welcome to "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo with the latest at this hour. japanese government leaders are protesting south korean president lee myung bak's visit to a group of disputed islands. they plan to discuss how to send a stronger message that the territory belongs to japan. the islands are called takeshima. president lee flew to the islands accompanied by his environment and culture ministers. he made a formal protest. japanese leaders plan to

meet on saturday to discuss how to send a stronger message. some senior officials are urging caution. they say the leaders should avoid making their relations with the south koreans anywheres. analysts watching the territorial disputes say president lee may be about to take a harder line toward japan. they say his visit to the island shows he's prioritizing domestic support over relations with neighbors. japanese government leaders had asked lee not to make the trip. his term ends in february. poll last month put his public approval rating below 20% for the first time. he's lost supporters with the economy slowed down. south koreans are becoming increasingly anti-japanese, angry about japan's claim on the islands and upset about historical issues such as korean women allegedly forced to work in brothels for japanese soldiers during world war ii.

political analysts say president lee is trying to use that antipathy to get more public support. north korea is the resting place of japanese who died around the end of world war ii. red cross officials from both countries asked their governments to help them send those remains home to japan. officials from the japanese and north korean red cross societies held their first talks in ten years. japanese officials say the north koreans told them where they'd search for graves and how many they'd found. they say the north koreans want to return the remains and help japanese families visit burial sites. the officials agreed they can't make those plans happen without help from their governments. >> translator: we agreed that it's vital to get our governments involved. we are going to ask them to work with us. >> another outstanding issue between the two countries is north korea's abductions of

japanese nationals. government minister in tokyo says he's worried north korean leaders may try to push that issue out of the spotlight. >> translator: the abduction issue is japan's highest priority. the north koreans have repeatedly claimed the issue has been resolved. they remain extremely insincere. many people worry the north koreans will try to use the issue of japanese remains to shelf the abduction issue. >> the minister said the abduction issue and the question of repatriating japanese remains must be treated separately. british government leaders say they're giving 5 million pounds worth of nonlethal equipment to syrian opposition groups. the british foreign secretary william hague said the syrian people need urgent help and said aid from the united kingdom will include medical supplies. he said it will also include equipment to help syrians

communicate. >> i've agreed in principle that it will include communications equipment. to help political activists overcome the communication regime's communication blockade and make sure their message will get to the outside world. >> hague said they will not give what he called lethal assistance to armed opposition groups. experts from the international atomic energy agency have ended a two-week fact-finding mission to the onagawa nuclear plant in northeastern japan. the plant was located 70 kilometers from the epicenter of last year's earthquake but unlike fukushima daiichi it managed to avert a nuclear accident. nhk world's kahuo izutume reports. >> reporter: the main porpgs of the iaea mission to onagawa was to determine why it was able to withstand last year's earthquake and tsunami without any major malfunction.

>> the team concluded that the structural elements remain remarkably unaffected, given the magnitude and duration of the grand motion. this indicated that there was significant margins in the design. >> reporter: the experts are planning to supply data to iaea member countries so they can conduct their own safety assessments. they also requested the japanese government to allow similar missions to other plants in the recent investigations into fukushima accident have pointed out the government's failure to implement iaea safety recommendations before the nuclear crisis. the question now is to what extent japanese authorities will accept to cooperate with the agency. kahu izumitani, nhk world, tokyo. people in britain have

reason to be jubilant over the performance of their athletes at the london olympics. with only a few days to go before the games end, the host nation has won the third highest number of gold medals behind the united states and china. now a british institution has joined in the olympic spirit by making a little gold of its own. nhk world's akira saheki has more from london. >> reporter: the uk is rocking as their athletes are having the most successful games in olympic history. even the post boxes have changed color to celebrate. the royal mail is putting some polish on the post. the british government's postal service is painting mailboxes in the hometowns of some athletes gold. and it's issued stamps to commemorate gold medalists. >> we are delighted it is this many. it's been keeping us very busy.

we hope there's a few more chances yet to come. >> reporter: the royal mail is honoring a whole of gold medals that's exceeded expectations. workers have put some glitter on about 50 mailboxes, including one in a residential area of wimbledon. this past sunday, andy murray became the first british man in 104 years to win a gold medal in singles tennis. >> it's such a great honor and a lovely way i think to recognize not just andy, but all the gold medalists for great britain, to have the stamp and then also to have the mailbox in your hometown and also one at wimbledon. it's very special. >> reporter: the postal service has been competing for business against courier companies. and fewer and fewer people are writing letters. but the people at the royal mail may find there is a gold in the olympic stamps as they add more shine to the games.

akiro saheki, nhk world, london. here's the three-day world weather forecast.

that's all for this hour on "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. thank you for staying with us on nhk world.