korea to report on the outcome. u.s. special representative for north korea policy glyn davies and kim kye gwan met friday. davies said there had not been a breakthrough toward restarting the six party talks on north korea's nuclear development. >> i think we made a little bit of progress. i think what we have to do is, you know, evaluate it, look at what it was the north koreans had to say to us. >> the talks were the first between washington and pyongyang since kim jong-un assumed power. the u.s., south korean and japanese governments plan to analyze the dialogue. they'll then decide what direction to tail in their dealings with north korea. a japanese government panel is investigating the accident at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. it's hearing from foreign nuclear experts before compiling

its final report. the foreign experts include the head of the french safety authority and a former chairman of the u.s. nuclear regulatory commission. most said nuclear plant operators are primarily responsible for dealing with accidents. they said the roles of tokyo electric and the government had not been clearly defined after the accident in fukushima. the foreign experts also said the government should have admitted that it didn't have certain facts about the situation at the plant. the government panel is due to issue its final report on the nuclear accident by late july. engineers at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant are considering new ways to make progress with decommissioning the plant. they're thinking of inspecting and repairing three reactor containment vessels using an underwater robot. the engineers need to repair the reactor containment vessels before they can take out the nuclear fuel. officials from tokyo electric and the robot manufacturer say the robot would work in underground areas of the reactor

buildings. those areas are flooded with radioactive water. the engineering are also thinking of inspecting the inside of the containment vessels using a camera on a ten meter long rod. the official road map for decommissioning the reactors say tokyo should start removing the fuel within ten years. the family of a man who died while working on the cleanup at the plant are in line for compensation. japanese authorities have acknowledged that the man died of overwork. a 60-year-old plumber died after working on pipes at a nuclear processing facility. japanese labor officials found that he had to work through the night in a protective suit and mask. >> translator: we won.

isn't that good news? >> the man worked for a construction company subcontracted to toshiba. officials at toshiba have declined to comment. japan has 54 nuclear power reactors. only two of them are running, and they're due to be stopped for inspections. the economy minister says electricity prices may rise nationwide unless more reactors are started. he said continued dependence on thermal power plants could push up electricity bills because of rising fuel costs. >> translator: considering the supply and demand, i believe we need to restart nuclear plants once we have confirmed their >> tokyo electric has already said that it plans to raise electricity prices for corporate users. an earthquake that jolted a nation. a tsunami that swallowed a coastline. a nuclear plant that spiralled out of control.

japan marks the first anniversary of the march 11 disaster. what lessons have been learned? find out on "newsline." starting monday, march 5th, then sunday, join us at 2:00 p.m. japan time for lessons from march 11th, one year on. there's been violence between palestinians and israeli troops near holy sites in jerusalem. the confrontation happened near the jewish wall and muslim dome of the rock. hundreds of palestinians threw rocks at israeli troops. they fired tear gas to disburse them. it ended when more israeli troops arrived. time to check on stories we have gathered from around asia, we begin with this item from rtm

malaysia. they will extra diet an iranian man suspected in the bomb attacks. the 30-year-old was detained at an airport february 15th just before leaving for iran. he had arrived from thailand the night before. the thai government sent an extradition request for malaysia on wednesday. home minister says malaysia won't allow criminals to use the country as a safe haven or a transit site. thailand and china have agreed to study high-speed railway development in thailand. the deal was reached in talks in bangkok on friday. thailand plans to build its first high-speed rail link from bangkok to cho mein province. china has proposed projects and offered technical know-how.

they propose a railway to bangkok. thailand has not committed to buy chinese products for the high speed rail project. india's foreign minister krishna inaugurated the country's 50th passport center in new delhi on thursday. the new facility is the third in the capital and part of the government's project to open 27 more centers to expedite the process of issuing passports. the new center is designed to process about 1,000 applications every day. some of the documents can be filed online. officials at japan's environment ministry are warning of air pollution by particles that cause respiratory and circulatory diseases. pm 2.5 particles are found in car exhaust fumes and factory smoke. japanese environment ministry officials checked for particles

in the air across the country. they say the level was too high, near 90% of major roads and nearly 70% in residential at areas. the officials plan to test the air in more places to find out where the is a particles are coming from and what they're made of. here is now your extended weather forecast.

that does it for now. i'm shery ahn. stay tuned for more on nhk stay tuned for more on nhk world. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

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