kim jong-il family grieves. north koreans gather in city square and town halls to cry, even wail for kim jong-il. high ranking officials are busy orchestrating the transition of power. mourners filed past kim's body. they include diplomats station netd north korean capitol.

jim kim jong-un have praised him as a great leader to the north korean leadership. video showed north korean officials bowing toward the coffin with solemn music in the background. kim il-sung died in 1994. kim jong-il had a ceremony just after his death. the ceremony was held at the same venue with the same music. this may indicate that the nation's leadership has been handed down to kim jong-un, the third generation of the kim family. the foreign ministers of japan, south korea and china have been watching developments closely. they i have a greed to work together to stabilize the korean peninsula. japanese foreign minister spoke by phone with his counter parts, kim sang juan in south korea and

china. he urged them to cooperate closely and share information. he stressed importance of preventing backlash from kim jong-il's death. he said this is an important period for peace. he added that situation must be handled calmly and cautiously. yang said that china is ready to make an active contribution it maintaining stability in the region. yang added that china hopes the issue of japanese nationals abducted by north korea will be resolved by the two countries through dialogue. now the sudden death of the north korean leader is leaving many people wondering what happens next. nhk interviewed a former chef to kim jong-il and an expert on north korean affairs. he told nhk that kim jong-un has leader for years until 2001.

he said he was this close contact with his son from 7 through 18. he admitted that the north korean economy was lagging behind. >> translator: kim jong-un said we have to follow the example of china. china has an open-door policy under the communist leadership. >> he said that kim jong-un was only 17 when he made these remashes. he said he thinks the son is capable promoting such a policy. professor of university of north korean studies in south korea said kim will need time to consolidate power. >> translator: kim jong-un will need support from relatives and military for the time weeg being. i think it will take about a

year before he fully assumes leadership. >> professor yang says kim il-sung made some progress in helping with a food crisis before death. but his son failed to revive the nation's collapsed economy. he said kim jong-un's biggest obstacle will be to rebuild the nation's economy because he lacks experience. he may follow china by gradually promoting reform and open-door policy. next we go to bangkok to find out what is maybing headlines in the region. >> the death of kim jong-il shocked many people in southeast asia. a region that almost uniquely has long maintained friendly relations with north korea. governments here reacted quite differently to those in many other countries. in myanmar people learned of

kim's passing via innet or satellite tv. many expressed regret on hearing the news. >> translator: i think his death is a real shame. because we were acting in trade after kim jong-il took power. >> we developed friendly relations, and i hope that won't change. >> indonesian foreign minister offered his government's condolences. >> we wish to express the hope and the confidence even that the people will be able to overcome. >> in jakarta, flowers were delivered to the north korean embassy. the sorrowful reaction reflects friendly relations between the nations and north korea dating back it years after world war ii. they were brought together under

the nonalign movement is many of developing countries that said they belong to neither the eastern nor western flocks during the cold war. the relationships did have their ups and downs. myanmar once severed diplomatic ties with north korea after a bomb attack, targeting a former south korean president. myanmar blamed the incident on north korean agents. even so, all ten rcn states maintain diplomatics states with north korea. the group includes the north in its extended meetings. and passed statements of denuclearizing the korean peninsula. rcn wants it o avoid the death of kim jong-il from destabilizing regional security. the they are moving to deepen ties with japan and east asia to peace is vitally important.

they will continue it working with japan, china, the u.s. and other countries with problems involving north korea and also make use of its friendly ties. the death toll continues to rise from a typhoon that wreaked havoc in the philippines. more than a thousand people are dead or missing after the storm hit on friday. more than 340,000 people have been affected. and nhk reports from the disaster zone where relief workers are struggling to reach the victims. >> in this village, flash floods and mudslides triggered by the typhoon took away dozens of lives and tore down hundreds of homes. the storm caused floods own landslides on the mountainous island. the northern cities were among the worst affected areas.

