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SEOUL/TOKYO-Japan would not object to the removal of North Korea from a U.S. terrorism blacklist if the move was seen as paving the way for Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear program, Tokyo said on Friday.The comments came as South Korean media reported North Korea and the United States were near a deal on verifying Pyongyang's account of its nuclear program, which would prompt Washington to remove it from a list of countries that sponsor terrorism. The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the Bush administration looks set to provisionally remove the North from the State Department's terrorism blacklist, as early as Friday.Japan's foreign minister said he did not know if the United States would go ahead with the move but that he would not see it as a problem if it was deemed as yielding results."We expect the United States to tell us before making a final decision and if we think that it is enough, or enough to some extent, to resolve the nuclear issue, then I think it would be fine," Hirofumi Nakasone told a news conference. Japan has taken a tough stance against North Korea, working to resolve a feud over Japanese citizens abducted decades ago to the North, but Nakasone said denuclearization was also key. Tokyo said it would extend its sanctions on North Korea, including a ban on imports, for another six months after they expire on Monday, because of a lack of progress on both the issues of denuclearization and abductees.U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill, who went to Pyongyang last week to save a crumbling disarmament deal, reached a fresh verification proposal there that the U.S. administration has finished reviewing, a South Korean news report quoted government sources as saying.As in the days of Noah....
