Japan has asked Colombia to place priority on the safety of a 52-year-old Japanese executive who was kidnapped last month by rebels, Vice Foreign Minister Yutaka Kawashima said Monday.
Bogota has promised to fully cooperate with Tokyo on the case, Kawashima told a press conference, adding that the Foreign Ministry is dealing with it through its Consular and Migration Affairs Department.
"In terms of what kind of negotiations are being held between the Colombian government and the rebels, we are not at liberty to disclose any information because it may affect the safety of the person who has been taken away," Kawashima said.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest leftist guerrilla group, is reported to be demanding a ransom for Chikao Muramatsu, vice president of a local joint venture of Japanese auto parts maker Yazaki Corp.
On Sunday, sources close to local police said the executive's abduction was carried out in broad daylight on a highway in northern Bogota on Feb. 22.
They said Muramatsu was being driven home from a factory in Cundinamarca on the outskirts of the capital when two men posing as policemen on motorbikes flagged down their car and accused them of being in a stolen vehicle. While the driver was arguing with the men, a car carrying six to eight people pulled up and Muramatsu was snatched.
The highway connects Cundinamarca and Bogota, and the site of the abduction is some 10 minutes away by car from Muramatsu's residence, police said. They said the abductors seemed to know Muramatsu's route home.