trade restrictions on Seoul

By Jung Da-min

North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Thursday condemned Tokyo for evading responsibility for its use of Korean forced laborers during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation. The article came as the two Koreas were commemorating the 74th anniversary of National Liberation Day.

"We cannot but emphasize the Japanese imperialists dragged about 8,400,000 Korean young and middle-aged people to the sites of the war for overseas aggression and hard-work sites in order to invade the continent, compelled 200,000 Korean women to suffer the miserable fate as sexual slaves for the Imperial Japanese Army and mercilessly killed more than one million people," read the statement by a spokesperson for the Association of Korean Victims of Forcible Drafting and Their Bereaved Families, based in Pyongyang. But the number of the victims referenced remains controversial.

"The Japanese government is leaving no means untried to evade responsibility for the settlement of its past, far from sincerely admitting all the crimes committed by Japan against the people of Korea and reflecting on them."

The issue of Japan's wartime crimes against Koreans is still a thorny issue for Tokyo to engage in North Korea's denuclearization dialogue as the North has been pursuing the "Japan passing" strategy since the beginning, refusing to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and calling for Tokyo to properly apologize and offer compensation.

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"Japan's settlement of the past is not an issue which may be settled or not, but is the moral duty of the Japanese government under international law and historical and bounden state duty that must be fulfilled even after the replacement of generations," the North's victims association spokesperson said.

North Korean media have also stood together with the South over historical issues with Japan. The North has not only expressed support for the South Korean Supreme Court's ruling that ordered Japanese firms Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi to compensate surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor, but also criticized Tokyo's recent "retaliatory" trade restrictions against Seoul.

The North's Workers' Party of Korea's organ Rodong Sinmun also carried an article highlighting the ongoing protests against Abe in the South.

North Korea's support for the South over historical issues came despite ongoing military tensions amid joint military drills between Seoul and Washington and Pyongyang's series of missile launches that it described as "protests" of the drills.

In a congratulatory message to Seoul for the Liberation Day anniversary, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reaffirmed a stronger alliance between the United States and South Korea.

"On this day, we reaffirm the enduring strength of the United States―Republic of Korea alliance, which remains the linchpin of peace and security in Northeast Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific region," Pompeo said.

"Our bilateral partnership continues to thrive based on shared values of freedom and democracy as we work together on many global issues. I wish all Koreans a meaningful holiday and look forward to continuing our close partnership in addressing shared interests and challenges in the region and throughout the world."

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