>> fantastic stuff. >> thanks a lot for joining us, and please join us again at the top of the hour. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

hello and welcome back to nhk world "newsline."

i'm raja pradhan with the news from tokyo. north korea military and north korea militia organizations tried to show the strength of their numbers with a rally in pyongyang. they filled a square in the capital and filled the air with defiance against the united states. they condemned the u.s. for using radar-evading stealth bombers in joint military drills with south korea. [ speaking foreign language ] >> an official read out a statement that the supreme commander of the korean people's army released on tuesday. he announced that artillery units are at their highest level of combat readiness. north korean authorities warn they have loaded data on all enemy targets into a high-precision system and that they have means of carrying out attacks that the world has yet to encounter or even imagine. the rally ended with a protest march. participants held banners and placards calling for a retaliatory blow against the u.s. the state-run korean central news agency said earlier that

leader kim jong-un had ordered strategic rockets to be on standby. he 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. the leaders of japan and china are at odds on territory on the waters between them. they're preparing to attend regional talks likely in may, but china's ambassador in tokyo says a one-on-one between president xi jinping and japanese prime minister shinzo abe would be hard to arrange. >> translator: we're not avoiding high-level talks, but they would not be desirable for both leaders to meet only to end up in this agreement. >> ambassador cheng noted the absence of progress on a dispute over islands in the east china

sea. japan controls the senkaku islands. china and taiwan claim them. china's new foreign minister is a former ambassador to japan. ambassador cheng said the appointment is unlikely to lead to an immediate improvement in relations. the u.n. security council sends peacekeepers around the world. now they've added a combat unit to one of those missions. the troops will fight rebel groups in the democratic republic of congo. council members unanimously adopted a resolution to send an intervention brigade to the central african nation. around 2500 troops will be asked to neutralize and disarm rebel groups. they will operate alongside more than 17,000 other peacekeepers. the resolution also extends the peace keeping mission until next march. insurgent group m-23 have been taking control of large parts of eastern congo. other rebel groups are killing

and looting throughout the country. u.s. president, barack obama, says he will deepen his nation's ties with african countries that share its democratic values. he met four african leaders in the white house on thursday. obama praised 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 based 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. now chinese president xi has also has been 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 world's mitchataka yamaka 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 sell 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 says 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. their attempts to build more viable trade relations have just begun. michitaka yamaka, nhk world, yiwu, china. the operators of fukushima daiichi have adopted a plan to reform the way their company operates. officials at tokyo electric

power company, or tepco, say it'll make safety and disaster preparedness their top priorities. in the plan, tepco officials say they shouldn't have blamed the accident on natural causes just because the tsunami was difficult to predict. they go on to recognize the meltdowns had been preventable if they had been fully prepared for such an event. tepco president says tepco needs to fundamentally change its approach to safety. >> translator: we believe we don't have the right to operate nuclear plants if we fail to carry out these reforms. >> nuclear experts have spent the past couple years trying to understand exactly what went wrong at fukushima daiichi. the earthquake and tsunami in march 2011 triggered meltdowns in three reactors. nhk has been investigating the chain of events during the accident. we looked at how crews on site used fire engines to inject water to keep one reactor cool and why this plan failed.

>> workers at fukushima daiichi faced a station blackout on march 11, 2011, a loss of all backup power. reactor 1 was the first unit to melt down. reactors 3 and 2 followed. during our investigation, we learned that before the meltdown in reactor 3, a battery continued to power the unit's emergency cooling system. engineers with plant operator tokyo electric power company 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 in the facility's extensive piping system to make the injection

process more efficient. they wanted the water to run through a single route. they began injecting water into reactor 3 shortly after 9:00 a.m. on march 13th to try to prevent a meltdown. >> translator: water has been injected. the fuel rods are now safely covered with water. >> reporter: tepco engineers estimate crews injected more than 400 tons of water during the day. they considered it enough to keep the nuclear fuel cool, but reactor 3 melted down, anyway, that same day. what went wrong? >> many pipes led to and from reactor 3. engineers injected water into the unit through the route shown in light blue.

the condenser here caught our attention. the device produces steam, back into water and sends it out. it usually holds very little water. but tepco disclosed later that a large amount of water was inside the condenser. we suspected some of that water was supposed to go into the reactor. >> reporter: nhk world asked experts to help conduct a close examination of reactor 3 to check for possible 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 the meteorological lab in italy to run a test. the facility is among the best in the world for simulating the high-temperature and high-pressure conditions inside nuclear reactors. experts put together equipment to recreate the situation in reactor 3 and to see where the injected water goes. >> okay, we can start the acquisition. >> right away, the water rushed toward the condenser. the results of the experiment showed that only 45% of the injected water reached the

reactor, and the rest leaked into the condenser. >> if we need to inject water into the reactor pressure vessel, we need to avoid any leakage in the line. this is an important topic and must be duly investigated. >> reporter: the experts estimate a meltdown could have been averted if 75% of the water had reached the reactor. >> the accident in fukushima prompted utilities in japan to deploy fire engines and water injection pumps at nuclear plants across the country. but our simulation shows that this is not enough to prevent a severe accident.

