



By Jung Min-ho







North Korea's newspaper slammed the Japanese government Sunday for "trying to free-ride on the wind of peace" without playing its part.





The Rodong Sinmun, mouthpiece of the ruling Workers' Party, said in a commentary that Japan, which "made a fuss about North Korea threats last year," was now "trying to act like an apostle of peace after sensing a peaceful atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula."





The paper accused the Japanese government of currying favor with the United States to take credit for peace efforts and normalize relations with North Korea.





But Japan would "forever be left out" unless it completely gave up its aggressive sanctions against North Korea, the paper said.





Before the historic inter-Korean summit on April 27, which turned around the atmosphere in the region, Japan had advocated the U.S.-led campaign of applying "maximum pressure" and sanctions against the regime over its nuclear weapons program.





Japan sees itself as a major stakeholder in the region's denuclearization, but has obviously been sidelined by the joint U.S.-South Korean effort to resolve North Korea issues.





Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also said he would normalize diplomatic ties with Pyongyang and resolve the issue of Japanese nationals being detained in North Korea.

