{"id":8419,"date":"2015-01-20T11:31:32","date_gmt":"2015-01-20T11:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2015\/01\/20\/japanese-hostage-ransom\/"},"modified":"2015-01-20T11:31:32","modified_gmt":"2015-01-20T11:31:32","slug":"japanese-hostage-ransom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2015\/01\/20\/japanese-hostage-ransom\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Hostage Ransom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

ISIS Demands Money for Return of Hostages<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nA video allegedly shows an Islamic State militant threatening to kill two Japanese hostages unless a ransom is paid, though the video has yet to be independently verified. The militant in the video accused Japan if sending aid to countries fighting Islamic State. <\/p>\n


\nPrime Minster of Japan Shinzo Abe said the threat was unacceptable and pledged to save the hostages, he claimed their lives were a \u201ctop priority\u201d and that Japan would not give in to terrorism. The country\u2019s foreign ministry are working to verify the video.<\/p>\n


\nMr Abe is currently in Jerusalem as part of a six-day tour of the Middle East, however he will reportedly cancel the rest of his trip and return to Japan to deal with the hostage situation.<\/p>\n


\nIn a press conference in Jerusalem, Mr Abe said he was \u201cindignant\u201d and felt \u201cstrong resentment\u201d towards the threats, and demanded the immediate release of the hostages.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cExtremism and Islam are completely different things,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n


\nMr Abe also stated non-military support would continue to be sent to Middle Eastern countries. While in Cairo, Mr Abe promised $2.5bn in non-military assistance to the region, with $200m in non-military aid for countries fighting Islamic State. Japan relies on the Middle East for much of its crude oil imports.<\/p>\n


\nHe said that the world would suffer \u201cimmeasurable\u201d damage if terrorism spread in the region. <\/p>\n


\nThe video displays a masked man with a knife threatening the hostages. The man said, in English, he will kill the two men unless a $200m (\u00a3130m) ransom is paid within 72 hours. <\/p>\n


\nSpeaking earlier to journalists, Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said, \u201cIf true, the act of threat in exchange of people’s lives is unforgivable and we feel strong indignation.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe will make our utmost effort to win their release as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nYasuhide Nakayama, a deputy foreign minister, will fly to the Jordanian capital in an effort to tackle the crisis. <\/p>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISIS Demands Money for Return of Hostages A video allegedly shows an Islamic State militant threatening to kill two Japanese hostages unless a ransom is paid, though the video has yet to be independently verified. The militant in the video accused Japan if sending aid to countries fighting Islamic State. Prime Minster […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}