The Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK) on Saturday lashed out at Japan for trying to retrogressively revise its constitution, warning that Japan is becoming a war state.

"The Japanese reactionaries' moves to retrogressively revise the Constitution at any cost are aimed to turn Japan into a war state for aggression", said a signed commentary carried by the leading official newspaper Rodong Sinmun.

The DPRK's remarks came after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday, the Japan's Constitution Day, issued a statement that called on revising the nation's charter.

Abe repeatedly has pledged to keep the issue of constitutional revision at the top of his agenda, ever since he began campaigning last September to become leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

"The Abe ruling forces' moves to enact a War Constitution is a serious violation of international conventions and a challenge to them", said the newspaper.

The debate on changing the Constitution has mostly focused on Article 9, which states: "The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes."

Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910 to 1945, which resulted in 8.4 million slave workers kidnapped from Korea to Japan.

Source: Xinhua