ANKARA 

North Korea urged Japan on Monday to "face up to history" and "liquidate its past" over its 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea ahead of the 80th anniversary of its defeat in World War II.

The country's Foreign Ministry condemned Japan for trying to pass the anniversary of its surrender "without seriously reflecting on its wartime history," the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

"This is an unpardonable mockery and insult upon the peoples of the DPRK and other Asian countries that are suffering from the hideous crimes of the Japanese imperialists," it said, using the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"No statute of limitations is applicable even after 80 years and 800 years" when it comes to Japan's war crimes, it said.

"It is the unavoidable moral responsibility of Japan, the war criminal state, and its duty before international law to face up to the history and liquidate its past," the Foreign Ministry said.

North Korea's call comes amid reports that Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is considering issuing a message marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat.

Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported last week that Ishiba's message would not be different from the 70th anniversary statement issued by then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

In his 2015 message, Abe reaffirmed Tokyo's past apologies over its wartime aggression but declined to issue a fresh apology, saying that future generations should not have to keep apologizing for the suffering caused by Japan's military past.

Japan announced its surrender in World War II on Aug. 15, 1945, effectively ending the war

*Writing by Aamir Latif