public displays of north korea shows the new leader state media of north korea showing kim jong un paying respect to his late father. kim jong un's body is lying in the state in the north korean capital. his body is lying inside a glass coffin surrounded by flowers. kim jong un bowed towards the coffin then walked alongside it. >> a carefully choreographed

event design eed to help furthe boost his profile. korean central television is broadcasting footage of a ceremony at kumsusan palace in pyongyang. kim jong il's body is lying in a glass coffin. kim jong un bowed toward the coffin and walked alongside it. at one point during the system, he was accompanied by the country's number two official, kim yong nam. the korean people's army chief of staff was also there. north korean authorities apparently had kim jong un make an early public appearance to assure the people that the transition of power will be stable, and to get them to rally around him as their new leader. now joining me in the studio is nhk's hiruki. >> why are these public displays and declarations by state media so important for kim jong un?

well it's very important to have the north korean people pledge their allegiance to him. we cannot say this transition is yet complete. i will explain using kim jong-il's family tree. the eldest son should succeed his father. korean tradition dictates the eldest son, kim jong nam should succeed his father. his oldest son was not seen as a favorite. he has lived overseas for many years and is said to be fluent in several languages such as english and french. and he is also supposed to be well-versed in information technology. but, in 2001, he was deported from japan after trying to enter the country on a forged passport. he continues to live mostly in china where he indulged in extravagance and is believed to have fallen out of favor with

his father. the second-oldest son, kim jong chul spent his childhood in europe, he was pushed aside because he was considered too sensitive and not a leader. >> does that mean that he was chosen as successor because in was no one better? >> you could say that. kim jong un is believed to be in his late 20s, and he has limited experience. his father kim jong-il had 20 years to prepare to take over from his grandfather. kim il sung. kim jong un only had a year. kim jong il's close aide and brother-in-law has been supporting kim jong un. choe is set to wield huge influence over the ruling workers party and strong military connections. we cannot rule out the possibility he will turn against kim jong un and become his rival. after kim jong il's death. it's possible members of the

military could push forward the eldest son kim jong-nam to take power. >> given everything that's going on there, what can we expect from north korea in the future? >> well, the united states, south korea and japan and other countries are preparing for various scenarios. they are worried that kim jong un might resort to military provocation to tighten his grip on north korea every time an internal power struggle breaks out. there's no guarantee kong un has the experience to control his opponents. >> hiroki, thank you for coming in. >> thank you. and south korea's president spent the day trying to figure out whether his country should offer official condolences to its neighbor over the death of kim jong il. our reporter anna jung joins us with more. >> reporter: lee myung-bak held a meeting with his cabinet to talk about this issue. following discussions the government announced it will not

send an official condolence to north korea. but it will allow the families of the late south korean president, kim dae-jung and chung mong-hun to pay condolence visit to the north. that's because pyongyang sent delegations to seoul when kim dae-jung died. before president lee's decision, about 100 people gathered in the streets of seoul to speak out about any condolence visit. conservatives say expressions of sympathy are unwarranted as long as the north refuses to apologize for last year's attack on yeonpyeong island. >> there are many victims out there. yeongpeong island was attacked about a year ago. i don't think the government should send a delegation to north korea for the death of the person responsible for such incidents.

>> reporter: however, reformers in south korea say offer ing condolences could provide an opportunity. >> translator: although relations with north korea are not good at present, we should send a condolence to the north to maintain friendly relations for the future. >> translator: this is a sensitive matter. so i don't know what to say. >> reporter: when kim il-sung died in 1994 they refused to send official and private condolence delegations. the government seem to have changed its stance, to avoid unnecessary tension, especially with all the uncertainties surrounding the north korea's transition of power. next we go to pachari raksawong in bangkok, for the latest from the region.

