one year after north korea's artillery attack on south korea's island, residents are still rebuilding their lives amid lingering anxiety. welcome to "newsline." i'm catherine kobiyashi in tokyo. people in south korea are heading to class, starting work and getting on with their daily lives, quite a difference from this time last year. north korea attacked the island one year ago. residents fled the island and left everything behind. now they're busy trying to get back what they lost. nhk world's anna jung is on the

island. we asked her what life is like one year later. >> reporter: people are here rebuilding what was damaged. the island is a few square kilometers in size but a point of contention between the north and south for years. south korea soldiers watch their enemies from this observation post. behind them, just 12 kilometers, north korea sold yores stare right back. the island lies near the neutral limit line, the sea border between the two koreas. the military launched their attack last november 23rd across those waters. troops fired 170 shells, about half of them landed on the island. they killed four people including two civilians. they hurt 18 others. the shells damaged dozens of buildings, homes, businesses, military facilities. about 1,700 residents had little

choice but to flee. they stayed away for three months and then little by little they started to return. but many of them needed a new place to live. workers began rebuilding and last month some residents began moving in to 15 new houses. we've seen lots of examples here of how people are trying to get back to the lives they had and how they're dealing day-to-day. the elementary school is the only primary school here. the student body totals a mere 76. at 2:34 in the afternoon, a blast resonated through the halls. kim dong jin in charge of the fifth grade class was preparing for a lesson. >> translator: i didn't think it was an artillery attack but perhaps an earthquake. we all scrambled under desks as a precaution.

the second blast was horrible. the town and houses were in flames. but strangely, more than being shocked, i just thought that i was going to die. >> reporter: many students evacuated to a shelter within school grounds. on the way there, students called their parents on cell phones but many were unable to make contact. many become anxious while waiting in the shelter. one of them was this boy, a fifth grader at the time. the next day was his birthday and he was looking to receiving a birthday present from his father. >> translator: my dad is a south korean soldier. i was very worried that he might die in the attack. i called him but the phone lines were busy so i couldn't get through.

i was anxious and scared. >> reporter: the next day he was forced to flee to mainland korea. he started living in a temporary shelter with his family, all except his father. his mother said he was worried about his father who stayed behind for work. >> translator: he was very anxious about his father as he remained on the island alone. children were on edge when they left their homes. >> reporter: 1,700 residents returned to their hometown after living in temporary shelters for several months. from september, members of a professional orchestra in seoul made their way to the school to help alleviate stress. once a week they offer their talent and instruments to try to soothe the troubled hearts and minds of children through music. >> translator: music therapy

uses musical instruments to get through to young people who are mentally affected by the shelling. it helps them think positively. >> reporter: music lessons are provided to over 70 students on this island. children are learning to play violin, flute, clarinet and cello. many have had little or no experience with instruments in the past but now they're enjoying music lessons taught by professionals. >> translator: we didn't even have music lessons a year ago. but now, instructors come from seoul to teach us. it's really fun. >> reporter: he's recovered from the shock of the attack. last week, he introduced a composition for an essay contest titled "my dream to the public."

he was the sole representative of his school. >> translator: my father is a noncommissioned officer managing other officers and crew within his military unit. i'm always proud of him. i like to be an officer like my father who loves his junior staff and accomplishes his work. >> reporter: as you can see, people here are getting back on their feet. still, the threat of attack hasn't gone away. construction workers are building seven emergency shelters to replace ones residents fled to during the shelling. the structures have air conditioning generators, medical facilities and first aid in a supply so the people can stay up to ten days. tomorrow, south koreas are mark the first anniversary of the attack. the government will host a service to remember those who died and honor the work of those

who have come back. >> that was anna jung reporting. prosecutors in tokyo are expected to launch a criminal investigation on tuesday in to the former chairman of daio paper. they say he took loans adding up to $110 million. the company filed a criminal complaint on monday accusing him of damages. it charges he borrowed the money from seven subsidiaries over the last year. sources from daio paper say he instructed senior officials of the subsidiaries to transfer the money to a special bank account. the sources say he lost most of the money from gambling at casinos in other companies. the former chairman has reportedly admitted that he borrowed the money for personal reasons. he said he will repay the loans by selling his stake in the papermaker and taking out new loans. prosecutors are looking in to

how ikawa could have lost millions. company sources say he couldn't control his gambling habit and was a raeg at casino vip rooms in macau. >> translator: my friend said that japanese man is well known for spending a lot of money. >> this man claims he saw ikawa in a casino vip room a few years ago. >> translator: those kind of people are welcomed to vip rooms because they're highrollers. they spend much more than ordinary gamblers. >> minimum bets in the rooms start at thousands of dollars. the man says he once saw a company executive lose more than $1 million in 20 minutes. ikawa now faces a criminal investigation over aggravated breach of trust. prosecutors say they're working hard to get a conviction.

