landscapes. and unrivaled winter flavors. welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. the south korean government has decided to suspend humanitarian dialogue and aid to north korea following tuesday's artillery attack by the country. the shelling of the south korean island of yeonpyeong in the yellow sea left two marines and two civilians dead. 18 people were injured, including three civilians. the casualties have led to calls from the public for a tough response, including military

retaliation. >> translator: we have to show a firm attitude. we've been patient. >> translator: i don't want our country to stage a war. but north korea should be properly punished. >> the south korean government decided on wednesday to reject an inter-korean red cross meeting to arrange reunions of families divided since the korean war. the meeting was due to be held on thursday. the government also decided to suspend the delivery of 7,000 tons of cement to flood-stricken areas in north korea. south korean president lee myung-bak on wednesday talked with leaders of japan and other countries over the phone to seek their support. foreign affairs and trade minister kim sung hwan plans to seek china's understanding when he meets chinese foreign minister yang jiechi, who arrives in seoul on friday. in the meantime, north korea's

state-run tv carried a statement by a foreign ministry spokesperson on wednesday that blamed south korea for the artillery exchanges. china has called on north and south korea to exercise restraint and to hold talks as soon as possible to prevent further hostilities. chinese foreign spokesman hong lei made the appeal in a statement on wednesday. the statement says china strongly urges both north and south korea to exercise calm and restraint and engauge in dialogue as quickly as possible. the statement also says china will make efforts with relevant nations to ease tensions on the korean peninsula. south korea is unofficially consulting u.n. security council members about north korea's attack. the issue has not yet been

placed on the official agenda on the security council. u.n. officials said south korea's u.n. ambassador, park in kook met britain's deputy ambassador to the united nations, philip parham, on wednesday morning. britain holds the rotating security council presidency this month. park and parham coordinated views with an eye on the security council taking up tuesday's attack. some diplomats say the south korean government has not yet decided on how to raise the issue at the u.n. the security council is unlikely to deal with the issue until next week. earlier hideshi hara spoke with our reporter hiroki yajima, who covers issues on the korean peninsula. >> what can you tell us about the south korean government's response to north korea's attack? >> president lee myung-bak said on tuesday the strike was an obvious provocation. he said indiscriminate attacks on civilians can't be forgiven. a day later south korean authorities reviewed the north korean artillery attack had killed civilians. south korea's preparing to lay

the issue before the u.n. security council. president lee myung-bak has spoken with japanese prime minister naoto kan and u.s. president barack obama about his alliance with their countries. however, the effectiveness of going through the u.n. security council is in question. actually, it took four months for it to adopt a statement about the sinking of a south korean war ship. china was reluctant to back the statement. in the end the security council didn't name -- even though evidence showed it was to blame. now china and russia are concerned about the north artillery attacks, so the south korean government will need to use diplomatic skill to keep the countries on its side. >> and why did north korea attack south korea, and why now? >> well, i think there were two reasons behind this strike. one stems from north korea's domestic situation and the other is based on its relations with south korea and the united

states. domestically, kim jong il decided his third son, kim jong un, will be his successor. kim jong un has to quickly strengthen his power because his father is still dealing with the effects of a stroke he suffered two years ago. north korea is aiming to build what it calls a great prosperous and powerful nation in 2012 through military and economic reconstruction. the 100th anniversary of the birth of kim il sung. but u.n. sanctions against north korea for its nuclear tests have left the country's economy in shambles. so the north relies on foreign aid. and south korea took a softer approach with north korea, it used to send aid and support. >> right. >> but the administration -- but the administration of lee myung-bak is taking a tougher approach now. it only sends humanitarian aid. on the diplomatic side, north korea needs to guarantee its regime change. it wants to negotiate a peace

treaty with the united states. the two countries have relied on a cease-fire aeement since the end of th korn r. it'sunlikely t. sncekorea. anrlrhis month t.s. united states'sthe inrnioxpec provocationst to

