Japan must be able to protect its citizens: PM

PanARMENIAN.Net - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday, Feb 2, he wanted to debate the possibility of Japan's military rescuing Japanese citizens abroad, a day after Islamic State militants said they had beheaded a Japanese journalist, Reuters reported.

The militants said on Sunday they had beheaded Kenji Goto, a veteran war reporter, after international efforts to secure his release through a prisoner swap failed. They killed another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa, a week before.

Abe reiterated his denunciation of the militants and said Japan was firmly committed to fulfilling its responsibility as a member of the global community in fighting terrorism and that it needed to be able to protect its citizens.

"Preserving the safety of Japanese nationals is the responsibility of the government, and I am the person who holds the most responsibility," Abe told a parliamentary committee, adding that he wanted to discuss a framework for rescuing Japanese in danger.

In a show of defiance on Sunday, Abe vowed to boost Japan's humanitarian aid to the Middle East.

The hardline Islamist group, which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq, released a video purporting to show the beheading of Goto, 47, who was captured in late October.

The video was released a week after footage was issued appearing to show the beheaded body of Yukawa, who the militants seized in August after he went to Syria to launch a security company.

Abe told a parliamentary panel that Japan, whose military has long been constrained by the post-World War Two pacifist constitution, could not take part in U.S.-led air strikes on Islamic State, nor would it provide logistical support.