north korean leader kim jong-un has ordered the military to get ready for strikes against u.s. targets. north korea, iran and syria have blocked a u.n. treaty intended to regulate the global arms trade. and an nhk investigation into went went wrong at fukushima daiichi shows they could have avoided one of the melt downs if they had known the inner workings better.

welcome to nhk world "newsline." the u.s. secretary of defense says north korea's provocative actions and belligerent tone have ratcheted up the danger on the korean peninsula. chuck hagel said leaders in pyongyang used heated rhetoric for years, but he said people have to understand there's a new reality. >> we will unequivocally defend and we are unequivocally committed to that alliance with south korea as well as our other allies in that region of the world. and we will be prepared. we have to be prepared to deal with any eventuality there. >> hagel said there are a lot of unknowns, but he said u.s. officials have to take every provocative word and action seriously. maidle made the comments hours after u.s. commanders dispatched b-2 stealth bombers in joint exercises with the south korean military. pentagon chiefs say the deployment is meant to reassure allies that they can count on u.s. forces.

north korean leader kim jong-un has responded by ordering his commanders to be on standby to strike u.s. targets. the state-run news agency said kim made what he called an important decision at an emergency meeting of senior military officials. the agency released photos of the meeting. the title of a map in one of them reads "plan to attack the u.s. mainland." the map appears to show the possible path of a missile. the report said kim ordered units responsible for strategic rockets to be on standby. it said he wants them to be ready to strike u.s. bases in south korea and the pacific and targets on the u.s. mainland at any time. delegates to the u.n. conference on the arms trade treaty have spent days trying to regulate a deal. but they failed to put a draft

treaty to vote. now it is up to the general assembly to decide. the draft required unanimous approval. north korea, iran and syria opposed it. the three dissenters said the draft reflects only the views of the united states and other major arms exporters and infringes the right to national self-defense. many other countries said they can't allow years of negotiations to fall apart merely because of opposition from three nations. they plan to have the draft adopted at the general assembly as early as next week. mari yonghua said the treaty is supported by the majority of u.n. member countries. he predicted the general assembly will approve it. if so, it will be the first international treaty to control import and export of guns, tanks and other conventional weapons. council members unanimously

adopted a resolution to send an intervention brigade to the central african nation. around 2500 troops will be asked to neutral liez and disarm rebel groups. they will operate alongside nearly 20,000 peace keepers. insurgent group m23 has been taken control of large parts of eastern congo, other rebel groups are killed or killing and looting throughout the country. u.s. president barack obama said he will deepen the u.s. ties with african countries that share its democratic values. he met four african leaders in the white house on thursday. >> praising the leaders from sierra leone, senegal, malawi and cape verde. he said they are trying to increase political transparency, protect human rights and promote economic opportunities for their people. >> the united states is going to

be a strong partner not on the old model in which we are a donor and they're simply a recipient. but a new model based on partnership and recognizing that no continent has greater potential, greater upside, than the continent of africa, if they, in fact, have the kind of strong leadership that these four individuals represent. >> obama said their success will ultimately help the u.s. economy and contribute to a more peaceful world. chinese leader xi jinping has been also making overtures to african leaders. his country's been actively involved on the continent, extending financial aid and helping nations develop infrastructure. but china's eagerness to buy up natural resources has also prompted accusations of an unbalanced relationship. now, authorities in beijing are trying to show that trade is not just a one-way street.

nhk mitchataka yamaha reports. >> reporter: the city of yiwu is home to china's largest wholesale market. vendors sell products ranging from clothing to general goods. many products are destined for export. a lot of africans travel here to buy goods. they come from sudan, ethiopia, and about 30 other countries. this ugandan buyer specializes in jewelry. he buys rings and other accessories and sells them across east africa. >> in business you don't say we are making a lot of money. we are progressing in the business. when we come to china and buy things in our country, people like it. that's why we normally come here to buy. >> reporter: trade between china and africa is soaring. chinese authorities say that since 2000 the total value has

multiplied 20 times. by last year, it had reached $200 billion. but the trade is clearly balanced in china's favor. 60% of goods chinese sell to africans are electric appliances and machinery. but 70% of what chinese buy from africans are raw materials like oil or iron ore. some are concerned that this shows africans have become dependent on chinese goods. two years ago the city opened its first market exclusively for goods made outside china. this market in central yiwu, products like this are sold at shops specializing in african-made goods. merchants from 20 african

