PYONGYANG - The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the official news agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Saturday issued an article to urge Japan to make apologies and reparation to the victims of its sexual slavery against Korean women.

According to the KCNA, the issue of comfort women for the Japanese army was "a hideous sexual slavery" during Japan's colonial military rule over Korea. However, Japan has not yet made any state apology or reparations to the victims.

This is "a mockery and challenge to the Korean people and world conscience calling for Japan's settlement of its past crimes" and "the most despicable and cruel crime in human history," the article said.

Japanese politicians have evaded responsibility for settling the history of Korean aggression and their sexual slavery and even whitewashed the events, the article said.

In addition, the article said, Japan's politicians have neither made apologies nor reparations for the sexual slavery and instead are totally denying and distorting the historical facts.

Japan's persistent denial of the above-said issue is aimed at covering up the crimes committed by it in the last century and evading settlement, the article said.

The article urged Japan to make state reparations for the sexual slavery in a responsible manner.

As many as 200,000 Korean women were forced to be comfort women by the Japanese army. About 146,000 of the women died in alien lands.