Japan seeks US, French help over hostage crisis

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida sought US and French help to secure the release of two Japanese men held by the Islamic State (IS) militants.

Kishida Tuesday called on his US and French counterparts over the hostage crisis, Kyodo News reported Wednesday.

"Both US Secretary of State John Kerry and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius promised in respective telephone talks to do their utmost to settle the incident as soon as possible," said Kishida.

"I asked each government to help find out the facts by sharing information towards an early release of the Japanese nationals," Kishida added.

The militants, in a video, had demanded a ransom of $200 million for the release of the two Japanese hostages Tuesday.

According to a report in The Guardian, the one minute 40 second video took note of the multi-million dollar Middle Eastern aid package announced a few days ago by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Kishida is in London to attend a meeting Wednesday that would see delegations from various countries and organisations discussing the efforts made by the US-led military coalition to combat the IS.