The Red Cross of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Monday released a statement denouncing Japan of disallowing its ship Mangyong bong-92 to anchor at a Japanese port.
Announcing the ship has never done anything breaking the international law or the Japanese laws, the DPRK Red Cross saidsuch a behavior is intended to hurt the dignity of the DPRK and to quell the spirit of humanitarianism.
"Humanitarianism can never be a target of repression orsanctions in any case nor be a political plaything", the statement said.
Such an anachronistic act would dampen the common desire of people of both countries on promoting the DPRK-Japan relations,the statement said, noting that nobody could block the free visitsof Korean residents in Japan to their homeland by sea.
The Japanese authorities should adhere to the spirit of the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration and stop all their provocative actions against the DPRK instead of supporting the anti-DPRKpolicy adopted by the United States, the statement added.
Some 1,800 Japanese police officers had been mobilized tomonitor and inspect the ship.
(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2003)
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