"newsline." myanmar's president has pledged to work with pro-democracy leader aung san suu kyi. thein sein's offer came in an exclusive interview with nhk on wednesday. let's go to our bureau in bangkok. cholaphansa narula has the details. >> president thein sein gave a wide-ranging interview to nhk. it was his first with foreign media since the by-elections on sunday. the elections were won by the national league for democracy.

its leader, aung san suu kyi, is now set to take a seat in parliament. the interview took place in phnom penh where thein sein attended a summit. he leads the new government that was inaugurated last year, and took off after decades of autocratic rule after the country's military leaders. aung san suu kyi one a land slide victory in sunday's by-elections. the vote was closely watched by the international community, as myanmar's progress towards democracy.

however, the number of seats won by the nld accounts for less than 10% of all the seats in parliament. after the elections, aung san suu kyi called on the ruling party to cooperate for more democraticization. the president responded to the call for the first time ever. >> the toughest challenge for myanmar is to boost its economy, one of the worst in southeast asia. and to do that it has to get economic sanctions lifted by western countries. the president expressed hope that the recent by-elections will help achieve that.

known for its rich natural resources and abundant labor, myanmar is often called the last frontier in southeast asia. many countries are paying attention to its economic potential. thein sein is expected to visit japan later this month. he expressed hope for japan's economic assistance.

thein sein's government will likely need to bargain with the nld. the party wants to win the next general election in three years' time. observers will be watching for signs of the cooperative relationship with the nld that thein sein has stressed. meanwhile, asean leaders are acting in unison to support myanmar in this moment of change. at a summit meeting that ended in cambodia on wednesday, the leaders welcomed the outcome of sunday's by-elections. they also called on western nations to lift economic sanctions. nhk world's pinh chanda reports. >> reporter: asean leaders seemed cheerful at the closing ceremony. prime minister hun sen of cambodia chaired the summit. he issued a statement saying the by-elections in myanmar were just and fair. he called it a big step forward in the country's democratization. hun sen called on european countries and the united states

to reward myanmar for its progress. myanmar is set to chair the bloc in 2014. asean summits regularly take place at the same time as the east asia summit, it's likely that the u.s. president may find himself invited to myanmar. that would be a meaningful opportunity for myanmar to show its return to the international community. for years, myanmar's lack of democraticization will further

the goal of an economic community by 2015. phin chanda, nhk world, phnom penh. that wraps up our bulletin for today. i'm cholaphansa narula in bangkok. japan's defense minister naoki tanaka and u.s. defense secretary leon panetta are vowing their countries will work closely together to respond to north korea's rocket launch. the reclusive nation says it will send a satellite into space between april 12th and 16th, but some governments believe it will be testing a long-range missile. tanaka and panetta spoke tuesday over the phone. they agreed the launch violates u.n. security council resolutions that demand north korea halt its missile development. tanaka updated panetta on how his ministry is preparing. he's ordered self-defense forces to intercept any part of the missile that could fall on japanese territory. panetta stressed the need to show that the japan/u.s. alliance is strong. they also agreed the self-defense forces and the u.s.

military will share information on upcoming launches. >> translator: we will watch how the diplomatic efforts work. however, i told secretary panetta, if north korea does go ahead with the launch, japan will take appropriate measures. the secretary said he understands our stance. >> a u.s. media report says the american military is taking its own measures to deal with north korea's launch. cnn says the u.s. navy has sent its most advanced radar system to the region. >> we, along with our partners in the region, are monitoring developments very closely. >> the cnn report says the navy moved the advanced radar system from a base in hawaii, but defense officials have not given any details on how u.s. forces will be deployed to prepare for the launch. for more on this subject, we spoke to chiaki akimoto,

director of the royo services, an expert in defense and security issues. >> the international official believes it's called a margin of taepodong 2. it is an estimated range of 7,000 kilometers. now we should focus on the location of the launch site. it is a new facility on north korea's western coast, so-called tongchang-ri. many countries launch rockets eastward to take advantage of the earth's rotational speed, so they also have launch site on their east coast, musudan-ri. what they plan to launch from the west means that the flight will be mostly over the sea. if they launch rocket on a southeasterly trajectory, it will fly over international waters and avoid the air spaces of foreign countries. this may be why they have chosen

this western launch site. the north has designed the rocket in such a way that the first stage booster will fall off the western coast of south korea and from the second stage 3,000 kilometers away from the launch site. the launch will demonstrate how far north korea has developed its missile technologies over the past three years, to assess their capability. north korea apparently believes that perfecting the long-range ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and hit the middle of the united states will put the nation on par with the united states. and that's why north korea is in a hurry to develop the taepodong 2. they also undertook a test in 2006 in which the rocket exploded and fell to the sea of japan soon after launching. three years ago, north korea

