Nakagawa conveys concerns to Bush over U.S. delisting of N. Korea+

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 Kyodo -
Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa conveyed to U.S. President George W.
Bush on Saturday the concerns of the families of Japanese victims of North
Korea's abductions over Washington's imminent decision to remove Pyongyang from
its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Nakagawa, who met Bush on Saturday morning along with other finance ministers
of the Group of Seven major economies to discuss a global financial crisis,
told reporters he brought up the abduction issue during a conversation with
Bush, referring to Shigeru and Sakie Yokota, the parents of an abductee.
Sakie, the 72-year-old mother of abductee Megumi, met Bush in 2006 at the White
House in seeking U.S. help on the issue of the abductions in the 1970s and
1980s.
''President Bush told me that he will never forget (Megumi Yokota),'' Nakagawa
said. The minister served as the head of a nonpartisan parliamentarians' group
to seek solutions to the abduction issue.
The G-7 ministers met with Bush as the White House was making the decision on
the North Korean listing. The United States officially announced the removal
later.
Nakagawa said he also talked with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at
the White House and told her that the families of abduction victims are shocked
by the U.S. decision to remove North Korea from the terrorism blacklist and
cannot accept it.
Rice said the removal will not have great significance, but that she will make
sure that Bush will send a message to Japan on the issue of the delisting, the
Japanese minister said.
Rice also attended the meeting between Bush and the finance ministers from the
G-7 economies of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United
States.