N Korea removal from blacklist may hurt Japan-U.S. ties: Machimura

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Monday that Japan-U.S. ties could be adversely affected if the United States decides to remove North Korea from its list of terrorist-sponsoring nations despite Tokyo's request not to do so due to lack of progress in the issue of Pyongyang's abduction of Japanese.
While Machimura denied that one problem might totally damage bilateral relations, which he described as "multilayered," he said delisting North Korea "certainly would not have a good influence on the Japan-U.S. relationship." Machimura said that Japan-U.S. ties include the economy, culture, diplomacy and person-to-person relationships, but emphasized that the abduction issue carries "a different weight" compared with other bilateral themes as it involves the feelings and emotions of Japanese people.