Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has cut short his Middle East tour and is returning to Tokyo today to advocate for a swift response to the ultimatum to Islamic extremists who threaten to kill two kidnapped Japanese if they are not paid 200 million dollars.
"I most strongly demand that they not be harmed and that they be released immediately," Abe said yesterday at a press conference in Jerusalem.
Abe said he was "extremely outraged" by the jihadists' act and threatened that the international community would not relent in the face of terrorism.
Time is slowly running out for the Japanese government to make a decision on how to respond to the ultimatum of the extremists who yesterday gave it 72 hours to pay 200 million dollars for the release of the two Japanese.
The hostage crisis centered on Japanese citizens has deeply shaken the country and it is believed that Abe and the government will face pressure from the domestic public to try to negotiate their release, according to AFP.
The man who demanded the ransom sounded like a Briton involved in other beheadings of hostages kidnapped by Islamic State (IS), which controls a third of Iraq and Syria.
The video shows two hostages in orange suits, and the extremists identified them as Kenji Goto Jogo and Haruna Yukawa.
"This video will not change anything," said Abe, who added that the money is needed to help the displaced and all those left without their homes due to the conflicts in Iraq and Syria.
IS extremists have so far killed five hostages from the West since last August, and this is the first time that the jihadists have threatened Japanese citizens.
Japan has repeatedly emphasized that it has offered non-military aid to countries affected by the bloody actions of IS in Iraq and Syria, and which were faced with an exodus of refugees.
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