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>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. japan and south korea have agreed to closely monitor north korea amid signs the country may carry out a third nuclear test and its first since may last year. the japanese foreign minister and the top envoy to the six-party nuclear talks met in tokyo on thursday. saiki said there's no need to rush back to the stalled talks although the north is signaling a positive stance toward dialogue. the japanese official said it's necessary to create a suitable environment for resuming talks. the two officials also agreed that north korea must first take concrete action toward denuclearization. after the meeting wi told reporters that south korea is trying to verify the accuracy of reports that the north is preparing for another nuclear test. but he said details including the possible timing of a test remain unknown. >>> a u.n. general assembly committee has called on myanmar's military government to release all political prisoners. at the same time it welcomed last week's release of pro-democrac

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. >>> south korea has warned of a military response if north korea engages in further provocation after its artillery attack on tuesday. it was the first attack by the north on an inhabited area of south korea since the 1953 armistice to halt the korean war. president lee myung-bak told top military leaders on tuesday that their country should resist the north with force. the south korean military and u.s. troops stationed in the country have raised the surveillance level on north korea to the second highest status, mobilizing satellites and reconnaissance planes. earlier on tuesday north korea fired dozens of shells at yeonpyeong island near the maritime border. two south korean soldiers were killed and 15 other servicemen were wounded. three residents were also injured. south korea's foreign minister, kim sung hwan, invited the ambassadors of japan, china, and russia to a briefing on the exchange of fire. kim stressed that the attack was a clear violation of t

>>> welcome to nhk "newsline." the reinforcement follows the north's artillery strike on tuesday which killed four people, including two civilians and injured 18 others. south korean cabinet ministers in charge of national security decided on thursday to double the number of long range artillery guns on the islands of the yellow sea. the guns have a range of about 40 kilometers, the government cancelled a plan to reduce marine deployment on the islands and decided to allocate additional military budget to defend them. it also decided to review the military combat rules to encounter any further attack by the north. the president accepted the defense minister's resignation on thursday in what is being viewed as a dismissal. kim has been criticized for south korean military's fumbling of the response to the attack. with bipartisan support, the south's parliament overwhelmingly adopted a resolution condemning the attack. it called on the government to stop any further provocations from the north. >> i'm now in a reside

. >>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. >>> leaders from developed and emerging countries are starting a two-day g20 summit in the south korean capital of seoul. high on the agenda are ways to tackle moves to deval yau currency and a correction in global economic imbalances. for the latest we go live to the media center in seoul where our business reporter yongi kan is standing by. what can you tell us? >> reporter: the g20 leaders are now arriving in seoul and preparing to discuss pressing global economic issues. the seoul g20 summit is the fifth of its kind and the first to be held in asia as well as in an emerging economy. u.s. president barack obama has already arrived in the south korean capital. japanese prime minister naoto kan is expected to arrive later today. south korean president lee myung-bak issued an outline of the agenda items to be discussed at the summit. the agenda takes up four major points. the first is the currencies issue. second is the ongoing effort to build a safety net aga

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. >>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. >>> japan's ruling democratic party has unveiled its draft proposal for new foreign and security policies. it includes plans to strengthen self-defense forces in the east china sea. the party's foreign and security policy panel came up with the draft. it comes shortly before planned revisions to the nation's defense program guidelines. the draft says japan should reinforce its maritime and air self-defense forces to improve monitoring of nearby waters. it says japan's defense policy should focus on areas southwest of the country, instead of the north, in order to check china's naval moves in the east china sea. the draft added that ground self-defense force troops should be scaled back, except in the southernmost japanese prefecture of okinawa. the document says japan should relax its so-called three principles on arms exports, which essentially bans weapons shipments. it will allow japan to jointly develop and produce arms with other countries but only within

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani. >>> tokyo prosecutors say leaked video clips that appeared on youtube were uploaded from an internet cafe in kobe. the videos show a chinese fishing boat colliding into japanese coast guard boats near the senkaku islands. the footage was posted on the internet site last thursday. it shows the collisions that took place in japanese waters off the islands in early september. on tuesday the tokyo district public prosecutor's office collected communication records on the videos as evidence. they were taken from the japanese office of google, the operator of youtube. after analyzing the internet protocol address, prosecutors located a pc at a cybercafe in central kobe. an ip address is a number assigned to any device connected to a computer network. tokyo metropolitan police are also investigating the case. they will analyze security camera footage and question cafe employees to identify the person who posted the videos. >>> ministers from the 21 apec members have begun dis

in this report nhk world's asadi kajihara shows us why. >> reporter: 87-year-old tamayo takikawa has been driving for the last 40 years. but this month as she was peeling out of the garage she had an accident. >> translator: i didn't think a car was coming from that side. >> reporter: takikawa felt it wasn't safe to drive anymore. so she gave up her driver's license. from now on she'll have to get rides from her son and his wife. >> translator: when i think about not driving anymore, i feel really sad. >> reporter: but not everyone is willing to give up driving like takikawa. 88-year-old katsumi konizawa lives with his wife. every morning he drives ten kilometers to attend to his plants. for over 20 years tanizawa has been growing flowers for grave sites. >> translator: i load the plants in a truck and deliver them to my customers. >> reporter: tanizawa has a stomach illness and drives to a local clinic three times a week. the nearest supermarket is than a ten-kilometer drive from home. he says he's used to these roads but sometimes he has doubts about his driving. >> translator: you