succeeded in launching a rocket that accurately flew a distance of 3,000 kilometers to a spot in the sea in the area of the midway islands. the launch proved that north korea has made a considerable progress in the development of the nuclear guidance system. if north korea deploys taepodong 2 in the near future, they will be in range of the north korean missile. that means the threat of the north korean missile is expanding from east asia around japan, to the whole asia-pacific region. there is also a possibility that the pyongyang missile technology could be provided to the middle eastern nation, where several countries have close relations with north korea. it means, in other words, missile technologies developed by north korea is becoming a global threat. north koreans put their lives on the line when they try

to flee their country, and its oppressive regime. some head to china, hoping to go will will from there to south korea. the chinese government usually doesn't help out because of its will ties with the north. but in a rare move, it's giving five asylum-seekers a break after they spent nearly three years in diplomatic limbo. nhk world's fumitaka sato reports. >> reporter: the south korean government says the group entered the third country earlier this week. the officers say one of the asylum-seekers is the daughter of a south korean soldier taken prisoner during the korean war. the others include her two children. the defector sought asylum at the south korean embassy in beijing in may 2009. but the chinese government, honoring its friendly ties with the north, had refused to let them leave.

the decision to release them was likely spurred by mounting protests in south korea against china's policy of sending north korean defectors back. the south korean government raised the issue with china at the recent summit meeting, as well as through diplomatic channels. but sources say there has been no change in china's position on defectors. its policy is still to send them back as illegal intruders. fumitaka sato, nhk world, seoul. japan is getting new offers of help from its neighbor, the head of russia's state atomic energy corporation. he says his country is ready to assist with the cleanup at the damaged fukushima daiichi plant. rosatom general sergey kirienko came to japan to sign a pact for nuclear technology and materials trade. he pointed out the fukushima accident is a serious problem for both the japanese and global

nuclear power industries. he also said his country has expertise in the area because the former soviet union dealt with the 1986 chernobyl disaster. workers know what it takes for decontamination and scrapping nuclear plants. he added that russia is ready to take part in the recovery effort in fukushima if japan requests its help. people deal with loss in different ways. we saw that in japan after last year's earthquake and tsunami. recently 100 survivors of the disaster took to the stage in tokyo to express how their lives have changed, using words and song. nhk world's misato ishikawa has the story. ♪ >> reporter: the 90-minute

recital took place in this district in tokyo. on the stage, performers spoke about their suffering in the march 11th disaster. >> translator: everything in the gymnasium was swirling around. i was swirling around, too. >> translator: we lost our families, our friends and our homes. we were bruised all over, so physically and mentally. >> reporter: most of the participants came from higashi, from the miyagi prefecture, an area hard hit by the tsunami. they began preparing for the recital in november of last year. ♪ 63-year-old hidetoshi onodera lost his father and his mother.

the group asked him to take part in the recital to make up for a shortage of male participants. this is where his house used to be. he lived here with his wife and parents. onodera happened to be away from home when disaster struck. his father kenko was found dead under the rubble of the house. the body of his mother sadako was recovered a month later. he was reunited with his mother at the morgue. >> translator: i caught sight of one of my father's yellow gloves in the rubble. i looked under the debris and saw his face. >> reporter: onodera said he's begged repeatedly for his father's forgiveness in front of his body.

>> translator: i have been talking about the disaster, but i have never told anyone that i begged my father and mother for forgiveness. >> reporter: onodera kept wondering whether he should speak about his remorse in front of a large audience. he felt that speaking about his repentance was not the way to salvation. onodera showed his script to his wife, kaiko, and asked what she thought. >> translator: i thought if he had the chance to express what was bottled up inside him, it would ease his remorse. >> reporter: on the 18th of last month, 2,000 people came to watch the recital.

♪ >> translator: i used ten bottles of water to try to wash the mud off my father's body, but in vain. i was mad at myself because i only had muddy water to purify his body. my house and my beloved parents were lost. it was too much. dad, mom, i'm so sorry. immediately after the show i thought i saw my father's face. he was smiling saying thank you. i would like to treasure this experience and live with it for the rest of my life.