>> hello, shery. the death of kim jong il has shocked many people in southeast asia. a region that almost uniquely has long maintained friendly relations with north korea. as a result, governments here have reacted quite differently to those in many other countries. in myanmar, people learned of kim's passing via the internet or satellite tv. many expressed regret on hearing the news. >> translator: i think his death is a real shame. because we were active and cried after kim jong il took power. >> translator: we developed friendly relations and i hope that won't change. >> indonesian foreign minister will offer his government's condolences. >> we wish to express the hope

that and the confidence, even, that the people of dprk will be able to overcome. >> in jakarta, flowers were delivered to the north korean embassy. the sorrowful reaction reflects friendly relations between asean nations and north korea, dating back to the years after world war ii. they were brought together under the nonaligned movement of developing countries that said they belonged to neither the eastern nor western blocs during the cold war. the relationships did have their ups and downs. myanmar once severed diplomatic ties with north korea after a bomb attack in rangoon, now yangon, targeting a former south korean president. myanmar blamed the incident on north korean agents. even though, all ten asean member states currently maintain diplomatic relations with north korea. the group also frequently includes the north, at its extended meetings.

and passed asean statements have touched on the issue of denuclearizing the korean peninsula. asean wants to avoid the death of kim jong il from destabilizing regional security. the group is moving to deepen economic ties with japan, china and south korea, so peace in east asia is vitally important. asean is likely to continue working with japan, china, the u.s. and other countries to resolve problems involving north korea, while also making use of its friendly ties. the death toll continues to rise from a typhoon that has wreaked havoc in the philippines. more than 1,000 people are confirmed dead or missing after the storm hit the southern island of mindinau on friday. more than 340,000 people have been affected. nhk world's charmaine degrashs

has more. >> flash floods and mudslides triggered by the typhoon took away dozens of lives and triggered hundreds of storms. the storms caused floods and landslides on the mountainous island. the northern cities were among the worst affected areas. >> translator: water was circling around, then rocks were coming down from the mountains and hitting houses. that's why the houses were damaged. >> reporter: roads and bridges on the country's second biggest island have been damaged. that makes relief and reconstruction efforts even harder. for the military and other rescue workers. philippine president begnino

aquino on tuesday visited the disaster zone and promised to accelerate the distribution of relief supplies and restore basic services. about 45,000 people remain in evacuation centers. an official from unicef estimates that 35% of evacuees are children. they're in desperate need of assistance. the red cross is in heightened alert against possible outbreaks of infectious diseases, because of poor hygiene, at some evacuation centers. charmaine deogracias, nhk world, philippines. u.s. president barack obama on monday pledged to support the recovery effort. but help from the international community has only just start to arrive. and that will wrap up our bulletin, i'm pachari raksawong in bangkok. >> pachari, thanks. the japanese government has

completed and environmental assessment report about the planned relocation of a u.s. military base in okinawa. the report says the move would have only a limited environmental impact. japan and the united states have agreed to relocate the u.s. marine air station in futenma to a less populated area in nago city, also in okinawa. progress has been slow because of strong protests by local residents and officials. they want the base moved out of the prefecture entirely. the environmental assessment report was a condition for pushing the process along. it says the marines plan to use transport aircraft and not violate noise ordinances. the reported adds that two new v-shaped runways will also help reduce noise. the government plans to submit the report to the okinawan prefectural government as early as next tuesday. observers say the relocation issue is likely to remain at a standstill even after the report is submitted.

japan officially chosen the f-35 stealth jet to be the next mainstay fighter of its air self-defense force. the security council made the decision as a meeting attended by prime minister yoshihiko noda on tuesday. the f-35 is under development by nine countries including the united states. the defense ministry chose the fighter for its advanced stealth functions. it was the only fifth generation fighter among the three candidates. china and russia are expected to acquire comparable planes in the future. the f-35 is also equipped with the ability to share data with multiple locations, including ground radar facilities and warships, such as the aegis destroyer. the government will budget funds in fiscal 2012 to take delivery of four planes by fiscal 2016. it plans to acquire a total of 42 of the aircraft over the next decade or so.

nhk world's takashi has more on what led the japanese government to choose the f-35 as its next mainstay fighter jet and some of the issues behind the choice. >> reporter: the f-35 received the highest marks for performance, including its stealth functions. the defense ministry gave marks for each candidate on four criteria -- performance, cost, the involvement of japanese companies in manufacturing the aircraft, and the supply of replacement parts. it says the f-35 earned the highest marks for all criteria except the involvement of japanese companies. the regional security situation is also behind the decision. china continues its military build-up and russia seeks to regain its status as a regional power. both are making much efforts to boost their air defenses. the two countries are also developing their own stealth fighters.

