After many years of debate, Japan's parliament finally officially adopted the Rising Sun and the imperial hymn as the country's symbols. North Korea say as a sign of resurgent nationalism and said that the flag and song were "the standard and song of the Japanese imperialists' aggression army that drenched Korea and other Asian countries with blood". This is only the beginning of the difficulties between North Korea and Japan.

In pretext to the upcoming 54th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan on August 15, 1945, North Koreans began threatening Japan in August of 1999 with "merciless retaliation" unless Tokyo atones for its colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The Korean Central News Agency has stated that Korea will welcome Japan only if good relations prevail. However, it went on to say that "...if it repeats its crime-woven history and undertakes a reckless provocation, the (North) will never miss the opportunity of meting out merciless retaliation."

In recent years, relations between North Korea and Japan have sunk to a new extreme and the North's communist government hopes to test a long-range missile despite warnings against it from the United States, South Korea, and Japan. This North Korean missile launch will most likely trigger an arms race.

And so, it appears the many years of trying to normalize situations between Tokyo, Japan and Pyongyang, Korea have made little avail. During August of 1998, North Korea sent a rocket over Japan into the Pacific Ocean in a demonstration showing that Japan is well within reach of North Korean missiles. In retaliation to these measures Japan suspended food aid and has threatened further economic sanctions if North Korea fires more missiles. Japan is ready to move on from the devastating past between the two countries and improve ties with Pyongyang if the North will abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programs and resolve other issues between the two nations.

During the week of August 8, 1999, the United States and South Korea announced their plans to conduct joint military exercise. This annual exercise, code-named Ulji Focus Lens, is determined to run for 12 days. The United States and South Korea have often held such military events together, always to the protest of North Korea, who considers them preparations for war.

So now, North Korea has stated that they will "make Japan pay a high price for the bloodshed" and "give vent to its century-old wrath" unless Japan makes a formal apology as well as reparations for colonizing Korea early this century and killing and enslaving many people. The Koreans are already planning on launching a rocket towards Japan soil and testing new long-range missiles.