PYONGYANG -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Thursday that Japan's "political provocation" has made it hard for the two countries to hold inter-governmental dialogue, the official KCNA news agency reported.
In a notice sent to Japan, the DPRK accused Japan of internationalizing the abduction issue and putting it forward as a major issue at the UN human rights arena, according to the KCNA.
Japan's moves, said the notice, violate the agreement aiming to settle the issue between the two sides and makes Japan an untrusted dialogue partner, according to the report.
The notice also strongly denounces the Japanese police for forcibly searching the houses of top officials of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), who are also deputies to the Supreme People's Assembly, the country's top legislative body. Pyongyang claims that the move has infringed on the DPRK's sovereignty.
The DPRK demanded that the Japanese government give a full explanation and offer an apology over the incident, the notice said.
The DPRK acknowledged in 2002 that it had abducted 13 Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s. Talks on the issue were shelved in December 2012, when the DPRK launched a long-range missile.
Eight abductees have died and the remaining five have been repatriated, said the DPRK. However, Japan has pressed for more information about the fate of the abductees who have died and others that it believes were also kidnapped.
The Japanese police searched the house of the head of Chongryon on March 26 on suspicion of illegally importing matsutake mushrooms and selling them in Japan, according to Japanese local media.
