welcome to "asia 7 days." nine north korean defectors were found drifting in a small boat off the coast of japan on tuesday. they were attempting to reach south korea. >> reporter: the eight-meter long boat with korean lettering was spotted by a local fishermen tuesday morning. three men, three women and three children were on board, all in

good health. rice and pickles were found in the boat but no water. one of the men reportedly described himself as a soldier in the north korean military. he said the other people were his relatives. the castaways told the japan coast guard that they had left the north korean port of chongjin for south korea on september 8th but it is believed the strong currents drew them off course. an expert described why they may have chosen to defect now.

>> reporter: on wednesday, nine defectors were transferred to an immigration facility in knack sake prefecture for questioning. the self-described leader of the group told officials that he was a fisherman and had raised money for the north korean people's army by catching octopus. a former north korean army officer spoke to nhk about the dire situation the troops face in the country. sources say that the japanese authorities have begun unofficial talks with south

korea on the matter. the south korean government reportedly conveyed its readiness to accept the defectors on humanitarian grounds. a high-ranking russian official has visited 2 of the 4 russian-held islands claimed by japan. the visit has demonstrated russia's intent to continue development projects on the islands, which it has controlled since the end of world war ii. he traveled to the disputed islands on september 11th. he is the secretary of russia's security council whose members includes heads of the military and security agencies. his first stop was an airport and seaport that's being renovated to accommodate large ships. he then visited various facilities in the islands including those belonging to russian border guards. the japanese government has expressed displeasure over the

visit. the four disputed islands off japan's northern prefecture of hokkai hokkaido. japanese were living on the islands until the end of world war ii. soviet forces seized the islands immediately after japan's surrender in august 1945. the japanese residents were forced to leave and the islands have been under the soviet or russian control ever since. the territorial dispute has become a major issue between the two countries. last november russian president dmitry medvedev visited kuneshiri, the first russian

leader to set foot in the disputed territory. medved devon was followed by other high-ranking russian government officials. in may, a large delegation led by deputy prime minister sergei ivanov visited the islands. on september 8th, prime minister vladimir putin signed an order approving about $39 million of funding for the island by the end of the year. russia has set aside more than $530 million for a major infrastructure development plan through 2015. these moves demonstrate russia's resolve to develop the island as its own territory.

russia criticized japan's response to the visit, saying if the prime minister is sincere, he should make constructive moves for developing bilateral ties. the visit is seen as a way for russia to assert its authority over the island as a new administration takes power in japan. now this week's "in-depth" feature. >> reporter: asian students are hungry for education. they want the best degrees and they're willing to travel. a fast-growing share of the world's international students come from this region. higher education has become big business. in singapore, attracting foreign students is a national policy goal. the country offers full

scholarships and dormitories that look more like hotels. singapore believes is future is at stake and is determined to lure the best and the brightest. >> a good place to study. i study architecture so it was a perfect place for me to study here. >> reporter: japanese universities are also on a recruitment drive in a fast-aging society, enrolling international students has become a matter of survival. which country will win out? today we focus on asia's race to make the grade. currently more than 3 million people around the world are studying abroad. asian nations in particular are seeing a sharp increase.

let's take a look at this chart. it shows the number of people studying abroad from asian countries. from china, about 270,000 students wrere enrolled in schools abroad in 2003. it rose in 2008 quite a jump. as for india, the number rose 85,000. in comparison, vietnam doesn't send many students abroad but the number has almost tripled. singapore is where the fight to recruit students really heats up. the island had set its sights on becoming an education hub. every year it stages an event called the study abroad fair. >> reporter: the event attracts universities from around the world. all are looking to entice international students. in host nation singapore, there are now more than 100,000

foreign students taking courses, twice as many as ten years ago. some governments have their own booths. they promote the benefits of home colleges as aggressively as any trade show vendor. >> today we have a booth here and we want to enroll more and more international students, not only from singapore, from m malaysia or maybe indonesia and. >> well in singapore these fairs are very important because it is looking students to attack international students since singapore is a cosmopolitan country. >> reporter: this is the national university of singapore. the nus. it is the country's highest institution of learning. the nus ranks among the top in asia for number of foreign students and foreign teaching staff. it also ranks highly in job