there are still many questions about what happened at fukushima daiichi. two years on, the search for answers and lessons continues. the engineers are looking for ways to decontaminate the water. they're pinning hopes on a new device. they'll start testing it this weekend. the engineers say the new device is better than older models because they can remove over 60 more radioactive substances. they have three of these devices. they're only testing one. they say they're taking a cautious approach. the engineers plan to test the device for about four months. they haven't said when they'll test the other two nor when they'll put them into full-scale operation. tepco officials wanted to start the trial in september. they postponed it because a storage vessel was unsafe. they got the go ahead last week. radioactive water is accumulating at a rate of 400 tons a day.

tepco sources say it is vital for protecting the environment from pollution. the nuclear accident forced many people to leave their homes. some of those people died while they were living in temporary shelters. government officials in charge of reconstruction say fatigue and stress damaged their health. the officials say 35 displaced residents of fukushima prefecture have died. they say all of them had to leave homes in the no-entry zones around the nuclear plant, and most were aged in their 60s to 80s. fatigue from poor living conditions caused 25 deaths. caution from moving caused 13. some evacuees had to move to new housing 16 times. officials say they plan to send psychotherapists to temporary housing to give evacuees mental support. thousands of people waiting to go home, tons of debris waiting for disposal. vast tracks of land awaiting to

be restored. overcoming the challenges of the 2011 disaster won't be easy, but step by step, people are moving forward. find out how on "the road ahead" every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. japan time here on "newsline." engineers are getting ready to upgrade one of japan's most famous railways. the operator of the tokaido bullet trainline has announced a ten-year overhaul of the tracks. the first major repairs in its nearly 50-year history. the line connects tokyo and osaka. they make at least 150 return journeys every day. central japan railway engineers will restore sections totaling 240 kilometers, that's nearly half of the route.

workers will add steel plates to elevate tracks or tunnels to reinforce plates. company officials say the renovations will add decades to the life span of the infrastructure. they say the repair work won't affect services. many japanese companies are making money because of rising stock prices. analysts at a securities brokerage say the unrealized gains for those companies have more than doubled over the past six months. the nikkei 225 stock index has climbed over 40% since mid-november. prime minister abe's plans to revitalize the economy sent the yen tumbling and stock prices surging. analysts at securities estimate the unrealized gains on shares held by more than 1800 listed japanese firms. they say those gains came to $118 billion over six months. that's an increase of 160%. and analysts who helped put the

report together say managers at companies need to implement a growth strategy. >> translator: the most important thing for the companies is to make use of these financial gains. they could use the money for acquiring firms, advancing into markets in other countries, and making capital investments to expand their production capacity in japan. chinese business regulators have put the brakes on a japanese joint venture again. managers at the electronics firm sony and partners at the optical firm olympus want to make medical equipment together. they have had to put off plans for a second time. the managers want to set up a firm in china to develop endoscopes. they were hoping to establish their firm by the end of last year. they said later they'd push their target date back to april

because chinese regulators were taking longer than they'd expected to check their plans. they now say they pushed back their plans again, and don't have a new target date for establishing their firm. they say they'll go ahead as soon as they get approval. chinese regulators also held up a merger between the shipbuilding units of the japanese steelmaker jfe and machinery manufacturer ihi. they delayed that merger for three months. people around the world have told the story of a pakistani school girl shot for promoting women's education. now she'll get a chance to tell it herself. malala yousufzai says she's writing a memoir. malala says the book will be the story of 61 million children who can't get education. she will talk about the day a

muslim extremist tried to assassinate her. a british publisher says it will release the book this autumn. it will be called "i am malala." she wrote a blog advocating for education for girls. that angered some fundamentalists. last october a taliban gunman stormed onto her school bus in northwestern pakistan and shot her in the head. she was taken to birmingham for surgery. now she is going to school in the uk. >> reporter: the nation is growing as a democracy and also

as a new tourist destination. this man runs a travel agency in myanmar. he uses fluent japanese to communicate with major japanese agencies to organize tours in the country. his business has been booming. it now has 200 japanese travelers every month. that's a jump of 70% from last year. the japanese travel agents can asking his firm to take on more tourists for them but it's proving tough to find good stuff. >> 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 with tour guides fluent in foreign languages besides english. he has only three hundr300 guidn japanese. they are working with japanese counterparts who have offices in myanmar. in the effort to train more staff, he has now studied a japanese language class for new guides. myanmar's travel sectors faces another hurdle, a shortage of accommodation. the country's largest city has roughly 200 hotels, but it has only 20 or so hotels that suit the taste of japanese tourists.

he visited our five-star hotel due to open season here. he had long been king. so can we expect some rooms for this coming season? >> i don't think so, not for this coming season. the demand is so high, we won't be contracting. if we manage to have a soft opening. >> agents while fruitless and didn't manage to broker a deal with the hotel. the experience made him believe that it's crucial to win the corporation and the operators. so he attended the seminar for investors and promoted the investment in myanmar tourism industry. the event issing to held by the

country's travel sector. >> we don't have much more results and orders yet. since this conference is for the introduction of myanmar for the investors to come and invest, since it has a huge possibility of investing there. >> reporter: some of the hotels have booked three terms in the last year with a 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. nhk world, myanmar. more to come here on "newsline." first, here's a three-day outlook on the world's weather.

and here's one story before we go. a japanese man is gearing up to try and climb into the record books. he's aiming to become the oldest person to scale the world's highest mountain. this man is 80 years old. he arrived in katmandu to train for his attempt to climb mt. environme