we have now the latest in business news. u.s. lawmakers weren't able to come to agreement on the country's deficit. >> exactly, catherine. disappointing from the committee overnight. let me get you the details. a u.s. panel of congressmen has failed to reach an agreement on how to reduce the federal deficit. they announced the result prior to the deadline set for wednesday. the bipartisan panel was tasked with finding measures to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next decade. democrats and republicans on the panel were unable to narrow their difrss on spending cuts and taxes. democrats wanted the package to include tax hikes for wealthy americans while republicans maintained that debt reduction should be achieved through selective spending cuts. under the agreement already reached by the two parties a failure triggers automatic across the board spending cuts over ten years starting in 2013.

however, reaching a consensus could be difficult as the republican party is strongly against big reductions in defense spending. after the super committee's failure to make a deal, president obama criticized the missed opportunity. >> there's still too many republicans in congress who have refused to listen to the voices of reason and compromise that are coming from outside of washington. >> obama refers to the agreement on the automatic across the board spending cuts starting in 2013. >> there's no imminent threat to us defaulting on the debt that we owe. >> the u.s. president went on to say that he will veto any efforts to get rid of the automatic budget cuts and urged congress to get back to work to reduce the deficit. new york stocks dropped over 240 points overnight. investors sold a wide range of issues due to concerns over the u.s. budget deficit and the growing credit uncertainty in europe. the dow jones industrial average

finished monday at 11,547, that's down 248 points, a loss of 2.1% from friday's close. share prices plunged on european voices, also. indexes showed sharp declines of 2% to 3%. the index in london fell 2.6% and in frankfurt and paris, we saw losses of 3.4%. taking a look at bonds, yields on italian an spanish sovereign debt is high. the yield on italy's 10-year government bond around 6.6%, spain's around 6.5%. debt problems are now spreading outside of the euro zone. hungary asked the international monetary fund and the european union for precautionary financial support. hungary's request comes as it faces difficulties raising funds. with its debt rising to more

than 80% of the gdp, rating agencies warned earlier this month that hungarian government bonds could face a downgrade. this prompted the currency to fall significantly. hungary received an imf-led bail yut in 2008. now the country's looking to reach a fresh deal with the imf and eu by early 2012 to meet its refinancing needs. taking a look at the nikkei, tokyo stocks are losing ground on tuesday morning following an overnight drop on wall street and the collapse of debt reduction talks by u.s. lawmakers. the nikkei's currently at 8,317, that's down 30 points or a loss of a third of a percent from monday's close. we are at an 8-month intraday low. consultants say the growing european credit turmoil have prompted investors to sell issues of exporters, including

auto and machinery firms. let's take a loot currencies now. the dollar trading along the 96.00 line currently at 76.94-02 against the yen. the failure of the u.s. supercommittee to reach a deal did not lead a downgrade of the country's sovereign debt as investors feared and they are buying the dollar. let's take a look at the euro/yen. sources say that investors are buying the dollar to avert risks due to renewed concerns over europe's debt problems. here's a look at the latest long-term interest rates, this is the yield on the benchmark 10-year japanese government bopd. let's also get you a look at other market figures.

>> that's all in business for this hour. now it's back to catherine. >> thanks very much, ai. greek's prime minister says the government is committed to the european union's bailout plan. he met with european commission president barroso. he told reporters that staying in the euro zone is the only choice for his country. >> my final remark has to do with implement the necessary reforms so that greece remains in the eu zone. >> the eu asked greece to send a

written commitment to all leader that is back the new government. eu leaders want the commitments before they release the proposed aid. he stressed to the party leaders the importance of complying with teu request. e gyp shon s egyptians protesting against the country's military rulers are calling for a large scale demonstration. they're demanding the dissolution of the military council that provisionally governs the country. since the violence erupted on friday, 23 people have died and more than 1,900 have been injured. protesters are using the internet to call for dissolution of the military council and its political powers be passed on to a new government. clashes have spread from cairo's central tahrir square to outlying districts where demonstrators are blocking alleyways and hurling rocks. the military council has deployed troops to defend key government buildings. a military commander says he will not forcibly push out protesters are who holding a peaceful demonstration.

on november 28th, egypt will hold its first parliamentary elections since the ouster of former president hosni mubarak after 30 years of rule. in spain the largest opposition people's party won a substantial victory in sunday's general elections but many people there are less than enthusiastic about the change. the people's party won a majority of 186 seats in the 350-seat lower house of parliament. the governing socialist workers party lost with 110 seats. this will bring about the first change of power in spain in 7 1/2 years. the spanish media gave the victory extensive coverage saying the ongoing economic crisis gave a big boost to the opposition party. the people are voicing few expectations. >> translator: i don't expect much from the new government since the ongoing crisis is a worldwide issue. >> spain's unemployment rate is more than 22%.

