The Japanese government is planning to allow more Karen refugees from Burma to settle in Japan, according to Junji Ito, the first secretary for political affairs at the Japanese embassy in Bangkok. At a briefing on the resettlement program for Karen refugees living on the Thai-Burmese border, Ito said the program would be extended for three years. Under an initial three-year plan that will end next March, Japan had hoped to take in 90 refugees, but so far only nine families, constituting 45 members, have resettled in Japan, according to a report by The Japan Times.