(VOVworld) - Japan on Saturday vowed to "never give up" its efforts to save two Japanese hostages held captive by Islamic State militants after the deadline to pay their ransom passed one day. Deputy Foreign Minister Yasuhide Nakayama said that it is a very difficult path to see their release but Japan will spare no efforts to rescue them. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters there was "nothing new to report" after holding a meeting of an emergency taskforce on Saturday morning.

Two Japanese hostages

Freelance journalist Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa, the self-employed contractor are being detained by the IS, who had threatened to kill the hostages if they did not receive $200 million USD. The IS group has killed 5 Western hostages since last August and this has been the first time they threatening Japanese hostages.