President George W. Bush and visiting Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda of Japan will discuss this week U.S. plans to remove North Korea from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, the White House said Thursday. “We understand that there are deep feelings about the issue,” spokeswoman Dana Perino said, referring to Japanese anger about North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to train spies. “In fact, the president has met in the Oval Office and other times with Japanese citizens who have been the victims of the abductions, and we understand this is very emotional for many Japanese citizens,” Perino told reporters. “I'm sure that they will talk about it” when they meet at the White House on Friday, she added. Bush's meeting with Fukuda comes as a group of Japanese visits the United States to pressure U.S. officials not to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Fukuda also is expected to urge Bush not to take Pyongyang off the list. However, the United States appears willing to remove Pyongyang from the list in exchange for North Korea fulfilling its pledge to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs under a six-country deal reached in February.
