Abe: Japan in 'Race Against Time' to Free Hostages Held by IS

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his country is in a "race against time" to free two hostages being held by the Islamic State group for a $200 million ransom.
Abe told reporters Wednesday in Tokyo that he has instructed officials to use every possible diplomatic channel to secure the release of Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa. 

Islamic State militants released a video Tuesday saying they would kill the men unless Japan paid the money within 72 hours, linking the threat to what they said was Japan's support for efforts to fight the group.

The prime minister said Wednesday that Japan "will never give in to terrorism." He has pledged $200 million in non-military aid to those countries affected by the Sunni extremists.

Japan is not among the countries directly participating in the coalition battling insurgents in Syria and Iraq.

However, Japanese citizens have previously been killed by Islamic militants - the most notable attack was at an Algerian gas plant in 2013 where ten Japanese died. 

   [VOA News]

   21/1/15

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• Japan PM says will do utmost to free captives 

Japan will do its utmost to free two of its countrymen believed to be held captive by the Islamic State militant group, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters on Wednesday, adding that Tokyo would never give in to terrorism.

"I have instructed (the government) that we will exhaust all possible measures to have the two freed, using all diplomatic channels, all diplomatic routes we have built so far," Abe said.

"Our country will never give in to terrorism."

Islamic State released an online video on Tuesday purporting to show two Japanese captives and threatening to kill them unless it received $200 million in ransom.
   [jpost.com by Reuters]
  21/1/15

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• Islamic State likely gave hostage ultimatum knowing difficulty of meeting it...

By giving Tokyo just 72 hours to come up with an eye-popping $200 million ransom for a pair of Japanese hostages it is threatening to kill, the Islamic State group has likely made its demand with the implicit knowledge that it won’t be met.

Instead, the group, which has seized large swaths of Syria and Iraq in its quest to create an Islamic caliphate, is likely using the situation to generate controversy and keep its name in the news, according to leading analysts.
“The Islamic State has specialized in manufacturing attention-grabbing international crises,” Joshua M. Landis, a prominent Syria analyst and the director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, told The Japan Times............http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/01/21/national/politics-diplomacy/islamic-state-likely-gave-hostage-ultimatum-knowing-difficulty-of-meeting-it/#.VL_LTiwYE9Q
 21/1/15