A North Korean scholar is urging Japan to promptly return a stone monument from the Joseon Dynasty.

Kim Eun-taek, a professor at the North's Kim Il-sung University, said Thursday that housing the monument in Japan's Yasukuni Shrine along with Class-A war criminals is a crime.

Called "Buk-gwan Dae-cheop-bi" or "Great Victory at Buk-gwan," the monument was stolen by Japanese soldiers during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

The two Koreas agreed to jointly seek the monument's return in their recent Cabinet-level talks in Seoul.