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they'reiscussing details of a rescuereland that 85 billion eu. but uncertainty over ireld' fiscal health may be spreading to other parts of europe. on wednesday government bonds from spainga also fell. japan's trade surplus rose 2.7% in october due to increased auto asian countries. the finance ministry announced in a preliminary report on thursday that the trade surplus for october was billion, up 2.7% from a year earlier. it's the second straight month of gains. exports rose $68 billion. this was mainly due to increased shipments of vehicles and auto parts such as diesel engines to. but the growth rate declined for the eighth monthunning because nearly $59 iation of the yen. billion, mainly due to iron ore and coal. a major japanese trading house has acquired the rights to

buy rare earth metals from an australian company. the deal will cover nearly 30% of the annual demand for the metals in japan. trading house sojitz said on wednesday that it has reached a cgr whlynas corporation to pay $250 million for the rights. lynas is developing rare earth taec ier stlia and malaysia, where operations are scheduled to begin in 2011. >> translator: this project is likely to be the first to start operations among other ongoing rare earthevopntroct around the world. >> sojit also says it will able to procure about tsf the metals annually for ten years. that would cover nearly 30% of japan's annual demand. the rare earth metals will include cerium which is essential to semiconductor

production, andneymium, which is used inut motors. the japanese government will provide more than half of the funds needed for the purchase of the rights. let's take a look at the latest market figures. ♪ ♪ afghan officials say that nearly 10% of the elected candidates were disqualified in the parliamentary elections held in september. the election commission released results from all but one of the country's 34ronc o wednesday. it said 24 candidates had been

disqualified, including a relative of president hamid karzai. about auaer oth blots were nullified because of the suspected fraud. unsuccessful candidates and their supporters demonstrated in the capital, kabul,n wednesday, demanding a revote. with u.s. troops due to begin leaving afghanistan next year, the elections were regarded as an important step in transferring responsibility for security to the afghan government. but the outcome throws the legitimacyf e rliamentary vote into question. president karzai is expected to face increased difficulty as he tries to unite the country. the worl meteorological agents organization says the levels of carbon dioxide and two other greenhouse gases in the rts mohere reached record highs in 2009. thewmo says that last year's global average concentration of carbon dioxide in the air was 386.8 parts per million.

at u0.42% from the previous year. the concentration of methane as well as nitrous ode wlso up by 0.2% from a year earlier. the wmo attributes the rise in methane to melting frozen soil undeunusual high temperatures in the northern hemisphere and heavy rainfall in the tropics caused by the la nina weather phenomenon japan' meteorological agency says it expects the methane increase will continue this year, but the agency also says that it's vital to reduce gas emissions in the long run as most of them are the result of human activity. the international media had e opportunity on wednesday to watch three astronauts from japan, the united states, and russia undergoing training for a space flight. japanese astronaut satoshi furukawa will travel to the international space station aboard a russian soyuz spacecraft along with his u.s. and russian colleagues in may. the three are now undergoing

their final round of training at a facility on the outskirts of moscow on maneuvering the spacecraft. they will also serve as backup astronauts for a soyuz flight in december. speaking in russian, furukawa expressed his resolve to make the space flight a success. furukawa will remain on the space station for six months. he will become the second japanese astronaut after soichi noguchi to undertake an extended stay on the station. many students who are about to graduate are having a hard time finding work. that's true for those looking for jobs in companies, and it's especially true for those in the arts. some young musicians, however, have found at least one employer who's willing to pay them to play.

♪ >> reporter: the osaka municipal simm fonic band has been proving its value to the community for 87 years, but this year it's facing a serious budget shortfall. the band receives its funding from the city. but the municipal budget under pressure, the expenditure's been cut to something like $600,000 a year. that's half what it was ten years ago. for the past six years the band has been unable to hire new musicians. >> translator: we've had ups and downs, but this is bad. i don't know when we'll be able to hire anybody. >> reporter: musicians spend a lifetime honing their skills. but they also have to pay the bills. meaning someone needs to pay them to perform. someones are harder to come by these days. one employer, however, does have the "help wanted" sign out.

it's the self-defense forces. they need bands for ceremonies and training events. ♪ until recently most sdf band members didn't really start playing with an ensemble until they joined up. this year 30 out of 42 members of one band alone are music college graduates. >> translator: i was searching for a career path on which i could continue with music and still be employed. when i found out about the self-defense force band, i made it my goal and decided to apply. >> reporter: the musicians may be band members, but they're also full-fledged officers in the ground sdf. that means they have to practice the scales of defense training, such as saluting, marching,

shooting, and combat operations. morizono says at first he struggled with even the most basic of maneuvers such as about-face. >> translator: when i first held a rifle, i felt a sense of terror. but i also realized that this is my job to master. >> translator: the band members are very different from those i worked with when i first joined. some of them have studied abroad and even gone to graduate school. as a conductor, this keeps me on my toes. >> reporter: the recruits have the dual responsibilities of financingeri fingering their musical instruments and the instruments of national defense. that's probably not what most of them had in mind when they committed their lives to music. but now they're marching to the beat of a different drummer.

