roundtable talks, asean nations and their neighbors address threats to peace in asia. welcome to nhk world "newsline." foreign ministers from the association of southeast asian nations have been discussing threats to stability in cambodia. prs joining them is representatives from east asia's economy, j japan, and south korea. >> north korea is a regular topic at asean meetings and this

year is no exception. the summit is a rare opportunity for countries in the region and for their affiliates to engage with the commune any of the state. delegates will attend the forum on thursday when the united states will also be present. ten asean member states met with japan, china and south korea on tuesday afternoon. those three countries are all members of the stalled six-party talks on north korea's nuclear program. the issue rose back on to the national agenda after the north made a failed missile launch in april. pyongyang said the rocket carried a satellite. specific concern was focused at the european debt crisis. delegates agreed to keep working on a financial safety net to protect economic growth in asia. still, the biggest issue throughout the week remained the south china sea territorial

dispute. asean is trying to agree on a code of conduct or legally bind set of protocols for dispute but differents of opinion have rose asean members. on tuesday morning cambodian foreign minister held bilateral talks with its chinese counterpart. the content of their discussion has not been made public but as the chair nation cambodia apparently has an important role trying to coordinate an agreement on the south china sea issue. asean and china head into wednesday's talks with very different outlooks on how best to resolve the south china sea issue. asean favores a multilateral framework but china wants separate bilateral negotiations. here is an indepth report on the view from beijing.

>> reporter: in the run-up to the meeting, chinese foreign ministry's position is that asean is not a right forum for resolving the south china sea dispute. >> translator: discussions between asean foreign ministers are an important forum but not an appropriate place to talk about issues in the south china sea. >> china has been giving the issue a high profile in the domestic media. state-run news agency stationed reporters on a boat in the ship of the oceanic administration and broadcast daily updates on its voyage. >> reporter: the effective chinese control offered encouragement to soldiers stationed there.

>> reporter: china seems determined to deepen its presence to keep a check on the united states. secretary of state hillary clinton will also attend talks with asean later in the week. last week the communist parties official people's daily newspaper published a commentary on the south china sea dispute. the article denounced what it called the internationalization of the issue and interference by outside powers. that's seen as a warning aimed at the united states. as some experts don't expect china will make concessions, they say the super power is

asserting itself to counter america's increased focus on asia. >> translator: we used to be able to solve a conflict soon after it happened. but in recent years, it doesn't get solved right away. this has to do with america's back to asia policies. if the american back to asia attitude also accompanies actions, china's countermeasures will become larger. >> china is pursuing its maritime interests as a show of power with the united states also putting more emphasis on asia, it seems unlikely china will be prepared to back down. nhk world, beijing. >> reporter: that was china's stance, how will asean respond. as we heard there, china seems hard lined.

what's the position of asean countries? >> the philippines and vietnam believe a confrontation with china is unwise and favor multilateral discussion through asean, japan, the united states and other countries have a voice at some asean meetings. they are against china expanding its maritime presence, the philippines, vietnam, especially won the backing of the united states. on monday asean foreign ministers are working on a code of conduct. the focus of the asean meeting on wednesday is whether china accept's asean's position and whether china agreed to start discussing the code of conduct. >> what are the prospects of them reaching a deal? >> china is is expected to agree to start discussing the code of conduct to a wide criticism from

the international community. but china's basic policy remains unchanged and what the dispute to be solved bilaterally. it could affect its claim to part of the south china sea. the approach of kwam boda will likely be critical. china is cambodia's leading economy supporter. china has invested a lot of amount of money to build infrastructure in cambodia and helped build the prime minister office where the current talk is taking place. so it's questionable how far cambodia can support other asean members like vietnam and philippines against china. the foreign ministry hinted that cambodia will take the middle ground. >> we hope that we believe that

both sides have the patience to work together side by side. >> asean is not totally unified on the south china sea issue so it's not clear they will be able to agree on a road map for resolving this dispute peacefully, much diplomatic bargaining is expected in the days ahead. >> thank you. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton will join the discussions on thursday at the asean regional forum. on a visit to vietnam on tuesday, she threw her weight behind the proposed code of conduct. >> we look to asean to make rapid progress with china toward an effective code of conduct in order to ensure that as challenges arise, they are managed and resolved peacefully through a consensual process. >> clinton's position is seen as a challenge to china and those asean members who did not

formally support the code of conduct. on wednesday the main event here in phnom penh is the asean meeting. some member nations will have the first opportunity to talk directly with their powerful neighbor. we'll keep you updated on the delicate discussions all week. people in libya are looking forward to getting a sense of what their future will look like. they are counting ballots from the first preapartmently election in decades. voters went to the polls over the weekend, less than a year after the fall of khadafi's 42-year long dictatorship. nhk world reports.

