Volunteer worker Noriaki Imai was one of three Japanese nationals that were kidnapped by a terrorist group in Iraq. Three Japanese nationals, including a woman, and eight South Koreans were reportedly being held hostage in Iraq, adding a new element of chaos to the fiercest fighting between US-led forces and insurgents since Baghad fell a year ago.(AFP/JIJI Press/File)
Nahoko Takato, a Japanese aid worker, is shown in this undated photo. Takato is believed to be one of three Japanese civilians who have been taken hostage in Iraq and have been threatened with death unless their country withdraws its troops from the U.S.-led coalition, news reports said Thursday, April 8, 2004. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)
Soichiro Koriyama is shown in this undated photo. Koriyama, 32, a freelance journalist, is believed to be one of three Japanese civilians who have been taken hostage in Iraq and have been threatened with death unless their country withdraws its troops from the U.S.-led coalition, news reports said Thursday, April 8, 2004. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)
A still from South Korean television network MBC shows South Korean church minister Kim Sang-mi being interviewed in Baghdad after she escaped an Iraqi armed group April 8, 2004. Seven South Korean members of a church group have been taken hostage in Iraq the South Korean foreign ministry said on Thursday. An Iraqi group detained the seven church ministers earlier on Thursday near Baghdad. (MBC TV/Reuters)
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda speaks to reporters during at a news conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo April 8, 2004 after three Japanese nationals were kinapped and were being held hostage in Iraq. Japan has no plan to withdraw its troops from southern Iraq and demanded the immediate release of three civilian hostages taken by a previously unknown Iraqi group, Fukuda said on Thursday. REUTERS/Issei Kato