Hwang Jang-yop, the highest-ranking Northern defector to South Korea, has accepted an invitation to testify at the Japanese parliament on the current situation in North Korea.

The invitation was extended by a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Japan's Lower House, Masaharu Nakagawa, when he met the North Korean defector in Seoul on Monday.

The Japanese lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Party asked Hwang to visit Japan on September 16-17 to testify before the Japanese Diet.

Hwang, a former secretary of the North's ruling Workers' Party, has been critical of North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-il since his defection in 1997.