Pyongyang also refuses to help with the issue of Japanese abductees and will respond sharply to Japan's interference with its sovereignty.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has expressed his desire for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "without any preconditions" to defuse tensions between the two countries, but North Korea has rejected this proposal.

Choe criticized Kishida for persistently focusing on the unresolved issue of Japanese abductees.

In 2002, North Korea acknowledged kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens decades prior.

Five abductees and their families returned to Japan, but Tokyo believes 17 Japanese were abducted in total.

The fate of the missing abductees is still under investigation.

Recently, North Korea's ambassador to China, Ri Ryong Nam, stated that there would be no meetings between North Korea and Japan, after an official from the Japanese embassy in Beijing proposed contact via email.

Kim Yo Jong, North Korea's influential sister, has stated that she would consider dialogue with Japan if the country is willing to move past their contentious history.

Tensions have long existed between the two nations due to disputes such as North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens in the early 2000s, Japan's colonial rule from 1910-1945, and its use of forced labor and sexual slavery.

Additionally, Japan and North Korea have clashed over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, resulting in recent test launches and new sanctions from Seoul and Washington.