TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama, dubbed the "Grim Reaper" for ordering a record number of executions, said Friday he would step down in any cabinet reshuffle. "'The Grim Reaper' will quit," he told reporters when asked on his role in a future cabinet. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has been evasive on his plans, but ruling party lawmakers have sent repeated hints that he is close to booting some ministers in a reshuffle to reverse approval ratings that have sunk near record lows. Japan has hanged 13 people since Hatoyama took office last year, the highest under a given period since Japan lifted a de facto moratorium on executions in 1993. There are still 102 people on death row. Hatoyama, a member of one of Japan's most elite political families, last month ordered the executions of three people including...
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