japan also needs to keep a close watch on north korea's nuclear and missile programs following the death of its leader, kim jong-il. there is no doubt that japanese government sees the f-35 as a way to counter china and russia while keeping north korea in check. another major factor behind japan's choice is f-35's high networking capabilities. the f-35 pilots can access information gathered by ground based radars and aegis destroyers at sea. japan's self-defense forces wanted the government to select the f-35 partly to facilitate joint operations with u.s. forces. metal fatigue tests carried out over the past year revealed cracks and other defects in the aircraft's fuselage. the aircraft is still under development, so the question is, what impact this issue will have on the overall budget. another potential hurdle could be delays in delivery of the

first four jets. expected by march 2017. the defense ministry intends to acquire a total of 42 planes over the next decade with a price tag estimated at $127 million per plane. the whole budget including maintenance costs is expected to top $20 billion. given the massive amount of taxpayers' money involved, the government needs to clearly explain how it plans to address these issues. units of japan's ground self-defense force will head for south sudan next month to take part in u.n. peacekeeping operations there. the defense minister has formally ordered the dispatch. defense minister yasuo ichikawa gave the order in a meeting between senior officials of the ministry and the self-defense forces.

>> translator: the sd dpmpb's response to to the march disaster after the earthquake and tsunami attracted the world's attention. now we hope to contribute to the nation building in south sudan. >> self-defense forces personnel will help build the infrastructure for south sudan, which declared independence in july this year. the defense ministry will send the first unit on january 11th. about 330 troops from an engineering unit will work in the capital juba through the end of october 2012. a separate team will coordinate logistics in juba and neighboring uganda and kenya. the chairman of the u.s. nuclear regulatory commission has called for more global information-sharing to prevent another accident like the one that occurred at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. gregory yatsuko made the remarks at a news conference in tokyo, a

day after visiting the plant for the first time since the march accident. he said the international community is paying attention to how japan shares information on the accident. he said japan's government made the right decision in declaring last week that the fukushima daiichi's reactors have been brought to a state of cold shutdown. he said temperatures inside its reactors are low enough that there's not enough energy left to discharge radioactive material. japan is thinking of buying chinese government bonds for the first time. >> translator: i think it would benefit both countries if they bought each other's government bonds. >> the purchase of chinese

government debt, japan is apparently hoping to assist china in its toward make its currency, the yuan, an international currency. china has already been buying japanese government bonds. prime minister yoshihiko noda is expected to officially inform chinese leaders of japan's plan at a meeting scheduled for this coming sunday. japan and australia have resumed talks on a bilateral trade deal after a ten-month pause following the march disaster. representatives from the two countries met on tuesday in canberra, australia, to discuss the economic partnership agreement. tariffs are expected to be the focus of the two-day meeting. australia is demanding lower tariffs on items such as wheat, beef and dairy products. while japan is seeking to protect its farming sector. the two sides have been unable to narrow their differences since the bilateral talks were first started in 2007. farmers in australia are hoping this negotiation can make some headway.

>> but when trade barriers like tariffs of 250% are in place, it makes us nearly impossible to compete on an international market. >> the meeting is japan's first round of bilateral trade talks since it announced last month it started discussions on a multilateral trade deal. this is with countries involved in the trans-pacific partnership or tpp. focus is on whether japan can reach an agreement with australia, which is already involved in the tpp talks. as 2011 comes to an end, buddhist temples in japan are freshening up for the new year. year-end cleaning is under way at temples in kyoto. they're beating the dust out of the tatami mats. about 800 people, including buddhist priests participated in the cleaning at a temple.

