KYODO NEWS - Jul 4, 2018 - 18:32 | World, All

North Korea has stepped up criticism of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, with its most influential newspaper on Wednesday urging Japan to redeem its past military occupation and colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula.

That comes as the country has shied away from condemning its known main adversaries -- South Korea and the United States. Japan continues to emphasize the importance of economic sanctions on North Korea.

The Rodong Sinmun of the ruling Workers' Party lambasted Abe for repeatedly raising the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, although Pyongyang has claimed it has been already settled.

The newspaper also criticized Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Kono by name for insisting that economic sanctions on North Korea should be maintained until Pyongyang takes concrete steps toward denuclearization.

"Japan should stop poking its nose into the issue of the Korean Peninsula and do what it is obliged," the Rodong Sinmun said in its commentary, carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency in English.

"It should properly redeem the pending past rather than trying to interfere in the issue of ensuring peace in the Korean Peninsula and the region," the newspaper said. "As long as Japan refuses to redeem the past, its top task, it will be left alone in the region."

Abe has recently expressed willingness to talk with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but KCNA said in its commentary on Tuesday that Japan's "hostile policy" toward North Korea "remains unchanged."

Dialogue sought by Japan stems from "its peculiar crafty calculation to save its face which has been marginalized from the trend on the Korean peninsula and belatedly hold its share in the Korean peninsula issue," the news agency said in English.

Pyongyang's relations with Seoul and Washington have been improving since Kim held summits with South Korean President Moon Jae In earlier this year and U.S. President Donald Trump last month.