Freelance journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka, who was released this week from detention by local military forces in northern Iraq, said Thursday in Tokyo that the ordeal will not discourage him from reporting in conflict zones.
At a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, the 47-year-old Tsuneoka told of his 12-day ordeal while also expressing concern about how Donald Trump's win in the U.S. presidential election could negatively affect the situation in the Middle East.
Tsuneoka was held by the Asayish — the Kurdish security force — in the city of Irbil while covering an offensive against the Islamic State aimed at retaking Mosul. He was held on suspicion of being a member of IS.