North Korea has again criticized Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent offer for summit talks, urging Tokyo to first change its hostile policy against Pyongyang.

The North's propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri said Thursday that Japan's hope for a summit is "shameless and impudent to the extreme" and North Korea has no interest in sitting down with such a brazen-faced nation.

It said there can be no dialogue until Japan settles its past wrongs and withdraws its hostile policies against North Korea.

Last week, Song Il-ho, North Korea's ambassador for normalizing relations with Japan, told a visiting Japanese delegation in Pyongyang that Tokyo needs to take concrete action. He also raised issue with Japan's recent move to exclude some ethnic Koreans from its free education program.

Prime Minister Abe has recently expressed hope, more than once, to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un without conditions for a candid discussion, including on the issue of North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens.