A historian says the late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung should be recognized for his resistance activities against Japanese colonialism.

Kang Man-gil, chairman of the Committee to Honor Korea's 60th Anniversary of Liberation, made the remark at a news conference Monday.

He stressed that be it right-or left-wing, any liberation movement during the Japanese colonial period was an pro-independence activity, adding the issue of capitalism versus socialism is a post-colonial issue.

On joint inter-Korean research on the history of Korean independence movements, Kang said many young scholars in the South have conducted socialist studies, and that Pyongyang now recognizes the legitimacy of Korea's interim government after liberation in 1945.