welcome to nhk world "newsline." world war ii ended 67 years ago this month, but there's still some unfinished business left over from that conflict. government officials from japan and north korea are preparing for talks about one divisive issue, the repatriation of remains of japanese who died on the korean peninsula. they plan to meet later this month for the first time in four years. the discussions are scheduled for august 29th, they follow a two-day meeting lasts week in beijing between japanese and

north korean red cross officials. the groups discussed the return of the remains and possible visits by relatives to the graves of their loved ones in north korea. both sides agreed on the need for government help to settle the matter. the repatriation talks later this month will be the first intergovernmental dialogue since 2008. the last discussion was on the sensitive issue of abductions of japanese nationals by north korean agents. >> translator: the governments of japan and north korea need to address pending issues that lie between them. these include the abduction issue. nhk world is covering this story for us. what's prompted this plan to resume direct talks between japan and north korea? >> it seems north korean

authorities were the ones who proposed the idea. the north raised the issue last april when a group of japanese lawmakers visited the nation. it came up again in june. north korean officials invited members of the japanese media to visit the graves of japanese citizens and the idea of holding bilateral talks. the government says more than 34,000 japanese residents died from hunger and cold during the evacuation of the korean peninsula at the end of the world war ii. remains only 20,000 have been repatriated so far. >> what do north koreans gain or stand to gain by being pro active on this specific issue? >> probably being motivated by economic factors, a program to exhume remains on such a large scale would involve hiring a lot

of manpower and would provide north korea with a important source of income. you could compare it to the special industrial development zone. where south korean companies hired north korean workers. the country's new leader, kim jong-un, has spent six months consolidating his power. held a number of expensive events to mark the transition from power from his father, who died last december. i think kim is now looking outside of the country and focusing on foreign affairs. about 30 north koreans, including his uncle visited on monday to talk about the development of economic zones with the chinese government. he is widely known as kim's mentor. >> what can we expect from the negotiations later this month? >> japanese government representatives will probably raise the issue of north

korean's abductions of japanese nationals during the 1970s. but north korean authorities have repeatedly refused to reopen what they consider a resolved matter. if both sides clash again on this issue, then this latest round of talks could end. on the other hand kim jong-un has showed he's more open to the outside world. for example, north korean authorities invited international media to observe the launch of what they called a satellite. japan and other countries considered it a botched missile test. space officials in the north immediately acknowledged the failure of the launch. these things were unexpected. some people in japan were wondering if the north korea will make an unexpected gesture during these negotiations. >> kengo, thanks for that. leaders from muslim nations

and territories are meeting in saudi arabia to discuss the crisis, whether to suspend syria from the organization of islamic cooperation. foreign ministers from the 57-member group held preliminary discussions. the leaders are gathering for a two-day emergency summit in mecca. saudi arabia and other gulf countries have been supporting insurgents and calling for president assad to step down. they are in favor of suspending syria. leaders from iran are opposed. say kicking syria out of the group will not stop the fighting. president mahmoud ahmadinejad is expected to defend the assad regime. an envoy will visit beijing as early as today to ask for diplomatic and economic help. the chinese foreign ministry say the envoy will meet with chinese

foreign minister to ask the chinese government to provide economic assistance and to strengthen ties. western diplomats have criticized china and russia, delegates from both countries have vetoed u.n. security council resolutions that would impose sanctions on syria. chinese leaders say sanctions will not stop the fighting. the eurozone economy sank in the second quarter. it was hurt by austerity measures that the country and the currency block took in the midst of the debt crisis. the european union statistical office said on tuesday that gross domestic product fell 0.2% between april and june from the previous three months. this is the first contraction since the fourth quarter. among the 17 nations in the zone, italy's gdp fell 0.7%.

that was the fourth consecutive quarterly decline. spain dipped 0.4%, falling for the third straight quarter. no comparable quarter to quarter data are available for greece but its economy contracted 6.2% from a year earlier. germany's economic growth slowed down to 0.3% from 0.5% in a previous quarter. the eurozone as strongest economy is seeing slight setback due to economic activities. >> officials with the japanese government and ruling democratic party are wresting with tough choices, japan carries a greater proportion of debt on its books than any other industrialized nations. the government team has to weigh that in drawing up next year's budget. the government will stick to $910 billion nor the fiscal year beginning next april. this excludes costs for servicing bonds. the government will limit the

issuance of new bonds to around $506 billion. the team put priority on several industries on welfare and agriculture forestry and fisheries. government official expected to ask cabinet to endorse their budget guidelines for 2013 as early as this week. an nhk survey shows the majority of japanese people think the country should reduce its dependence on nuclear power as a source of energy. nhk conducted the poll over the weekend and received responses from 1,046 people. the respondents were asked to choose from three options the government has presented for the nation's reliance on nuclear energy. 0%, around 15% or between 20 and 25% by the year 2030.