>> translator: water was circling around then rocks were coming down from the mountains and hitting houses. that's why the houses were damaged. >> roads and bridges on country's second biggest island have been damaged. that makes relief and reconstruction efforts even harder. for the military and other rescue workers. philippine president on tuesday visited the disaster zone. he promised to accelerate supplies for basic services. people went to evacuation centers. an official estimates that 35% of evacuees are children. they are in desperate needs of assistance. the red cross is in heighted

alert against possible outbreaks of infectious diseases because of poor hygiene and some evacuation centers. nhk world, philippines. u.s. president barack obama on monday pledged to support the recovery effort but help from the international community has only just started to arrive. that will wrap up our bulletin. now to other stories we are covering here on "newsline." a tough month in november, our business desk joins us now, tell us about it, ai. >> japan's trade deficit widened in november. dipping into the red now for a second month in a row. the finance ministry said in a preliminary report on wednesday that japan posted a trade deficit of about $8.8 billion

last month. experts were down for a second consecutive month. that's a 4.5% decline from a year earlier. this is due to a drop in semi conductors. imports rose 11.4%. increase in liquefied natural grass and crude oil was the main factor for the increase. and as for growth forecast, reconstruction boom predicted next fiscal year is a needed boost for japan's economy but concerns over a global slow down are likely to dampen growth in japan. >> government estimated a growth of 2.2% next year that starts in 2012. there will be a cabinet meet be friday where it will be endorsed. they can compile a uj budget for next fiscal year. through march, it will cut its growth forecast to minus 0.1%. this is the first negative growth in two years.

the government says the downward revisions are due to the global slow down triggered by the deb woes in europe and record high levels of the yen. new york stock price sored overnight with the release of favorable data on home building. dow jones rose 337 points toant the day session at 12,103. american housing starts in november rose 9.3% from the previous month. following the overnight rally in new york, tokyo stock prices are also higher. the nikkei is trading at a gain of 1.45% currently. a gain of more than 300 point on wall street eased concerns about the u.s. economic outlook. this prompted investors to buy back recent decliner in tokyo.

japan did post a trade deficit in november for second straight month. negative balance was worse than market expectations. but participants largely shrugged off the news. now to currencies. on the tokyo foreign exchange the euro is gaining ground against the dollar and yen after debt-strapped spain add relatively successful auction of its government bonds. the euro dollar currently at 1.31113113, and against the yen at 102.08-13. sn an upper hand on the european currency for the moment, observers say many market players remain cautious about buying the euro due to persistent concerns over europe's debt problems. here is a look at latest long-term interest rates. yooel on the ten year japanese government bond is up half a basis point. the tokyo stock exchange says it'll relax its listing criteria to encourage smaller

firms to go public. to make the exchange more active and to attract more investors as trading a is sluggish amid growing debt problems. by march of next year, the plan it ease requirements on earnings and other conditions it says firms with temporary decline and performance can still list their stocks if they are deemed to have sufficient growth potential. they will try to complete the screening process within three months of receiving an application. this is the first time they clarified the time needed for evaluation. as of tuesday, the exchange has had only 38 new listings this year. that's about half the figure from ten years ago. the tokyo stock exchange says it aims it boost annual listings to 30 or more from april of 2013. let's take a look at how other asian markets are doing this wednesday morning.

that's all for in business. >> imagine losing your home and all of your belongs. thousands of people found themselves in that situation after the march 11 disaster. many live in temporary housing but they don't call it home. we focus on temporary housing in iwate prefecture, one of the hardist hit in the disaster. people can live there without paying rent but as the months pass, many are feeling increasingly isolated.

now one aid worker has stepped in it help. nhk has his story. >> doing his rounds of the complex everyday. he is an aid worker and wants it make sure people who live here are okay. he checks on all of the redents. they tend to stay indoors when the weather turns cold. he is concerned about their health. >> when i first came here, it was really quiet. nobody went outside. >> the disaster in march destroyed more than a third of the houses. many people had nowhere to live. now members of more than 1800

households have moved in to temporary housing. >> this is the community call center. >> aid workers set up a hot line in temporary housing facilities to help people in need. they answer the phone that rings 50 times everyday. residents ask for advice on getting ready for winter. how to keep pipes from freezing. how to stay warm if they haven't got a heater. >> electric hot we distribute a limit of one per household. >> government officials survey people in temporary housing. 40% of residents report inconvenience in their did daily lives. for example, some temporary houses have uneven flooring. elderly residents find it difficult to get around.