>> reporter: for an encore, all 100 performers hugged and gathered. that is a song they used to cheer themselves as they move forward to face tomorrow. ♪ ♪ >> in the recital, participants also expressed their gratitude for the support that came from all over the world. japanese automaker toyota

motor has started shipping small size cars made in india to south africa, which is a growing market. the ceremony to mark the occasion was held at a port near a southern port on wednesday. toyota started producing and selling the cars which were developed for the indian market from late 2010. the firm says the cars for south suspension to ensure more stable, high-speed drive, as highway travel is more popular in the african nation. toyota aims to export 20,000 units to south africa each year. more japanese and south korean automakers are positioning the country as their new production platform and are increasing exports of cars made there. >> translator: we succeeded in remodeling india targeted cars for south africa. i look forward to seeing more moves of this kind. average gasoline prices at

the pump in japan rose for the seventh straight week. global crude prices remain high as tension over iran grows. the agency says that as of monday, the retail price of regular gasoline averaged 158.3 yen. that's about $1.90. it's up 1 cents from last week. by region, prices for tokyo and six other prefectures turned lower compared to the previous week. the institute said the increase in the national average was smaller because there hasn't been any surge in crude oil prices recently. nissan unveiled a yellow cab for new york. replacement will start in the fall of next year. the new model unveiled on tuesday was developed jointly with the city. it's based on the nissan nv-200 minivan which can carry up to

four passengers. the cab is equipped with air bags for passengers, sliding doors will also let people get on and off easily, even on narrow streets. the unique feature is a large glass roof that will provide a good view of the city's skyline. nissan's prototype was selected last may among other competing models. its good price was a selling point. nissan's president em fa sitzed that the automaker had designed a cab for a new era. new york mayor michael bloomberg expressed his expectation. >> i look forward to seeing this great vehicle become a new icon of new york city. so congratulations. wonderful day for new york. >> the new cabs will be introduced from october 2013 over the next five years. they will replace all 13,000 cabs now in service. here shall the latest market figures.

yesterday there was chaos for commuters trying to go home. >> the very intense spring storm that dashed through japan has left more than 440 injuries and four fatalities. now it is lingering over north of hokkaido, still affecting much of this northern japan region with very strong winds, which could be as much as 85 kilometers per hour in some areas. and picking up the waves on both coastal areas as much as 7 meters high. combined with this snowfall

accumulation which could reach as much as 30 centimeters, that could bring us some very dangerous blizzard conditions, especially dangerous for driving conditions, could create some slippery roads, icy overpasses. so it's not really a day to endeavor, venture up into the northern regions here. but the pacific side should remain devoid from precipitation. maybe some showers, but nothing too significant. high pressure will be pressing overhead and nice mild temperature weather. meanwhile, in southeastern coastal areas of china, especially, that could be reaching as much as 100 millimeters in the next 24 hours. so very short time, heavy rain could target some flooding conditions. here in the indochina paparazzi as well, skirting across is scattered showers as well as

rumbles of thunder that could be continuous for the rest of the work week. 34 degrees for a temperature. tokyo reaching up to 19 degrees with lots of sunny spells for us. and seoul at 10 degrees. shanghai up to 24, so warm here in china. let's head over to the americas and talk about this very severe storm system that is passing through the gulf states. really slowly, as of yesterday, well, we had 18 tornado reports. concentrated in this eastern texas region. we have a video coming out from dallas, texas. in lancaster, texas, south of dallas-ft. worth, a powerful tornado brought widespread devastation. you can see here houses are completely destroyed. about 300 buildings, including these houses were destroyed as the tornado tore through the countryside just south of dallas. some buildings welcome back flattened to the foundation

while semis were tossed like toys in the sky in the wind storm. now, if we pull back, we can tell you that the severe thunderstorm will be moving across much of this region, towards the ohio valley, so the chances of damaging winds, large hail as well as tornadic activity are not going to be ruled out just yet on our wednesday. here in the pacific northwest over towards the west, precipitation will be triggering more further flooding in the northern california as well as oregon region. talking about temperatures, new york seeing 19 degrees as well as tokyo. so same there. and lots of sunshine for you out there as well. oklahoma city, 22 degrees. and reaching up to 15 in denver, compared to what we saw yesterday, which was just 6 degrees. denver is on a roller coaster ride temperaturewise. i'll leave you now for your extended forecast.

finally, we've got more proof that what's old can be new again. a japanese singer who topped the domestic charts in the '60s and '70s is popular once again.

he collaborated with a american group and won a prestigious prize. yuki received an award in tokyo, and made her latest album in 1969 with u.s. jazz group pink martini. she sings japanese hits from that year. it was a surprise hit in 2011 in the u.s. and europe. that allowed yuki to hold concerts in new york and london. >> translator: i want to remind people of our music in japan. i am very happy to receive this award. ♪

we'll be back with more news in 30 minutes.

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