As North Korea remains silent on the Japanese government's proposal for a summit, it instead held a forum sharply criticizing Japan.
On the 13th, the Korean Central News Agency said, "A history institutional sector forum exposing and condemning the eternal archenemy Japan's everlasting crimes was held on the 12th at the Academy of Social Sciences."
According to the report, the forum featured a series of remarks condemning colonial rule during the Japanese occupation. Participants said, "Even if time passes and generations change a hundred and a thousand times, the wounds of history that the eternal archenemy, Japanese imperialism, left on our people can never heal, and we must exact a blood price for revenge a thousand and a hundred times over."
Yun Sin-young, director of the Joseon History Research Institute at Kim Il Sung University's Department of History; Kim Young-hui, deputy director of the Korean Central History Museum; and Social Sciences Academy researchers Jo Myeong-cheol and Jo Hee-seung presented papers criticizing the anti-human crimes of Japanese imperialism.
The North's event draws attention as it coincided with the timing of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi proposing a summit with North Korea immediately after taking office.
Kyodo News reported, citing a Japanese government official, that on the 4th, Prime Minister Takaichi proposed a summit to the North right after taking office on Oct. 21, but North Korea has yet to offer any response.
North Korea has long drawn a line against dialogue with Japan. Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the Labor Party, said in a statement in March last year that "we will turn away from and reject any contact or negotiations with the Japanese side."
In February of the same year, Kim also claimed that the issue of abductees had "already been resolved," but the Japanese government says it cannot accept this position.