Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has responded with anger and defiance to the video showing the beheading of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto by Islamic State (IS) saying that the country "would not give in to terrorism" and that they would expand their support to fight against the IS.
According to BBC, the video was released by the IS less than a week after the apparent beheading of another hostage Haruna Yukawa.
Goto was a respected journalist known for his work covering the suffering of civilians in war zones.
He went to Syria in October, reportedly to try to secure Yukawa's release.
IS has taken over large swathes of Iraq and Syria in the past months that has led many minority groups in the region to flee to the nearby locations.