>> i am marwa, nice to meet you. >> as a physician, she volunteers to treat the injured at last year's government demonstrations, while taking to the street herself. but even after khadafi's fall, security and the economy remained unstable. she decided to represent the youth. >> for 42 years, we have no role to play in politics, culture or education. the time has come for us to shape libya. >> reporter: just three days before the election, she was ready. the party leader is on the poster, instead of her. only her name and occupation are written on it. she decided not to use her photo to try to avoid discrimination.

>> translator: see, someone tore this female can date's picture. i didn't want to be like her, so i decided not to use my moto. >> reporter: someone has written comments on her facebook page. >> translator: you're a leftover from the old regime. >> translator: it's ridiculous that someone as young as you is running. report she thought lack of understanding of a democratic system was behind the harassment, so she held a meeting with voters. she told them everybody can express themselves freely in a democracy. >> translator: the explanation made me understand what an election is for the first time. >> reporter: she believes the first thing is to get people to realize the importance of the election. >> translator: this is an

election for libya's future. i want voters to have a clear understanding of it so they can take the first steps toward creating a democracy. >> reporter: now that libyans cast their first ballots, after ousting the dictator, it is up to them to build a nation where all citizens have the ability to make a difference. nhk world, tripoli. earlier i spoke with former ambassador to libya to discuss the country's transition. he is now the vice president of the middle east institute of japan. you were stations in libya actually from 2003 to 2006 what khadafi was still in power. what's your impression of how the country's first -- we are talking about 60 years, how do you think it played out? >> there were some report of minor troubles. but generally speaking, the

election was held -- it should be known that libyan election was carried out as part of an unusual difficult system affecting the opinion of 42 years of ka dacalifornia california dakhadafi's dictatorship. >> we are talking about two weeks before the actual results, do you have any indication of how libyans voted. >> yes. more than 60% cast their ballot. indications that forces of political policies is far ahead of justice and construction and

in brooj hood. in libya from the beginning, national council was established by some of the former regime who failed to khadafi. i'm almost sure that libya will never be back to such an eccentric political regime of khadafi's period. i'm optimistic of the future, but there will be rather many twists and turns before new libya would be established. >> of course, twists and turns as you mentioned. if and when that new libya you are talking about is established, how do you expect it to deal with other nations. >> i'm sure libya will be back to one of its normal members through this effort. in my time there, although libyan citizens in their heart, regarded khadafi's unique

philosophy as dazzling but impack ti imimpractical. so now libya is webcam by the national society, it is obvious that libya is highly potential in resources and the most important source of energy for europe. >> japan's former ambassador to libya and the vice president of the middle east institute of japan. people in japan's noorj east are focused on overcoming the chals of the 2011 disaster. but it won't be easy. they have to rebuild homes, businesses, entire communities. we will show you their struggles and auk sayses on "the road ahead" every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. here in japan time. south korea will hold its

next election in december. one of its members have politics in her blood. nhk worbureau chief reports. >> reporter: former leader of south korea's ruling party and the daughter of a general who ruled a nation for nearly two decades. >> if elected park will be the first female president. she says her priorities include improving social welfare and protecting the poor. park believes south korean politics have reached a turning point. she says leaders must work for the happiness of individuals.

the 60-year-old politician is from the southern city. her father led south korea's economic development in the 1960s and '70s before being assassinated. the younger park is hugely popular among south korean voters. she led her party to victory in the april general election. her political career began when she won the seat in 1998 by election. over time she assumed her leadership role in the party. this is park's second bid for the presidency. she lost a fierce battle for her party's nomination in 2007 against current president lee myung bak.

nationwide polls give park an approval rating of around 40% among likely voters. she's widely expected to clinch the nomination in the august primary. other presidential hopefuls are also gearing up for the race. politicians from rival parties have declared their candidacies in recent days. the opposition is stepping up criticism of the ruling party. they blame the president for favoring big business and widening the nation's income gap. voters are expected to focus on candidates's economic policies and their approaches to north korea in the run-up to the december election. nhk world, seoul. the operator of the

fukushima daiichi power plant released photos of the massive tsunami that hit the facility on march 11 last year. the 33 shots were taken by a worker of an affiliated business. they were made public after the government criticized the operator, tepco. the nuclear crisis operator failed there were images not released. some show waves surging into the plant and sweeping away a tanker that's attempting to leave the port. the wall of water moves through the grounds and carries away large containers and other debris. the pictures also show frightened workers gathered on a rooftop. tepco officials say they originally showed only the photos showing the tsunami most clearly. they apologize for not revealing the entire set. operator of a nuclear facility neighboring fukushima are dealing with a problem they

