Japan condemns IS execution, wants release of 2nd hostage

Tokyo, January 25

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday called the killing of a Japanese captive by Islamic State militants “outrageous” and again demanded the group release a second Japanese national they are holding.

Abe, speaking to public broadcaster NHK, said chances were high that a recording and an image of what appeared to be the decapitated body of captive Haruna Yukawa, which emerged late on Saturday, were authentic. The Japanese leader called for the immediate release of the remaining Japanese captive, veteran war correspondent Kenji Goto, and said saving Goto’s life was a top priority.

But he reiterated that Japan would not give in to terrorism. “Such an act of terrorism is outrageous and impermissible, which causes me nothing but strong indignation,” Abe said. “Again, I strongly demand that Mr. Kenji Goto not be harmed and be immediately released.”

The escalation of the hostage crisis has become a test for Abe, who took power in 2012 pledging to bolster Japan’s global security role. On Tuesday, Islamic State militants released a video showing Goto and Yukawa kneeling with a knife-wielding, masked man demanding a $200 million ransom for their release. A 72-hour deadline for that payment expired on Friday.

In the latest recording, Goto says Yukawa was “slaughtered in the land of the Islamic Caliphate.” But the journalist said the Japanese government could save him by working through Jordan where Abe earlier this week set up an office to coordinate the government’s response to the hostage situation.

Goto says the militants would free him in exchange for the release of Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi held in Jordan, and that the militants have dropped the ransom demand.

More than 100 people congregated at Tokyo’s Denenchofu Protestant evangelical church, where Goto was baptized in 1997 and where he prayed just days after Yukawa was captured in August. — Reuters

Such an act of terrorism is outrageous and impermissible, which causes me nothing but strong indignation. Again, I strongly demand that Mr. Kenji Goto not be harmed and be immediately released. — Shinzo Abe, Japanese Prime Minister

Obama offers condolence to Abe 

US President Barack Obama on Sunday offered condolences to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over the beheading of a Japanese national by Islamic State militants and said the two countries will work shoulder to shoulder to degrade and defeat the dreaded outfit. Obama telephoned Abe “to offer condolences for the murder ... of Japanese citizen Haruna Yukawa and to convey solidarity with the Japanese people,” a White House statement said.