the worst within the euro zone. this reflects the slow down in stock prices in frankfurt and paris. the yields of spain's government bonds are surging and stirring up a sense of impending crisis. attention is now focused on whether the new government can quickly implement austerity measures. a chinese railway expert says a fatal high-speed train crash in the country last july was caused not by a faulty signal system but by poor management. the deputy leader of a government expert panel told the "beijing times" newspaper that railway workers operated the system improperly causing a moving high speed train to ram into a stopped one. the collision near the city in zhejiang province killed 40 people. the expert denied the system was defective saying the same equipment is installed on other lines and has caused no problems. the expert added that the panel submitted a report on its investigation into the accident

to the government in late september. the government has yet to announce the results of the probe. in south korea, people will get a glimpse into the life of the country's last crown princess masako ri when the exhibition opens in seoul on tuesday. reporters were given a preview of the show on monday. among the displays is a handwritten diary covering the buildup to her marriage to korea's crown prince un yi. the princess was born in 1901 as the first daughter of japan's prince. in 1920, she married the crown prince of korea in a time that country had been annexed by japan. the ceremony was postponed by a year when the korean emperor gojong died. the princess used her diary to record her condolences and wrote poetry that expressed her longing to marry. ha jong un, a close friend of

masako's who donated about 600 belongings to the south korean government expressed his impression of the exhibition. >> translator: princess masako's mementos show us how her marriage was able to transcend national and ethnic boundaries. >> the exhibition will run until january at the national palace museum in seoul. now let's look at the latest in sumo with ross miharmihara. the excitement at the grand sumo tournament is picking up as the big names are paired up. so let's see how the two co-leaders did on day nine. textbook sumo in this match against kitaiaki. a left inside and then uses the belly to raise the center of

gravity. from there, the question of winning technique and cruises to a ninth consecutive victory. it's a crush-out so he's yet to lose as an ozeki. hack hoe is lowhat is looking fh straight victory. quickly hissen up the ranks. if he is nervous, it doesn't show. he gives hakuho zuna all he can handle throwing chest to chest and moving him back briefly but in the end, the king of the ring continues his reign pulling over arm throw. the yokozuna still perfect. the other person of interest is aiming to move up to ozeki. he has seven wins and needs at least four more to earn

promotion but he's up against the mightily mongolian works for a deep grip with the right arm. that slaps him in an upright position throughout this struggle. he tries several times to square him out with that awkward position but to no avail. he ends the prolonged match with an undershoulder swing down. here's the usual race after nine days. hakuho still the heavy favor and kotoshogiku approaching the record of 11 straight wins. there's a gap of two wins with the next closest kisenosato and others. on day ten, hakuho will meet a danger wrestler. tune in to see if the

leaderboard is shaken up. >> ross mihara there with the latest in sumo. it's a cold tuesday morning here in tokyo. let's see what's in store for the forecast for japan and other countries with saki ochi. >> and welcome to your weather update. getting a look at conditions in east asia, first off. and we are talking about more snow impacting northern areas of japan. still looking at a lot of moisture here in this northwestern areas, and we will be hearing of snow since yesterday in the area and that is looking to continue again today with some blustery conditions, blizzard-like conditions could be continuing in the morning hours. behind it, looks at more moisture gathering over korean peninsula today and in the evening hours. heading in to wednesday, as well, things looking weather. northern areas talking about

rain/snow mix possible. as that rain moves away, china dries out really nicely. even in southeast and to rain in the island but that's looking set to pull out. for vietnam, however, things do stay wet and as the philippines, too, just continue to see more scattered showers as well as thunderstorms. and for taiwan, too, looking dry right now but in the next 24 hours rain really starts to develop over the island. as far as highs on monday, 9 in seoul. 10 in beijing. meanwhile, 23 in congress hong and gets up to a steamy 33 degrees in bangkok. and over towards the americas, pacific we have hurricane kenneth here, category 1 hurricane and continues to move out to sea and it should remain well away from land. meanwhile, little bit stormy, though, for the southern end of the u.s. here. the southern plains i should say. we've got a couple of systems

working their way through and bringing rain, that looks to continue again today and there is a threat of some heavier downpours and could trigger flash flooding and stronger storms, too. keep an eye out on your local watches and warnings. out towards the west, too, it's still very unsettled for the pacific northwest. up and down towards northern california, too. coastal areas look at rain and heavy amounts and snow for the upper elevations. highs on tuesday look like this. 14 in denver. 21 in l.a.. 27 degrees for houston and mexico city expecting 25 degrees and miami, too, hits 27 degrees. lastly, a look at europe here. largely settled. a little bit of light precipitation here in the east. and then little bit more active weather looking towards the mediterranean. we have still a low in place that continues to bring in winds, as well as locally heavy

downpours and showers are possible. all of that moisture heading to italy and then the balkan peninsula. out west, too, the ibarian peninsula picking up showers and london area, still talking about heavy fog looking to redevelop again tonight. as for highs on too us 14 in paris and the same for london. it's called in vienna at 0 degrees again. all right. that's a look at the weather conditions for now. here's your three-day outlook.

our lead story this hour, prosecutors in tokyo are expected to launch a criminal

investigation on tuesday into the former chairman of daio paper. they say mototaka ikawa took out personal loans from daio subsidiaries adding up to more than $110 million. the company filed a criminal complaint on monday accusing him of damages and borrowed the money from seven subsidiaries over the last year. sources from daio paper say he instructed senior officials to transfer the money to a special bank account. the sources say he lost most of the money gambling at casinos in other countries. prosecutors say he admitted he borrowed the money for personal reasons, they quote him as saying he'll repay the loans by taking out new loans and selling his stake in the papermaker. that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobiyashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.