placement. about 10,000 international students are enrolled from 100 countries. the university's facilities are a big draw. dormitories boast five-star amenities and the accommodation fees are very reasonable by singapore standards. nus also offers scholarships that waive all tuition costs. >> there areational dededededed exchange students, professors coming from all over the world. it is just an international experience from an international perspective. getting to know the world, the cultures, the languages. it is a lot of new things. >> reporter: but the key selling point is the nus network. it's teamed up with 180 universities worldwide, including the massachusetts institutes of technology and yale university. the nus invites first-class researchers from associated universities. it's also established student exchange courses, joint degree

and double degree programs. in the two-year masters course, for example, students take an example at nus in the first year. then they have the option of finishing the degree at a partner university. singapore began actively recruiting international students ten years ago. it's part of government efforts to build up a highly skilled workforce and promote high-tech industries. various strategies are used to keep talented people in singapore. scholarships require students to work in the country after graduation. >> so therefore i expect this college to have a good number of foreign students. they will provide fresh perspectives, they will stimulate the learning process. we hope that after graduation some of them will strike roots here. >> we are now joined by akiyoshi

yonezawa, an expert in the internationalization of higher education. professor, thank you very much for joining us. we've seen that singapore has been quite successful in recruiting students from abroad. what's the secret of their success? >> well, their policy is called global schooling house or the high educational hub. actually this is not coming from the educational policy but from the economic development policy. actually, they invest a lot of money to attract global talents at the same time widespread education programs from the world. by doing so, they are trying to be kind of center of the brain circulation of that region. >> other than singapore, are there any other proactive countries in this field? >> australia is a very interesting case. >> oh really. >> australian government defines

education services as major exporting industry. actually they are trying to attract students who can't afford full-fee paying condition. and malaysia is very interesting. as you know, australia attract students not only at the home campus but also the france campus in other country and malaysia invited actively french campuses from australia and the united kingdom. reason why they invited that campus is possible to provide additional opportunity with high quality to the domestic student but then because it is a problem in english and western degree, so they realize that it is very attractive for the international student as well. >> talking about the malaysia, malaysia is an islamic country. i wonder if religion has

something to do with its policy. >> thank you. this is also very important point. malaysia actually are trying to be center of the islamic higher education network. >> well, it seems students now have more options for studying abroad but there must be some difficulties or problems to solve. >> well, sometimes international student tends to be very vulnerable existence. one of the australian university once opened up the campus in singapore but suddenly they closed their campuses because they were not able to attract enough number of students. another issue is the how to assure the quality. there is an organization or institution called diploma mills. diploma mills provide degrees without educational services. you know, so international

organizations, namely oecd, and unesco adopt joint guideline how to assure cross-border high education. and there they requested universities and governments and other stakeholder to get together to protect rights of the international student. >> well, professor, i'll get back to you later. japan is another country that sees higher education as a promising business. like singapore, birth rates are dropping. for some universities and colleges, attracting foreign students is becoming a matter of survival. one market is seen as crucial in this effort. >> what is the role of this -- >> reporter: in south korea, getting ahead means learning the hard way. this is one of the top high schools in the country, teaching classes in foreign languages.

academ the favored destinations are the united states and europe. prep schools for the ivy league colleges are big business. at this one, the curriculum is build around the university entrance examples. almost all classes are taught in english. they even offer horse riding lessons, supposedly good saddle skills are an entry to high society in foreign lands.

that kind of determination to get an elite education is attracting the interest of japanese universities. in june, one university opened an office in seoul. it has some novel marketing strategies. knowing that japanese comics are popular in south korea, the university asked a famous cartoonist to explain the university's history. about 300 senior high school students and teachers attended a briefing organized by the university. they were taught about courses taught in english and scholarship systems. faced with declining birth rates, japanese universities are afraid they may not have enough

students. they believe recruiting from south korea is a matter of survival. this senior high school is famous for its science program. it's one reason hokkaido university has opened an office in seoul. the university asked its professor emeritus suzuki to give a lecture at the school. he won nobel prize for chemistry in 2010. in japan, hokkaido university's well known for its science courses. now it is working hard to promote that reputation among the elite students of south korea.

