welcome to "newsline." i'm michio kijima in tokyo. north korean leaders say they are trying to be transparent about their plans of sending a satellite into space. they are vowing to invite foreign journalists and experts to watch next month's launch. but some diplomats aren't convinced maintaining this is all a cover for a missile test. nhk world's hiroshi takana in beijing starts off our coverage. >> reporter: foreign journalists

and experts can expect a view like this. the state-run korean central news agency reports they'll watch the launch from the command center in pyongyang. they quote the space agency official as saying their guests will see with their own eyes the rocket and satellite on the launch pad. north korean officials do not usually grant foreigners such access. they say they are trying to be more transparent. they insist the launch is for peaceful, scientific purposes. the officials at the space agency say the satellite is equipped with cameras that will take pictures of weather patterns and the natural resources. the satellite is expected to orbit 500 kilometers above earth for the next two years.

political analysts say the north koreans are trying to divert attention away from what could, in fact, be a test of a long-range ballistic missile. foreign diplomats say leaders in pyongyang are just putting on a show. china is north korea's closest ally. even officials here have expressed their concern. hiroshi takano, nhk world, beijing. an associate professor at the national graduate institute for policy studies has some additional insights on why foreign experts were invited to the launch. >> north korea has indicted dr. siegfried hecker who is an american nuclear scientist several times to its nuclear

site in nyongbyong, in northeast/west north korea and used his observations to strengthen its position in negotiations with the u.s., so north koreans are doing more or less the same thing. >> meanwhile, security analysts say they confirm that preparations are underway at the launch pad. the u.s. satellite imagery firm digital globe took this photo on wednesday at the facility. on the left is the latest photo. on the right is one taken on tuesday of last week. the new photo shows two vehicles that were not there before. it also shows a crane arm that will be used to lift parts of the rocket. the arm has been swung wide. the analysts say this activity appears consistent with the preparations for a launch. the u.s. and south korean militaries have carried out a joint landing drill in south korea amid rising tensions over the north's planned rocket launch. about 9,000 troops including the u.s. marine corps stations in

okinawa and south korean marines took part in the operation in the southeastern city of pohang. the large scale drill involved landing personnel from offshore using amphibious armed vehicles. the landing operation was part of the u.s./south korea joint field exercise called foal eagle that started on march 1st, aimed at enhancing the mobility of their air, ground and naval forces. iranian leaders are doing some diplomatic maneuvering as the grip of u.s. led sanctions gets tighter. they're searching for support for their country's controversial nuclear program. and they have found it in the prime minister of turkey. vice president mohammad reza rahimi says they understand iran's interest in atomic energy is peaceful.

nhk world reports from tehran. >> reporter: the prime minister maintains good relations with leaders in tehran. and those in the west. so he came here to try to find a diplomatic solution to the many disputes over iran's nuclear program. he met with the vice president to talk about how to ease tensions. he says no one has a right to impose anything on anyone with regards to nuclear energy if it is for peaceful purposes. rahimi said he hoped turkey would host meeting next month between leaders and those from six other nations. the last such talks ended in january of last year with little progress. turkey and iran have become

closer over the past few years. they may be able to ease some international pressure. nhk world, tehran. >> one of japan's most respected figures in the international aid has announced her retirement the president of japan international cooperation agency or jica says she'll leave her post at the end of this month. owe graduate appealed to the government to do more to help developing countries. before assuming the presidency of the aid agency in 2003, ogata had served for a decade as a u.n. high commissioner for refugees. since taking her post at jica, owe graduagata said she -- visited as many developing nations as she could. she was helpful in providing broad support for rebuilding

afghanistan and said japan should actively utilize official developing assistance to help developing nations, though the government has been moving to reduce its aid budget due to the economic downturn. >> translator: it's been a tough time for japan. i hope our agency can be more helpful both at home and abroad. >> she also said in the wake of the march disaster many developing nations extended aid to japan and more and more japanese people realized that developing and developed nations can help each other. one of the scariest things about radioactivity is that you can't see it. the japanese researchers have now created a digital camera that can record radiation in the environment. tokyo electric power company, the operator of the fukushima daiichi power plant commissioned a super wide angle camera. the camera was developed by the

japan aerospace exploration agency or jaxa. it uses gamma ray technology originally designed for space probes. a gram ray detector inside a camera shows levels of radiation on buildings and landscape in six cloorz cording icolors acc intensity. it can shoot an angle of nearly 180 degrees, three times wider than existing models. same images taken in february show a wide area of radioactive cesium contamination on the ground. in the wall of a supermarket in iitate village within the evacuation zone t professor tadayuki takahashi says his team is working to make the camera lighter. japanese researchers say eggs may help ease depression. a group of researchers at kyushu university's graduate school of agriculture released the results of their study at a conference this week. the group focused on rats

showing lower than usual levels of physical activity, a sign of depression. the researchers then tracked how long the rats swam after consuming liquidated chicken eggs for a month and found that rats fed with eggs swam 1.3 times longer than rats that were not on the special diet. the study also found that the egg eating rats had increased levels of tryptophan, a type of amino acid in the prefrontal cortex. tryptophan is known to help alleviate depression. their finding suggests that an ingredient in eggs may boost levels of amino acid. the professor who led the team says the study points to the importance of the diet and he has while drugs are commonly used to treat depression, better nutrition may also be effective. japanese automakers are gearing up to ship their production bases to north america. and they aim to tap growing

demand in the region. honda has begun work on a new plant in mexico. honda held a groundbreaking ceremony in celeya on wednesday. the mexican president and the honda president were among those present. >> translator: we aim to expand both local and global procurement of parts. we plan to create an efficient production system that can offer high quality cars at affordable prices. >> honda is investing $800 million in the factory, which is expected to start manufacturing compact cars in 2014. honda says the plant will have an annual production capacity of 200,000 units. it will create 3,200 jobs. the carmaker is expanding the plant so that it will become its second largest in north america. the biggest is in the u.s. state

of ohio. meanwhile, toyota motor will expand its production capacity at a plant in canada. toyota said on wednesday it will increase annual output of sports utility vehicles to 200,000 units next year at its plant in woodstock, ontario. this is up from the current 150,000. toyota says the expansion will create 400 new jobs. turning now to domestic auto production, we saw quite a jump in february. the eight major carmakers say their total domestic output last month rose more than 19% from a year ago. the figure comes to over 900,000 units. this is the fifth straight month of increase compared to levels shown in the previous year. automakers are counting on the subsidies to boost sales of ecofriendly cars. applications will be accepted from next monday. output at honda shot up by almost 65%.

daihatsu by just under 31% and toyota by a little more than 22%. japanese cosmetics makers is to begin consultations in april. the president announced a launch of the new service on thursday. it had been available only in person, usually at outlets. the beauticians will advise customers about how to choose and use cosmetics suited to their skin. streaming videos will allow demonstrations by specialists and the chat features will allow customers to ask questions as well. they hope to track new clients by offering easy access to counseling from their homes. >> translator: we'll offer the best suited cosmetics based on individual needs. and make women more beautiful. that's how we'll respond to customers.

a government backed fund is offering support for the electronic book industry in japan. while smartphones and tablet computers are widely popular, the stock of ebooks has been limited compared with the u.s. and europe. the innovation network corporation of japan says it will invest up to $180 million in a new company to be set up next month by some leading publishers. the aim is to increase the amount of ebooks to 1 million over the next five years. the new company will handle digitalization of the books, data storage and distribution and management of ebook royalties. tokyo electric power company asked the government for additional public fund injections. that is to boost its capital and help compensate the victims of the accident at its fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. >> translator: tepco is going

through extremely severe business conditions. and it is getting worse every day. >> tepco applied for about $12 billion to a government backed fund on thursday to boost its capital. it also asked for around $10 billion to bolster its reserves for compensation. the capital infusion is part of a business revitalization plan tepco is putting forward. but it is still pending whether the request will be approved as the government is asking for a controlling stake in the utility in exchange for the capital injection. but the firm's management wants to maintain its independence as a private entity. and here are the latest market figures.

time to check on some of the stories we gathered from broadcasters from asia. we're going to begin tonight with this item sent by rtn, malaysia. malaysia and myanmar agreed to boost cooperation in the political, strategic and economic fields. the agreement was reached in a meeting between the prime minister and myanmar's president on wednesday. both leaders are said they would explore ways to expand malaysian involvement in myanmar's economy, particularly in the agriculture, energy, construction, tourism, and manufacturing sectors. malaysia will also train myanmar's diplomats before the country assumes the chairmanship of the asean in 2014. trade between the two nations grew by about 33% to about $800

million last year, heavily in y'a kw kuala lumpur's favor. the new ruling on wednesday deals a blow to foreign domestic helpers in the former colony. the judgment comes after authorities appealed against a residency visa granted to a filipino worker who had been employed in hong kong since 1986. in handing down their verdict, three judges said such employees are in hong kong to fulfill a special purpose. the number of foreign helpers in hong kong increased from a few hundred in the 1980s to about 300,000. ethnic groups in thailand stage a rally in bangkok on thursday, urging authorities to protest their ethnic identities, languages and cultures. there are about 400,000 stateless people in this country. a representative of the group demanded they be certified as

thai nationals and their standard of living improved. he also criticized the country's standardized education system which disregards linguistic and cultural diversity. the communities are seeking representation on the government committees, education policy and school curriculum. hong kong is famous for its gourmet restaurants. it is a major center for cantonese food. it has a strong focus on seafood, the top restaurants in hong kong like to use shark fins, dried abalone and other seafood products from japan. up until last year, one of hong kong's most important sources of japanese abalone was tohoku, but last year's earthquake knocked out the seafood industry there. now, producers are aworking to

resume shipments to these markets. >> reporter: this abalone is prized not just for its taste, but also for its appearance. >> translator: abalone produced in japan has a rich flavor. abalone from other countries never tastes as good. >> reporter: but experts of abalone have been badly hit by last year's disaster. supplies dropped by a quarter and prices have risen as much as 50%. this led to more people buying

cheap eer abalone from the midd east and china. >> translator: japanese abalone is expensive so customers have started buying other abalone. >> reporter: they have been exporting dried abalone to china for more than 60 years. this man has been in the abalone business for 40 years. >> translator: this one has the perfect shape, like a treasure ship. >> reporter: the dried abalone is the finest in shape, color and size. before the disaster they commanded a wholesale price of $1,200 per kilogram. the tsunami last year destroyed

the processing plant. all of the abalone stocks were swept away. >> translator: everything was ruined in that instant. there was nothing left. all our product was gone. >> reporter: this man is the head of the abalone plant. then after the tsunami he and five other employees started the long hard work of clearing away all the mud. >> translator: everyone worked together to dig out the plant. >> reporter: they were set on rebuilding the facility before november, the start of the abalone season. the new plant was finished in november, just in time.

the abalone tanks are about to be used again. many fishermen lost their boats, so they had to hitch a ride on other boats to get their abalone. the fish are dried naturally for three months. in february the first batch of dried abalone was finished. gourmets in hong kong have been patient for the dried abalone to arrive. >> translator: i hope japan recovers quickly from the disaster and can export lots of abalone. everyone here is waiting for it. >> translator: we want to rebuild our abalone business. if we work as hard as we can, we

will definitely make that happen. >> reporter: he is now looking forward to sending his prized abalone to hong kong again. kazutoshi ishii, nhk world. let's get a check of the weather from mai shoji. mai, you might want to first tell us about the tropical storm in the south china sea. >> sure, michio. i think you will remember the tropical depression that has been hovering over the south china sea for whiquite a while . this has intensified and is now a tropical storm moving in a westerly direction, very, very slowly. actually it was very stationary over the south china sea for quite some time and then now it is inch by inch moving towards southeastern coast of vietnam. it is already directing -- directly affecting these coastal areas with high waves, gale

warning over these south china sea water will be affecting these areas with more stronger winds as it approaches the coastal areas. now the wind gusts are already reaching up to 90 kilometers per hour and the very heavy maker will be moving towards land and could be making landfall in the next few days. we'll definitely keep you updated, not only this pikar is directly impacting the southeastern coast of vietnam, it is actually surging a lot of moisture from this direction and northeastern monsoonal flow is being very much enhanced over the philippines, especially in and around southeastern luson, we have an observation of 159 millimeters of rainfall accumulation in the past 24 hours, so very heavy rain, especially in the coastal areas will be continuing and eastern seaboards will see high waves with as much as 4 meters high. in eastern continental asia and japan, especially, high pressure cresting overhead, so seems like we'll be having very good

weather, especially in tokyo for thursday and friday. temperatures will be on the rise too until this wet rain band will be moving in on saturday, covering much of japan. northeastern china will see those snow making appearance there as much as ten centimeters accumulate on the mountainous areas. and then west of shanghai is where the heaviest rainfall will be seen, about 50 millimeters in the next 24 hours. temperaturewise, tokyo reaching up to 19 degrees. what a warm day we'll have on friday. and ulan batur at 3, so warm up there. in the americas, still the pacific northwest will be battered with another storm, coastal heavy rain will be targeting much of the areas that the land is very much saturated. and the ground moisturized very, very high. any kind of rain will lead to some kind of flooding situation, melting snow, april larvalanche this very high risk, these ice bars very close to each other.

hurricane force winds up to about 160 kilometers per hour over the sierras are going to be seen there. so messy condition there up in the pacific northwest. another system will be traveling over the great lakes region, dropping some freezing rain and severe thunderstorms still could be erupting around the kansas area. heading over to europe now, we have very large low pressure system dumping some mixed precipitation over towards the east. this system is actually pulling a lot of cold air, so in and around germany and poland, we saw these temperatures in double digits for quite some time now. these are going to be dropping into single digits, hanging on to the doubles in berlin, but warsaw to 9 and moscow on 3 on the other side of the jet stream, so looking very nice and warm, but chances of thunderstorms to erupt in lisbon at 18 degrees. here is your extended forecast.

once again, our top stories at this hour. north korean leaders say they'll invite foreign experts and journalists next month to watch them launch a rocket.

they insist they're sending a satellite into space for peaceful purposes. political analysts say the launch is a cover for a test of a long range missile technology. the u.s. and south korea militaries carried out a joint landing operation drill in south korea amid rising tensions over the north's planned rocket launch. about 9,000 troops including u.s. marine corps stationed in okinawa and south korean marines took part in the operation in the southeastern sea of pohang. they landed personnel from warships offshore using amphibious armed vehicles. it was part of the exercises called foal eagle that start on march 1st aimed at enhancing the mobility of air, ground and

naval forces. that's our broadcast for this hour on "newsline." we'll be back with more news in half an hour. i'm michio kijima in tokyo. thank you for watching. bye-bye.

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