the sound of the cleaning is a signal that the new year is approaching. the ceremony takes place every year to give thanks for the year about to end. and here's rachel ferguson with your weather update. hello. welcome back. time to check on more weather stories from around the world. we start in eastern asia. most of the continent will be very dry, we'll see more snow making its way in towards northern japan, and it's actually because of this low pressure system developing right now. rather than wednesday, really, thursday, you'll feel this storm pushing up towards the north, and quite a potent storm as well. lots of snow blowing about there, too. let's look at what's happening closely here in the philippines. of course, that devastating storm washi moving through

mindinau earlier on. that was friday night, and now severe problems, of course, have resulted from that storm. about 1,000 people dead. so as the cleanup continues, if there's any news we can give you weatherwise, it's that the showers you see are going to be relatively light. the heavy rain from the northeast monsoon will be focused up here towards the northeastern luzon there. temperatures, 31 in manila. also in bangkok. 11 in shanghai dropping into thursday to about 6 degrees. seoul's high of 4 on wednesday. also drops to about minus 3. basically what i'm telling you is a lot of very cold air is spilling in and bringing temperatures down by about 5 to 7 degrees. prepare for that. tokyo, 10 degrees on wednesday. and north america. the pacific northwest is going to be windy and we'll see snow as well with those two together, getting blowing and drifting snow potentially. that could be problematic if you're going to be driving. also a storm system here moving into the southeast.

mostly going to be rain once it gets to the southeastern corner, but above that, there will be a little bit of a line, if you want to call it that. here we see freezing rain and sleet that potentially hits the great lakes and back in towards canada and parts of nebraska as well. here are your temperatures on tuesday. 8 degrees in vancouver. 8 in seattle. 2 in winnipeg. 3 in chicago. not doing too badly in l.a., another warm day at 19 degrees. and 17 in atlanta. now, just 7 degrees in new york city, but actually as that rain hits the east it's going to be bringing with it warmer air to the back. so your temperature goes up to about 11 degrees. up by about three degrees between tuesday and wednesday. then into europe we go. still seeing snow across the west. it's not going to be anything compared to the kind of storms you've been seeing over the last several week. in fact, high pressure moves in across the iberian peninsula. western france, up into england as well.

maybe wales affected by that, too, which means it's going to be a bit drier and the temperatures will be on the rise up into maybe the low teens for your wednesday and thursday. as we have this precipitation here in central locations, this is actually going to be a lot colder and snow for the alpine region. many of you looking forward to starting the winter sports. this is a bit of a potent storm system moving through southern italy and in towards the southern balkans as well. that will be a bit stormy. but all of this heading up towards western russia. that is going to be snow for you rather than the rain or the storms. all right. here are your temperatures. just around the freezing mark for many years across the east and actually into central locations as well. 4 in vienna. 4 in berlin as well. 16, in the mid teens in athens, as well as in lisbon. 12 in paris and a bit warmer in london also on your wednesday at 10 degrees. here's your extended forecast.

and here's a recap of our headline stories. north korea's heir apparent, kim

jong un has appeared in the country's state-run media for the first time since his father's death. korean central television is broadcasting footage of the ceremony at kumsusan memorial palace in pyongyang. kim jong il's body is lying inside a glass coffin surrounded by flowers. kim jong un bowed toward the coffin and then walked alongside it. at one point during the ceremony, he was accompanied by the country's number two official, kim yong nam, ahead of the supreme people's assembly. chief of staff of the korean people's army was also there. north korean authorities apparently had kim jong un make an early public appearance, to assure the people that the transition of power will be stable and to get them to rally around him as their new leader. units of japan's ground self-defense force will head for south sudan next month to take part in u.n. peace-keeping operations there. the defense minister has formally ordered the dispatch.

defense minister, yasuo ichikawa, gave the order in a meeting between senior officials of the ministry and the self-defense forces. >> translator: the sd dpmpbf's response to the march disaster after the earthquake and tsunami attracted the world's attention. now we hope to contribute to the nation building in south sudan. >> self-defense forces personnel will help build infrastructure for south sudan, which declared independence in july this year. the defense ministry will send the first unit on january 11th about 330 troops from an engineering unit will work in the capital, juba,hrough the end of october 2012. a separate team will coordinate logistics in juba and in neighboring uganda and kenya. and that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm shery ahn, stay tuned for

more at the top of the next hour.