the results show that 36% favor the zero option while 39% chose the middle option. 15% of the respondents picked the highest option. nuclear power accounted for 26% of the energy supplies before last year's nuclear disaster. the government is now reviewing its energy policy and seeking public input on the nation's dependence on nuclear power generation. small japanese businesses are making sales pitches at a trade fair in beijing. they are hoping to break into china's huge market despite recent signs of an economic slowdown in the country. some 130 firms are taking part in the fair on tuesday. it is sponsored by the external trade organization. the fair features 1500 products, including tableware and cosmetics. >> japanese products are carefully made and their quality

is good. i think they will attract rich people in china. >> sales meetings also took place with some 300 chinese companies participating. japanese officials were trying hard to market their products. >> translator: the japanese economy is in poor shape and china has more potential, a large population and its market is essential for us. >> here are the latest market figures. a fishing boat with a group of activists from hong kong will head alone to the senkaku

islands after taiwanese activists dropped their plan to sail and join them there. china and taiwan also claim the islands in the southernmost the boat carrying 14 people left hong kong on sunday and is now heading north in waters west of taiwan. the group's representative in hong kong says that the boat is expected to reach the senkaku at noon on wednesday. in chinese activists have cancelled their expedition. a spokesperson says they didn't want to cause problems for the skipper of the hired boat and also hinted that there was pressure from authorities to drop the plan. social networking site twitter says more than 150 million olympic related tweets were made around the world during the london games. twitter announced its tweet estimate on its website, the top athletic moment in tweets was the men's 200-meter final in

which jamaican usain bolt won gold. it drew 80,000 a minute. his 100-meter final win sparked 74,000 tweets a minute. another popular event was when the u.s. goalkeeper blocked a japan scoring drive in the women's soccer final. the tweets highlight of the closing ceremony came with the of 1990s pop icons the spice girls. the olympic flag is on site at his new home in rio to host the next summer games in 2016. the mayor waved the flag as he stepped off a plane with london with team brazil. >> translator: to bring this olympic flag, i think, is a very special moment for our country, for our city. to represent the people i represented. the brazilians. >> it describes people who are

from rio and he says although the road to the games is not even, the city will transform itself. local and national government officials need to solve many problems before they welcome the world for south america's first olympics. these include building transport infrastructure, combination facilities and strengthening security. the olympic flag will serve as a reminder of all that needs to be done. it will be on display at rio's city hall. next we report on a healthy food ingredient from thailand that's becoming popular around the world. people enjoy eating food, dumplings made of minced fish. in japanese cuisine, minced fish is an important ingredient in hot spots and other dishes. even in paris, minced fish is used in these crab flavored fish sausages, consumption has grown

over more than 7-fold in the past decade. thailand is one of the largest exporters of minced fish but soaring demand is leading to severe problems for local fishermen. nhk reports. >> reporter: sakhon province is home to many sea food processing companies. this is one of the largest minced fish factories in thailand. some 900 people work here. here minced fish is made from a type of fish called golden thread. the factory processes some 50 tons of the fish every day. half its daily output gets exported to japan. but fishermen are experiencing a worrying change.

recently tourists have been returning to bolt with hardly any in their catch. this captain has been working he says the number has dropped more than 90%. >> translator: there's been a very marketed decrease over the last four to five years. >> reporter: the biggest cause is overfishing. to protect fish stocks, the thai government in 2008 imposed a ban within five kilometers of the shore. even so, illegal fishing has continued. >> reporter: the fisheries

department regularly patrols the coast and spots a boat lurking into the forbidden zone. the boat's nets are full and they are bringing in the catch. this isn't the captain's first offense. he was caught fishing illegally two years ago. even so, he still gets away with a fine of $350. >> translator: the boats aren't confiscated when they are caught, so illegal fishing continues. all we can do is to continue our patrols. >> reporter: the global trend for health foods is causing local programs to challenge and strike a balance between harvesting the bounties of the ocean and ensuring their

long-time survival. nhk world, sakhon, center of thailand. ♪ ♪ >> this is the sound of summer for music fans of a certain generation, it's the beach boys, a band that hardly needs any introduction. they formed in 1961 and are known for hits such as surfing usa and california girls. the original members of the beach boys reunited last year marking the 50th anniversary of the debut. the band is now traveling the world promoting their first album in more than two decades.

