The United States backed Japan’s efforts to resolve a dispute with North Korea over its abduction of Japanese nationals during the Cold War but stayed prudent about Tokyo’s possible use of sanctions. “The Japanese government has not made any statement or decision or shown any inclination to do that,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters at the daily briefing here. “And therefore let’s not, sort of, speculate three days down the road, if at all, that that is a course of action the Japanese government is going to follow,” Boucher said. Polls in Japan show large public support for sanctions against the impoverished Stalinist state in a dispute over the fate of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents during the Cold War. North Korea said Wednesday it would regard sanctions as a declaration of war. It said it would hit back with an “effective physical” response and reconsider participation in six-nation talks aimed at halting its nuclear weapons program. Full Story
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