June 29 (UPI) — A Japan-based newspaper slammed calls for the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea, and said the United States is responsible for making progress in building trust with the Kim Jong Un regime.
The pro-Pyongyang newspaper Choson Sinbo in Japan issued the statement on Friday, in an article that also called for “building a world without nuclear weapons.”
Ridding the world of nuclear weapons is an “important pillar of foreign policy,” the paper stated.
Kim Jong Un’s agreement to complete denuclearization of North Korea is part of his foreign policy objective of eventually ridding the world of all weapons of mass destruction, the Choson Sinbo claimed.
The article credited President Donald Trump for a recent measure that has halted plans for a joint U.S.-South Korea exercise in August, and possibly even the joint Korea Marine Exchange Program exercises.
“The announcement from President Trump to suspend joint military exercises is desirable progress on the situation,” the article read.
In Singapore, Trump said the “war games” were “very provocative” and costly.
The General Association of Korean Residents, a pro-North Korea representative body that also serves as North Korea’s de facto embassy in Tokyo, publishes Choson Sinbo.
In a separate statement on Friday, the organization, also known as Chongryun, said Japanese customs authorities confronted ethnic Korean students of a pro-Pyongyang school after returning from a trip to North Korea, Yonhap reported.
The students’ North Korean “souvenirs” were confiscated at Kansai International Airport. The gifts were from North Korean officials and the students’ relatives.
“This is an extremely malicious and inhumane act that crushes the innocent hearts of children,” Chongryun’s representatives said in Tokyo Friday.
The group slammed Japan’s “unjustified sanctions” against North Korea.
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