TOKYO
Almost one month after two Japanese men were beheaded by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Japan has said it will donate 1.83 billion yen ($15.5 million) to help build counterterrorism capacity in areas where such militants are active.
Kyodo news agency reported Tuesday that the amount - $7.5 million of which had already been pledged during a visit by Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida to Brussels in January - is aimed at strengthening border control and investigation capabilities.
In January, the country also pledged $200 million in non-military aid to countries dealing with the group. The country is unable to send military aid to any such "war" due to its pacifistic constitution.
Kishida told reporters that Japan would outline the measures during an international antiterrorism meeting scheduled for Thursday in the United States.
He said that Japan would consider further expanding humanitarian assistance.
Japanese journalist Kenji Goto was killed late January after being captured by the group in October and held with fellow Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa, who was also killed in the same month.
Goto had reportedly travelled to Syria to help release Yukawa after he was seized in August.
U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the killing as a “heinous murder,” and other world leaders followed suit.