never faced before. there are rods in the atlanta which are currently offline, engineers inspected the 4.5 meter high met cal containers in a storage pool in reactor 3. they found a chip in one of more than the 1300 containers, indentation measures two centimeters by several millimeters wide. engineers discovered similar chips in other containers. the electric power company runs the plant, spokespersons say the fuel rods are in tact and that there are no safety concerns because the reactor is not operating. but they say workers will inspect the damage and survey the plant's two other reactors. nuclear safety regulators ordered them to check and report on whether last year's massive earthquake caused the chips. japan's defense minister says u.s. officials must take responsibility for the safety of a military aircraft that's being deployed to okinawa.

expecting to raise the issue, when he meets his american counterpart, leon panetta, later this month. u.s. officialses are planning to deploy the osprey aircraft in okinawa. they are expected to stage training over parts of japan. but many residents oppose the flights, especially at when altitudes. the os spay suffered a number of accidents including recent crashes into morocco and florida. >> translator: japan will ask the united states to ensure the plane's safety in line with a bilateral agreement on low-altitude flights. >> local politicians aren't convinced. representatives from areas hosting u.s. military bases asked the foreign ministry to keep them in the loop on developments regarding the controversial aircraft.

officiales from 14 prefectures visited the ministry to submit their request. they asked the central government to give a details explanation of causes of the osprey's crashes. they also want it know the impact flight training will have on citizens. >> translator: we're very concerned about a possible crash in the densely populated area around the futenma air station. the local government should be more sensitive to concerns. reiterating the government will give information to local officials, provided u.s. authorities release the results of their investigations into the osprey accidents. it was a hot summer day here in tokyo, but the sunshine won't last. robert speta has the forecast for here and elsewhere. robert? >> yes, gene, rain is on tap across much of japan here, going into your wednesday and then thursday. that rainy season boundary, you

see this big band of cloud cover here and and can expect about 100 millimeters of rain fall in about the next 24 hours. and in even localized cells, about 40 to 60 millimeters per hour. if you remember last week, we had lied spread flooding and landslides. this is just going to heighten the risk even more so for further flooding. also going into your thursday as this continues to lift north, warm moist air will be continuing to pull out of here, out of the south and some rain showers could be expected in tokyo by the end of your week. further off toward the north though, we have low pressure area moving across the korean peninsula. this is bringing severe weather on your wednesday. good news expecting us to taper off by your wednesday afternoon into evening hours. looks like fair kegs pushing in behind us. cooler weather into central and eastern china, heavy rain fall expected in the next 24 hours.

rain fall still lingering in this area. southwest monsoon still affecting the philippines and towards indochina here. i have seen reports up to a hundred millimeters. further flooding could be occurring here, especially in after not in and evening hours. very strong thunderstorms are popping up and temperatures are reflecting in this too. manila with a high of 32. hong kong up to 33. shanghai 34. but seoul only the high 20s on your wednesday. americas bringing wet weather here across much of the southeastern u.s. this whole boundary making things very muggy along the gulf states here. you could also see heavy rain showers with this, accompanied by the rather warm temperatures. but north of that, cooler weather across much of the great lakes region. that's due to that big air mass pushing this front al boundary further south pst rains continue to affect new mexico and texas.

you see the areas in blue, this is extremely dry. very prone to fire weather at this time. unfortunately, these areas won't bring rain fall. as the rain fall here, it is evaporating in the atmosphere. unfortunately thunderstorm activity could accompany it. lightning triggering further wildfires across much of this region. still very hot in the southwest, 46 for a high in phoenix. london 30. towards the east, atlanta remaining hot and muggy for your high on tuesday. now in europe, high pressure still dominating the iberian peninsula, making things sunny and fair. we have a low spin over the british isles. this will continue to track off towards the east. we also have low pressure areas in central and eastern europe. all of these are running along the jet stream here separating that cool and wet air mass off towards the north, hot and sunny towards the south and across the

balkans high 30s and low 40s. but a cool down is in place with the air mass north of the jet stream. paris, you are seeing a high of 20 on your wednesday but expecting it to go down to the high teens, going into your thursday and friday. similar conditions still seen there in london with only a high of 18. now here's a look at your extended outlook.

we'll be back with more updates in 30 minutes. i'm gene otani in tokyo.

from all of us here on nhk world, thanks for joining us.