Japan will host the first international symposium exclusively focusing on ways to combat the increasingly serious problem of human smuggling in the Asia-Pacific region in mid-January, Foreign Ministry officials said Thursday.

The symposium will be held at a Tokyo hotel on Jan. 20 under the ministry's sponsorship. Academics as well as officials from regional governments and international organizations will be invited to attend, the officials said, requesting anonymity.

According to the officials, the participants will include Carol Bellamy, secretary general of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); Toshinori Kanemoto, head of the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, as the police body is better known; and Helena Carlen, vice chairman of the End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT), a Bangkok-based international nongovernmental organization.