The North Korean official in charge of dealing with Japan has urged incoming Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to work to improve bilateral relations, which he said are at their "worst" level because of Tokyo's sanctions on the North.
"If Noda's new government works toward improving ties, we are ready to respond accordingly," Kim Chol Ho, vice director of the Foreign Ministry's Asian Affairs Department, said in an interview Wednesday in Pyongyang.
His comments were North Korea's first official response to the next Democratic Party of Japan administration.