I'd use some 00 steel wool and a light oil. 3-1 is good. Have some 0000 on-hand to finish up with. A scouring pad as mentioned would work fine too and will be quicker. It all depends on how much you care what the blade looks like. If it were me, I wouldn;t care much about some scouring scratches... you're going to grow old with that knife.

You WILL NOT hurt the exterior laminate....at least, not without a hammer or a grinder....maye a torch.

Just judging by the picture, it doesn;t look badly rusted.... it just looks "freshly" rusted. Your job should be easy.