Zarqawi, Kidnaps and Threatens to Behead a Japanese Captive

An Iraqi terrorist group kidnapped a Japanese man in his twenties and threatened to behead the hostage if Tokyo does not withdraw its troops from Iraq within 48 hours.

The Japanese government set up headquarters to free the hostage in Amman, Jordan yesterday, but Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro made it clear that the Self-Defense Forces will not withdraw, saying, “(We) cannot give into terrorism.”

On October 26, the Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera released a videotape showing the Qaeda of Jihad, led by international terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, holding a Japanese captive.

This organization, which kidnapped and killed the late Kim Sun-il, recently changed its name from “Tawhid and Jihad (Arabic for ‘Unity and Holy War’),”

Three masked and armed kidnappers and the hostage kneeling in front of them were shown in the tape.

Although the kidnappers claimed that the captive belonged to the Self-Defense Forces, it was confirmed that he was a civilian named Shosei Koda (24) who recently entered Iraq via New Zealand.

There were two occasions in April where Japanese were kidnapped, but all of the five captives, including an NGO worker and four free lancers, were freed within a week.

Won-Jae Park parkwj@donga.com