he spoke to nhk in seoul on thursday. park said north korean authorities quizzed him daily, asking why he had entered the country and who had sent him. he said they also asked whether he knew any north korean defectors. >> they hate the north korean refugees. they consider the north korean refugees to be vermin. >> park said the authorities are worried that the refugees could destabilize the country's regime. >> they are in contact with their family members in north korea through their cell phones, illegally. fl also, they understand the system of north korea better than anybody else. they have more of a commitment to north korean human rights and freedom. >> he suggested that defectors should be supported and used to help improve the human rights situation in north korea. >>> the executive director of the world food program has indicated that people in north korea are still facing serious food shortages. josette sheeran is the first wfp chief to visit north korea in five years. during her three-day stay from tuesday thro

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. a death sentence has been given for the first time in a judge trial in japan since the system was introduced in may last year at the yokohama district court. a panel of judges, including ordinary citizens, handed down the sentence to a man charged with robbery and double murder. the unemployed man was found guilty of killing two men and taking $160,000 in june last year. one of the men operated a mahjong parlor in central tokyo. the defendant dumped the bodies in yokohama port. prosecutors said the defendant deserved a death sentence for what they called a cold-blooded crime. they said the man killed one of the victims with an electric saw while he pleaded with his life. >>> in a lay judge trial, six randomly chosen citizens serve along side three professional judges to determine guilt and sentence those found guilty. >>> japan's space agency has confirmed that most of the particles brought back to earth by the unmanned probe hayabusa are from the itokawa astroid. it marks the success

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." the u.n. conference on climate change has started on anderson cancun, mexico. participants will discuss a framework for 20 ten and beyond. we have more from the site. >> reporter: delegates from 119 countries and territories are taking part in the two-week conference. under the kyoto protocol, only industrialized countries are required to curb their greenhouse gas emissions. those countries, including japan, are calling on china and other emerging economies to share the burden of cutting emissions. emerging economies claim industrializeded countries should share the costs because their actions are to blame for global warming. some say the kyoto protocol should be extended so the industrialized countries will be required to cut emissions. at the beginning of the meeting, the head of the u.n. climate change secretaryiate called on participating nations to compromise. >> when the stakes are high and the issues are challenging, compromise is an act of wisdom thatta can unite different positions in

. >> in a telephone interview with nhk, ang san suu kyi said she wanted to unite prodemocracy forces that parted ways before the elections earlier this month. >> they are just one of many parties. there are many parties in groups now and we will treat them all equally. >> the national democratic force broke away from the nld to take part in the election. it says it is now ready to cooperate with soo kyi's party which boycotted the vote. despite her years of detention, the nobel laureate continues to exert strong influence in myanmar. her release has unified prodemocracy forces. political parties affiliated with the military seem to have won a landslide victory in the elections, the country's first in 20 years. western countries call the vote a sham. on tuesday, suu kyi went to the high court to ask them to repeal the government decision disbanning the nld. at the same time, she expressed her resolve to seek dialogue with the military government. >> it's a belief. it's a conviction that one has to find one's way forward through discussion, through trying to understand each other, thro

. >>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. >>> the south korean government has decided to suspend humanitarian dialogue and aid to north korea following tuesday's artillery attack by the country. the shelling of the south korean island of yeonpyeong in the yellow sea left two marines and two civilians dead. 18 people were injured, including three civilians. the casualties have led to calls from the public for a tough response, including military retaliation. >> translator: we have to show a firm attitude. we've been patient. >> translator: i don't want our country to stage a war. but north korea should be properly punished. >> the south korean government decided on wednesday to reject an inter-korean red cross meeting to arrange reunions of families divided since the korean war. the meeting was due to be held on thursday. the government also decided to suspend the delivery of 7,000 tons of cement to flood-stricken areas in north korea. south korean president lee myung-bak on wednesday talked with leade

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. >>> the u.s. secretary of state has called on the senate to ratify by the end of the year a treaty with russia to reduce nuclear arms. hillary clinton met republican senator richard lugar and other senators on wednesday before deliberations on the s.t.a.r.t. treaty. >> some have suggested we should hit the pause button, that it's too difficult to do this to this degree. this is exactly what the american people expect us to do. >> president barack obama is facing an uphill battle enacting key bills before japan, when the new congress is inaugurated. in the recent midterm elections his democratic party lost control of the house of representatives and its seats in the senate were sharply reduced. it remains to be seen whether the obama administration can gain bipartisan cooperation to ratify the treaty. many republicans do not want to compromise with the government after their big election win. >>> an american congressional commission has expressed concern that china's ballistic missiles can now reac