North Korea vowed again to make Japan apologize and offer compensation for its brutal wartime colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

A commentary in the Worker's Party of Korea's Rodong Sinmun paper was quoted by the Korean Central News Agency as saying that the Korean People will certainly make Japan apologize and compensate for its crimes in the new century.

The commentary said... the Japanese authorities have not yet apologized nor compensated for their past crimes against the Korean people although more than half a century has passed since the Japanese imperialists' defeat."

It also said that this is evidence showing the impudence and moral baseness peculiar to Japan.

Japan and North Korea do not have diplomatic ties. Talks aimed at normalizing relations have stalled, as Pyongyang has demanded compensation from Japan for its 1910-1945 colonial rule of Korea.

Tokyo, for its part, wants answers on the fate of 10 Japanese nationals allegedly kidnapped by North Korean agents and held since the 1960s.