>> and the beat looks like it will continue. some musicologists are now prepping for the sdf entrance exams. here's the weather forecast with saki ochi. hi there, and welcome back to your world weather update. now, in east asia we're looking at clear skies for the most part across china today. high pressure really moving in and then rain in the northeast too is pulling away. but that instead is heading in toward japan. now, a lot of japan this morning saw some nice clear skies, but that's changing as we head into the midday hours, there's a lot more clouds moving in and we do have the system that's going to be bringing in a little bit more moisture as we head more in toward the evening, later hours of the day. looks like rain will be impacting a lot of northern areas of japan and including parts of the tokyo area too

could see showers develop later on tonight. here's a look at highs for you. 8 degrees in beijing and 6 degrees in seoul. a lot of single digits here. tokyo getting up to 15 degrees. but 23 in taipei. 17 in chongqing. and much, much cooler in ulan bator. minus 8 only for your high. as for north america, clear skies continuing to impact much of mexico as well as the western half of the united states, looking much calmer. after all the stormy weather from the past few days, that big system is instead now moving in toward the central plain states. out of central canada, all the way down even in toward texas we're seeing a lot of messy weather here. snow showers will be impacting areas toward the north. so central canada into the northern plains definitely seeing a lot more snow accumulation tonight. then as we go toward the south it's going to turn more into rain as well as some stormy areas. the southern plains could see some severe storms developing. we are looking at tornado watches in effect now for parts

of the central plains. so tonight do stay on the watch for that. all of that chilly wet weather's going to be headed into the northeast new england states as we head into the latter part of the weekend. meanwhile, we do have a new system already impacting british columbia. that's starting to bring in more snow again. looks like that will start moving into the pacific northwest in the days to come. thursday's highs looking very chilly in the northwest. 4 for seattle and the same in vancouver. denver too remaining at 0 for your high. chicago too at 2 degrees. and even new york joining in the single digits at 8 degrees. a little bit warmer in d.c. with a high of 10. as for europe today, another messy day for you. a lot of unsettled weather. scattered showers all around for northern areas. that's going to include a lot of cold precipitation. cold rain as well as snow showers, all very possible. the british isles. already hearing of snow accumulations. northern scotland could see more snow tonight. in the south mainly across the

mediterranean area, all of the showers are going to have some thunderstorms in the mix. things could turn a little bit stormy for you. as for temperatures, showing a big dip in those highs as we head into the weekend. 6 for paris and 4 degrees in london. only 2 in berlin. and then as we head into the evening hours of thursday and into friday morning things are going to get a lot cooler. in northern europe minus 2 for your morning low. in vienna. dropping at minus 8 in stockholm. minus 14 for oslo. very chilly conditions p even london too dropping well below the freezing mark. so some very icy conditions here. all right. now, here is your three-day outlook. ♪ o'

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the south korean government has decided to suspend humanitarian dialogue and aid to north korea following tuesday's artillery attack by the country. the shelling of the south korean island of yeonpyeong in the yellow sea left two marines and two civilians dead. 18 people were injured, including three civilians. the casualties have led to calls for -- from the public for a tough response, including military retaliation. >> translator: we have to show a firm attitude. we've been patient. >> translator: i don't want our country to stage a war. but north korea should be properly punished. >> the south korean government decided on wednesday to reject an interkorean red cross meeting to arrange reunions of families

divided since the korean war. the meeting was due to be held on thursday. the government also decided to suspend the delivery of 7,000 tons of cement to flood-stricken areas in north korea. south korean president lee myung-bak on wednesday talked with leaders of japan and other countries over the phone to seek their support. a meeting between south korean foreign minister kim sung hwan and chinese foreign minister yang jiechi was scheduled in seoul on friday. but the south korean government has just announced that yang's visit has been postponed. in the meantime north he kra's state-run tv carried a statement by a foreign ministry spokesperson on wednesday that blamed south korea for the artillery exchanges. that's it for this edition of "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo.

we'll be back in half an hour with the latest news and weather.