countries are represented here. there is a variety of incentives to vendors. they enjoy free rent for up to three years. and the city offers low interest loans. this woman runs one of the shops. she's from cameroon. she spent 20 years there selling ornaments and traditional musical instruments to european buyers. but the credit crisis threatened her business. she decided to set up shop here in january last year. a buyer from shanghai drops in. african products do well in cities as an increasing number of residents are well off. they often decorate their houses with african goods. >> translator: chinese people

really like african products. >> i am really happy for yiwu, for chinese and fun for chinese. >> reporter: a market manager said he's determined to invigorate the market even further. he feels this would give african products a greater chance of being bought by chinese. >> translator: i will try to make more chinese familiar with african products sold in the market. it would be great if we could help correct the trade imbalance between china and africa. >> reporter: the chinese are taking steps to expand their influence over african nations. there are attempts to build more viable trade relations have just began.

nhk world, yiwu, china. while china's ties with africa may be strengthening relations with japan are at a weak point. the neighbors are at odds over territory in the waters between them. leaders of japan, china, and south korea are preparing for an annual summit likely in may. china's ambassador in tokyo says bilateral talks between president xi and japanese prime minister shinzo abe will be difficult to arrange under current circumstances. >> translator: we are not avoiding high-level talks. but it would not be desirable for top leaders to meet only to end up in disagreement. >> ambassador the absence of progress regarding the disputed territory, which is in the east china sea. japan controls the senkaku islands but china and taiwan claim them.

he added the recent appointment of the chinese prime minister is likely to lead to an immediate improvement of bilateral ties. he is a former ambassador to japan. the territorial disput the operators of fukushima daiichi are changing how they operate. they will make safety and disaster preparedness their top priorities. tepco officials say they should not have blaminged the accident on natural causes because the tsunami was difficult to predict. they go on to say the meltdowns had been preventable if they had

been better prepared for the event. they say they need to be better focused on safety. >> . nuclear experts have spent the past couple years trying to understand exactly what went wrong at fukushima daiichi. the march 2011 earthquake and tsunami triggers melt downs in three reactors. we look at how crews on sight used fire engines to keep one reactor school, and why this failed. >> workers faced a station

blackout on march 11, 2011. a loss of all back up power. reactor one was the first unit to melt down. reactors three and two followed. during our investigation, we learned that before the melt down in reactor three, a battery continued to power the units emergency cooling system. engineers tried different ways to pump water into the unit before the battery died, none worked, so they decided to use fire engines. they manipulated valves to make the ejection process more efficient. they wanted the water to run through a single route. they began invekting water into reactor three shortly after 9:00

a.m. on march 13th to try to prevent a melt down. >> translator: water has been injected, the fuel rods are now safely covered with water. >> reporter: they estimate crews injected more than 400 tons of water burning the day. they considered it enough, but reactor three melted down anyway that same day. what went wrong? >> pipes from reactor three, engineers injected water in it using the route shown in light blue. the condenser is here, it caught our attention. the device produces steam, it

sends it out. it usually holds very little water. but tepco disclosed later that a large amount of water was inside the condenser. we think some of that water was supposed to go into the reactor. >> nhk world asked experts to help conduct a close examination of conductor 3 to look for leaks. we discovered a pump normally keeps water from getting into the condenser. but the power outage at the plant stopped the device from working. >> translator: we have just found a leak on the way to the reactor. it was a blind spot. >> reporter: we wanted to find out how much water could enter

the condenser instead of the reactor when the pump is off. so we went to ta lab in italy. the facility is the best for simulating the high temperatures and conditions that would happen in a nuclear reactor. so the investigators reenacted it to see where the water goes. >> okay, you can start the acquisition. >> right away, the water rushed toward the condenser. the result os of the experiment showed that only 45% of the water reached the reactor, and the rest leaked into the condenser. >> if we need to inject water into the pressure vessel, we

need to avoid any leakage in the line. this is an important topic and must be investigating. >> reporter: the experts estimate a melt down could have been averted if 75% of the water had reached the reactor. >> the ax in fukushima prompted those in japan to deploy fire engines and water injection pumps across the country. but our simulation shows that this is not enough to prevent a similar accident. there are still many questions about what happened at fukushima daiichi. two years long, the search for lessons continues. people around the world have told the story of a pakistani schoolgirl shot for promoting

