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N.Korea official urges Japan to apologize over forced labor
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A senior North Korean official on a visit to South Korea has called for Japan to apologize for the wartime forced labor of thousands of Koreans.
Ri Jong Hyok made the comments Friday at a forum outside South Korea’s capital that represented a rare effort by the rival Koreas to discuss Japan’s actions before and during World War II.
Anti-Japanese sentiment runs deep in both Koreas, which were colonized by Japan for 35 years before their division at the end of the war in 1945.
Ri is a vice chairman of North Korea’s Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee and heads the North’s five-member delegation to the forum.
Officials from South Korea’s national government say they have no plans to meet Ri during his visit in the South.