nhk world reports on the japan leg of their tour. >> reporter: the beach boys haven't performed together in japan in 33 years. now with these musical are bringing their socking safari to three cities started his world tour in april. brian wilson is back in the lineup for the first time in many years. >> we're still a group after 50 years and we've had 50 years practice. so that makes us 50 years good, you know. and we're -- i'm proud to say that i'm thrilled to death to be able to sing with great, great singers that they are. >> reporter: the beach boys aren't just focused on playing in japan, they are helping too. giving profits from two of the songs to the japan red cross to aid survivors of the country's

march 2011 disaster. they say they hope their concert here would provide encouragement. >> i think that it's life must go on. you know, and hopefully music can be an uplifting feature of that life. and hopefully some day we can play there. >> the beach boys know the power of their music. after all of these years, it still entertains and it still inspires. the japan tour wraps up august 19th. nhk world, tokyo. >> an elderly woman who survived a pair of huge tsunamis has been telling other people how they can save their lives too. to get her message across, the woman relies on an old fashioned technique. she works from a picture story painted illustrations that

accompany her narration. >> reporter: 87-year-old yoshi presents her picture show. tabata lost her mother to the earthquake and tsunami of 1933. she was eight years old at the time and plays the main role in her story. she has been telling her story for over 30 years to warn people about the danger of tsunamis. >> this is the area of miyako city, her hometown. >> translator: this is where my housed used to stand. >> reporter: 78 years after the

first tsunami, she was threatened by another one. the water swept her house away but didn't touch her. she managed to reach safety at her younger sister's house on a hill. tabata says she was able to survive two major tsunamis thanks to the viefs her grandfather, who also survived one. >> translator: he always told us, if an earthquake hits, we should just run away, we're each responsible for our own safety. he told us to run to higher ground, otherwise the tsunami would get us. >> reporter: he stressed, there's not much time, don't feel you have to wait for your family to gather. tabata wants to use her picture story show to spread her grandfather's lesson to as many people as possible. [ applause ]

>> translator: she taught me how tragic tsunamis are and made me think about a tsunami hitting sometime in the future. >> translator: i realize that i needed to talk with my family about what to do if we confront disaster. >> translator: if there's one thing i would like people to know, it is this. it's up to you to save your life. i really hope that i can make young people realize this fact as it's so essential. >> tabata wants people all off the world to heed her grandfather's warning, so last year she published her picture story in a book with an english trants lags. translation. heavy rainfall hits southern japan. robert speta has the details on that.

robert. >> much of japan is already getting hit very hard here. it's all due to the frontal area pushing across the country and widespread rain showers causing some flash flooding here. i want to first show you a photo out of kyoto. you can see the cars going through flooded roadways. the past 24 hours, upwards of 202 millimeters much rain has been recorded. flooding through these residential areas and upwards of 91 millimeters of rainfall in just a one-hour period here. not just the rains, high winds. 72 kilometer per hour winds were reported in shiba prefecture. just towards the east of tokyo. you can see the storm system is very widespread. now another one is coming across the koreas, going through tuesday into wednesday, expect the possibility of some flooding around the seoul area and then off towards hokaido into wednesday evening. definitely going to be continuing to watch the storm system through the coming days. not just here, also down towards

the philippines you're seeing severe weather as well. all due to this moving off to the northwest. this will eventually impact taiwan and towards hong kong for the end of the week. now it's bringing heavy rainfall. across the west coast of the philippines here. seeing upwards of 180 millimeters of rain in the past 24 hours. this is on top of the flooding we saw last week, the widespread flooding that caused devastation around the manila metro area. definitely going to continue to watch this storm. it really is going to keep the rough weather on tap. shanghai with a high of 36. seoul at 25. down in manila, at 26 for your high. now towards the americas, severe weather pushing across the ohio river valley and down towards the mississippi river valley where you see large hail. now it is shifting off there towards the northeast. new york, pennsylvania, you even could feel the threat of

tornadic activity, especially going through afternoon to evening hours. large hail, 65 kilometer per hour winds could be on tap. high pressure setting in that will bring much fairer weather across the great lakes. behind that, kind of in a reputation, low, high, then another low pushing through southern canada. expect that to move towards the western ontario and dakotas and wisconsin. you could see high winds indefinitely the threat of frequent lightning and heavy rainfall behind it. temperaturewise, winnipeg with a high of 25. chicago up to 28 on tuesday. oklahoma city at 31. houston and phoenix, excessive heat warnings, 42 and 36 throughout your tuesday. now in europe, a low pressure area continuing to spin up here. this is bringing some heavy rainfall across much of the british isles down towards the iberian peninsula. expect that to push east into the low countries for the latter part of your week. london remains cool at 23. paris a little bit warmer at 31. off towards the east, a strong low pressure around ukraine

towards poland, dropping down the temperatures for you. look at warsaw, 20 for your high and 17 in kiev. throughout the middle part of your week. here's a look at your extended forecast. a major tokyo tourist attraction has a new feature, the fish market outer area has a

new information center for visitor. japanese and international tourist that come to watch tuna bidding artists can mingle with professional chefs. a local nonprofit was established in the outer market where many whole sale and retail shops and restaurants are located. services are available in english and japanese from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. from mondays to saturdays and from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on sundays and holidays. insulated bags for carrying marine produce are available for purchase. visitors can also take a break at the center. the chief director of the npo suzuki says the aim is to draw more people to the market by giving them information about high quality food sought by professionals. we'll be back with more updates in 30 minutes. i'm gene otani in tokyo.