The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Monday accused the Japanese government of fabricating a DNA test on the remains of an abducted Japanese woman.  

In a government memorandum released by the official Korean Central News Agency, the DPRK described the test result -- which Japan says show the DPRK handed over the remains of a person other than abducted Japanese woman Megumi Yokota -- as a "sheer fabrication."

The memorandum said a Japanese delegation obtained Yokota's remains from her husband during a visit to the DPRK last November and took them back to Japan for DNA testing.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda on December 8 announced that the DNA tests of the remains did not match Yokota, who was kidnapped in the DPRK in 1977 at the age of 13. The Japanese side said the remains are of two other persons.

The DPRK memorandum said the test results had been falsified and raised doubts over the Japanese government's claim of having conducted the testing at "the most competent research institution in Japan."

It gave three instances as to how the results should be called into question, notably that the testing procedures were inconsistent.

"What Japan seeks in having cooked up the results of the test on the remains is to use the issue of abduction as a subterfuge to evade its settlement of the past," the memorandum said.

The memorandum demanded that the Japan return the remains of Yokota to the DPRK and thoroughly probe the truth behind the results and sternly punish those responsible for the case.

(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2005)