>> there are steps all over. i trip when it gets dark. >> many elderly residents live alone. some have died without any family around. and it's not just the elderly who feel isolated. mothers, fathers, children say they feel alone. ozawa heard these complaints and decided to do something about it. he freed up room at aid workers headquarters. built a space where residents could get together. at first just children showed up. they didn't have anywhere to go after school. they were happy to have a place where they could play around. >> translator: i think people are still haunted by memories of the disaster. i want to help them get together so they can enjoy each other's company and laugh from the

bottom of their hearts. even if it's only for a moment. >> ozawa wanted to bring more people together. so he called on those who stay home all day. housewives, elderly people who don't have a job, at first, only a few showed up. then ozawa added more activities making handy crafts, christmas decorations. the numbers grew. >> translator: having a space like this is great. our temporary houses are too small to invite guests inside. and it's too cold now to talk outdoors. >> i'm grateful to everybody here because i'm having fun and finally laughing again.

>> translator: of course, we are grateful for the supplies. but from now, i think mental and spiritual care will be very important. >> ozawa wants people here to develop closer relationships with their neighbors. he hopes residents can create a new community on their own. nhk world. >> reisn'tly some children from an area hit by the march tsunami welcomed a special guest who traveled all the way from finland. the visit nearly wraps up a story that began when the tsunami hit. >> bringing something to cheer about.

santa claus visits kindergarten. >> how are you today? >> i'm santa claus. >> he's come to do what santa is famous for. >> i'm santa claus and here is some very little present for you. >> oh, thank you very much and merry christmas. >> in a way these children had received another gift from santa during the spring. it was on march 11 that tsunami was about to endanger lives of youngsters. when the waters reached the front door of kindergarten, 11 children were in the building. as the water quickly rose, the principal got the children to scramble up to the roof. >> we had to do whatever it took to survive. we were desperate to get them up to a safe place.

>> with no shelter, the children soon felt the freezing cold. they today wait for four hours for the water to recede. >> translator: some of the children were crying and they all looked scared as we watched what was going on around us. >> finally at 7 p.m., they were able to return to the second floor. but that tsunami had ravished it and the heater wasn't working. then it was almost like santa had left the children a special gift. >> this was santa's costume that we used for the christmas party. >> the teachers put the costumes on the children to warm them up. it wasn't until 11:00 the next morning that children's ordeal ended. the rescue boats arrived.

the santa claus costumes had kept the youngsters warm all through the freezing night. >> in looking at the color of their faces, i could tell they were a bit warmer. they seemed relieved. >> to look at them now, you never know what the children had suffered through. santa is making this a moment to cherish. >> translator: santa was big and very cool. >> that's my little party to bring them back it a more ordinary life. with all my hearty wish you a joyful and a happy christmas.

>> it is getting very cold in asia while some parts of north america are wet. we have the bigger weather picture here and elsewhere in the global weather forecast. >> hello, welcome back to your weather update. let's look at what is happening across japan. southern islands are still with ongoing rain. some of the precipitation will spread. but it wouldn't spread any longer. and the rest of the pacific side will stay largely dry for the next couple of days. meanwhile a low pressure system is bringing more of the wet rain and snow across the northwestern flank of the country and the system will develop and create new conditions starting late thursday here. meanwhile, a large system is creating settled conditions across most of china and the korean peninsula.

down towards the south, tropical storm washi causing deadly floods across the southern philippines and they are still struggling with the aftermath of the tropical storm. here are shots taken on tuesday, four days after the storm hit. homes were completely destroyed and cars and everything are still covered with mud. sunny weather is gradually returning. however it looks like clean-up efforts will take a while or longer and unfortunately some scattered showers are still lingering across some areas p so we are concerned about additional flooding as well as lands slides. temperature wise we are expecting 31 degrees in and 31 in bangkok and up in the north into the single digits with 40 degrees under seoul. it will come down to minus 5 degrees on thursday. heading over to the americas, our winter storm is moving in the northeasterly direction to eastern half of the u.s. most of the precipitation will

be rain rather than snow because lots of warm air is coming in from the south pushing up temperatures. we will show you in a moment. but some snow in quebec saturday morn willing. across the west, snow sagging south ward and the northern rockies in the next 24 hours. more than 15 cent meets of snow are possible here. temperature wise, warm air is covering most of the eastern half of north america warming up to 12 degrees in new york and 16 in washington, d.c. and getting up to 20 degrees in atlanta. finally, let's go over to europe. warm front is moving west ward to east ward to the british isles and continental europe, bringing wet and breezy conditions. that will affect norway and

parts of central europe. we could see heavy snow. as for british isles, dryer by late wednesday. down towards the stormy weather is moving east ward and we will reach the turkey within the next 24 hours. temperature wise not too bad across the west. across the east we are expecting 1 degrees in moscow and the same in kiev. i leave you now with your extended forecast.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." thank for joining us.