>> professor, it seems japan lacks behind other asian nations in terms of attracting foreign students. why is that? >> well, actually it's a long history of accepting international students from the 19th century. and from 1980s especially, japanese universities and society accumulated lots of experience how to accommodate them, to provide good residential houses. and the trends for japan now is, with the changing global environment, japan has kind of

not distinguished economy in asia now, but one of the leading economies. and at the same time, english is now widely used in asian universities, and japan probably have to have some more efforts on that. and actually japan has more attract students based on their own language and our own culture. so what we are facing to transform that system, the problem taught in english from humanities to natural sciences. >> but i hear such harsh international competition will rumt result in "winner" countries and "loser" countries. us what your take on that? >> we should corroborate on the competition. china and south korea is having

a campus selection of good practices through the student exchange by the combination of those three countries' universities. by doing so we are understanding mutually what the difference is an what the similarity of our system. and we also trying to have discussion on how to develop credit transfer system. such a movement is now not only implemented in this area but also in other areas such as the europe or africa or north america. >> and what are the biggest challenges facing asian universities? >> well, we are now providing some kind of internationally viable problem but personally i hope that if you're not going

through the standardization of the higher education as a kind of global one standard, oerdz, what we have to do is to develop the distinctiveness of the university. for example, if you want to study in japan, it may be interesting because it is a japanese university, very different from your own university experiences. so what we have to do is to make student exchange by combining our different types of learning experience in the world. >> professor, thank you very much for your insights. >> thank you. china continues to increase its influence on the world economy. an event demonstrating the country's growing clout has been held in the commercial hub of

shanghai. major japanese cosmetic company sh i-sheida hosted a contest for up and coming models and beauticians. the event marked the 30th anniversary of the company's entry into the chinese market. 16 models and 18 beauticians took part in the contest. they were chosen from more than 3,000 applicants from across chi china. the models smiled and struck poses in casual clothing and party dresses while parading in front of the judges. the winner will appear in advertisements in china. the beauticians were given 30 minutes to demonstrate their makeup and hair styling skills.

the audience was captivated by the action on stage. the winning beautician will have the opportunity to undergo training in japan and then take part in the advertising campaigns in china. the contest was designed to provide a venue for chinese youth to realize their dreams. and -- the winner was announced. the chinese cosmetics market has been expanding rapidly. since 2005 it has grown by more than 10% per year. the entry of u.s. and european brands has heated up the

competition. klein has grown to become the world's second largest economy. although there are concerns about issues such as run-away inflation, other countries are paying close attention to the market. now to flash news. this week we start with a series of deadly attacks in afghanistan. gunfire and explosions erupted in the afghan capital on tuesday. insurgents fired rockets at the u.s. embassy. the nearby headquarters of the international security force was also hit. the militants exchanged fire with government troops for more than 20 hours. all six gunmen were killed. in the west of the city, meanwhile, suicide bombers targeted police fieldings. all told, the attacks claimed the lives of nine people with 23 wounded. a taliban spokesperson told nhk

his group was responsible. the violence erupted just after the tenth anniversary of the september 11th terrorist attacks on the united states. the raid in the heart of kabul drew condemnation from the u.s. and afghan governments. president hamid karzai said it would not stop the transfer of security to afghan forces. thailand's newly elected prime minister yingluck shinawatra visited cambodia on thursday to hold talks with her counterpart hu sen. she is the first thai prime minister to visit cambodia in two years. the two countries remain at odds over a border dispute of this temple, a world heritage site. both thailand and cambodia claim sovereignty over the temple and continue to deploy military forces in the area. despite the withdrawal order by the international court of justice in the haig in july.

the two leaders did not discuss the removal of troops, but agreed to continue dialogue in an attempt to resolve the issue. >> i believe that from the good and better enrollment of the agency, we think we can talk in term of a peaceful way. more than 20 crocodiles escaped from a farm in thailand after heavy rain destroyed their enclosure. the farm is located in the beach resort. it says 22 reptiles have been captured but some may still be on the loose. about 100 workers from the tourist attraction have joined the search. with some of the crocs weighing 400 kilograms, many people are staying indoors. heavy rain in thailand over the past few months has caused mudslides and flooding killing more than 80 people. that's all we have time for

this week. thank you for watching. thank you for watching. see you next week. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com