Thailand, Japan Step Up Fight Against Human Trafficking

BANGKOK — The foreign ministries of Japan and Thailand agreed Thursday to set up a joint task force to combat human trafficking, according to a press release from the Thai side. The agreement was reached during a high-level annual meeting — the Japan-Thailand Political Partnership Consultation — in Bangkok on Thursday. In July, Japan's National Police Agency revealed that 51 foreign women were trafficked into Japan and forced into the sex industry or other forms of exploitation in the first half of this year. Of those, 17 were Thai nationals.  Source.  Japan  Today, japantoday.com. For more information, click here (last visited October 15, 2005, reo).