Japan makes utmost efforts for detained tourist in N. Korea

TOKYO, Aug 27 (KUNA) -- Japan's government said Monday that it makes utmost efforts to deal with the detention of a Japanese tourist in North Korea, a day after Pyongyang said it has expelled the man from the country.
"The government is sparing no effort to address the case. But I would like to refrain from talking about the specifics of the issue due to its sensitive nature," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference. Suga made remarks after North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday night that Pyongyang has released Tomoyuki Sugimoto held in custody for allegedly violating the country's laws "on the principle of humanitarianism." Sugimoto had been "kept under control by a relevant institution to be inquired into his crime" but the country "decided to leniently condone him," the agency said, without mentioning the crime he allegedly committed and from when he had been detained.
According to Japan's Kyodo News Agency, Sugimoto, thought to be a videographer in his 30s, was detained in North Korea earlier this month. The man may have been suspected of shooting video footage of a military facility when he visited the western port city of Nampo with a tour group, it said, adding that he was visiting North Korea on a tour arranged by a China-based travel agency. (end) mk.tg