North Korea calls on Japan to apologize for rights violations during colonization

A senior North Korean official on a visit to South Korea has called for Japan to apologise for the wartime forced labour of thousands of Koreans.

Ri Jong Hyok made the comments Friday at a forum outside South Korea's capital that represented a rare effort by the rival Koreas to discuss Japan's actions before and during World War II.

Anti-Japanese sentiment runs deep in both Koreas, which were colonized by Japan for 35 years before their division at the end of the war in 1945.

Ri is a vice chairman of North Korea's Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee and heads the North's five-member delegation to the forum.

Officials from South Korea's national government say they have no plans to meet Ri during his visit to the South.