women's rights, malal ara says is writing a book. she will talk about the day muz lick extremist troied to assassinate her. she wrote a blog advocating for education for girls. a taliban gunman stormed on to her school bus in north western pakistan and shot her in the head. she was taken to birmingham for surgery. she is now in school in the u.k. a trend is creating fresh challenges for the southeast asian country. among them is the thorny issue of finding skilled guides who

also happen to be talented linguists. also, as a new tourist destination. this man runs a travel agency inmyian mar. he uses his fluent japanese to be in contact with major japanese agencies for his tours in the country. his business has been booming since direct flights were started between japan and myanmar in october 2012. it now welcomes about 200 japanese travelers every month. that's a jump of 70% from last year.

the japanese travel agents are asking his firm to take on even more tourists for them. but it's proving tough to find good staff. >> translator: we have a mountain of challenges to overcome, as things stand, we cannot keep up with demand. >> reporter: myanmar's growing tourism industry is experiencing a shortage of tour guides fluent in foreign languages besides english. currently, it has only 300 guides fluent in japanese. domestic farms are locked in a personnel tug-of-war with their japanese counterparts who have offices in myanmar. in an effort to train more staff, they've now started a japanese language class. myanmar's has another hurdle, a shortage of transportation.

yangon the country's largest city has roughly 200 hotels, but it has only 20 or so hotels that suit the tastes of japanese tourists. he visited a five-star hotel due to open soon in yangon. he had long been keen on the hotel. >> so, can we expect some rooms for this coming season? >> i don't think so. not for this coming high season. >> not for this -- >> look, the demand is so high, we won't be contracting. if we manage to have a softer opening. >> reporter: the agent was

fruitless, and he didn't manage to broker a deal with the hotel. the experience made him believe that it's crucial to win the cooperation of foreign hotel operators. so, he attended a seminar for overseas investors, and promoted the advantages of investment in myanmar's tourism industry. the event is the first to be held by the country's travel sector. >> we don't have much more results on hotels yet, so since this conference is for the introduction of myanmar, for the investors to come and invest, since it has the huge possibility of investing there. >> reporter: some of the hotels in yangon have raised their room charges three times in the last year. with the goal of making sure the current boom isn't just a temporary bubble, he is determined to push myanmar's

tourism industry to the next level. keita hashimoto, nhk world, yangon. >> warm weather in japan and other parts of asia, robert speta has more. >> yeah, throughout the day on friday, we saw temperatures climb into the 20s across the tokyo wear. so everyone that enjoyed the warm weather definitely aappreciatuated it. this colder air mass is starting to sink in, and that will dive the temperatures down in tokyo. looking the temperatures in the lower portions of the teens, and sunday there is a frontal area pushing in, that's coming from here, where you have just been getting absolutely pounded by heavy rains for the past week there now into southeastern

china. you can see here, some of these areas in the darker reds, that's 400 or 500 milliliters of rain. it will continue to linger over the next several days, and thunderstorms in here could be severe at times, definitely going to keep an eye out here. let's look at the americas, it has been dry, rather clear out here, but there is a change in forecast. we have a low pressure area coming in out of texas, that will bring in cold air, every time we talk about cold air and warm air coming in from the south. you will see that threat of hail, damaging winds, and going into easter sunday, through the midwest and the greatlakes regions, that will be pushing

through. and bringing in this cold air, and in some places you will see a significant temperature drop in kansas here, you're expecting temperatures on your saturday to be 21 degrees going into sunday, only four for the high. that will be the story told here across much of the plains. now here in europe, we're continuing to see cold air off towards the north, and that has been persistent for some time now, the u.k. has been pounded by one storm after another. it does look like the weather will remain dry here. where you're seeing the snow here is poland through ukraine. that will bring five to ten centimeters across areas. meanwhile, back towards the west into the iberian peninsula, you are seeing some thunderstorm

activity. it looks like that will have a break here on saturday and sunday. going into monday, you can just start to see it there off towards the west. another storm comes in and that will be another shot of heavy rain showers. madrid at 17, lisbon at 19 here. take a look towards the north, this is what it's feeling like here. the overnight lows are going to be diving well below zero. here is a look at your extended forecast.

that's "newsline" for this hour, i'm gene otani in tokyo. for all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us.