North Korea official urges Japan to apologise over forced labour

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.

By: AP | Seoul | Published: November 16, 2018 5:02:26 pm

North Korea official urges Japan to apologise over forced labour

Ri Jong Hyok is a vice chairman of North Korea’s Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee and heads the North’s five-member delegation to the forum. (Source: AP)

A senior North Korean official on a visit to South Korea has called for Japan to apologise for the wartime forced labour 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.