North Korea claims that Japan has been pushing the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by the North as far back as the 1970s to dodge criticism for forcing Asian women into sex slavery during World War Two.

North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun said in an editorial Tuesday that the abductions are not an issue anymore but that the Japanese government under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been doggedly pursuing it.

The organ of the North Korean Workers’ Party called Japan’s wartime sex slavery one of the worst human rights violations in the world.

The North Korean newspaper said that the Abe government is aiming to shore up its popularity by attacking Pyongyang on the abduction issue.