Justice and home affairs ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations began a two-day meeting Thursday in Tokyo on measures to halt a rising trend in global organized crime.
"The current situation we face concerning international terrorism and transnational organized crime is extremely serious," Shinya Izumi, chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, said during his opening statement.
Izumi stressed that acts of violence and crimes have been perpetrated on a global scale since the terrorist attacks in the United States in September 2001, and that comprehensive measures are required to curb them.