Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=10/29/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=JAPAN/IRAQ HOSTAGE (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-320003

BYLINE=STEVE HERMAN

DATELINE=TOKYO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

HEADLINE: Japan Awaits Word on Fate of Hostage in Iraq

INTRO: There is no word out of Iraq about the fate of a Japanese hostage who was threatened with execution by militants if Japan did not pull its small contingent of soldiers out of Iraq by Friday. VOA's Steve Herman reports from Tokyo.

TEXT: Japan's government has set up an emergency operations center in Amman and dispatched a vice foreign minister to the Jordanian capital.

Japan says it has contacted 25 countries for help in freeing Shosei Koda. Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and members of Mr. Koda's family have appeared on Arabic television to appeal to the captors.

The militant group headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi released a video Wednesday on the Internet saying it would behead Mr. Koda within 48 hours if Japan did not remove its soldiers from Iraq.

Japan has about 500 non-combat troops near Samawah, in southern Iraq.

After the deadline had passed on Friday, Mr. Koda's mother and brother held an emotional news conference in Tokyo to plead for his release.

Mrs. Setsuko Koda says the family is not in a position to request that the Japanese government comply with the militant's demands.

/// MRS. KODA ACT, IN JAPANESE, EST. & FADE ///

Mrs. Koda says the family members are just ordinary citizens and they cannot ask, order or demand anything of the government. She says the only thing the family desires, besides the release of her son, is that peace comes to Iraq as soon as possible.

She says the family had no idea her son had traveled to the Middle East after his trip to New Zealand earlier this year to study English.

Maki Koda says his younger brother probably wanted to play a role in building peace.

/// MR. KODA ACT, IN JAPANESE, EST. & FADE ///

He stresses that his brother has no links whatsoever to Japan's Self Defense Forces as was alleged in the video the militants released.

Four Japanese, two diplomats and two journalists, have been killed in Iraq since the start of the U.S.-led war.

Five Japanese civilians were kidnapped in Iraq in April. Militants also threatened to kill three of them unless Japan pulled out its troops. But all were released unharmed after intense diplomatic efforts by Japanese officials. (Signed)

NEB/HK/SH/KPD/RH