welcome to nhk world "newsline," i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. japan's leaders approve the country's first comprehensive national security strategy for foreign and defense affairs. analysts on north korea are trying to figure out who might be gaining favor as people there honor former leader kim jong-il. japanese prime minister shinzo abe and members of his

administration have made history to reshape japan. they've approved the country's first comprehensive national security strategy for foreign and defense affairs. >> translator: japan there contribute further to international peace and stability from the stance of proactive passivism. >> the strategy says china's foreign policies and military posture are matters of concern for japan and other nations, and it adds they must be monitored closely. recent moves by china indicate authorities in beijing might be using force to change the status quo, but says they are using planes that are inconsistent with international law. it says japan will work to build ties with china from a proud, long-term perspective, and it notes leaders in tokyo will call for restraint from their counterparts in beijing. japan will consider reviewing

its policy on arms exports. currently, such exports are banned. strategy also emphasizes the need to raise public awareness about national security. members of prime minister abe's cabinet also adopted a defense policy package. it calls for enhanced protection of remote islands in light of china's maritime admissions. between japan's air, ground, and martime self defense forces. they say units should be more mobile, and they say japan should enhance its deterrence and response capabilities by securing necessary and specific power. specifically, they call for an amphibious brigade. the unit would quickly respond to remote islands and take them. the guidelines say they'll be equipped with 52 amphibious vehicles, destroyers, and

fighter aircraft. the package calls for 17 osprey tilt rotor aircraft, three drones, and 99 combat vehicles. the aim is to strengthen mobility and surveillance activities. the guidelines say japanese leaders should assess their capability to respond to north korea's ballistic launch activities, towards a shift in policy that would allow them to strike enemy bases. retired sdf lieutenant general yamaguchi says the guidelines are designed to try to create a unified defense force. >> sources have been working really hard, jointly operating is easy to say, but how to implement, we have still a long way to go. >> professor yamaguchi says japan's leaders pay particular attention to amphibious capabilities. >> the amphibious capability was

emphasized, is emphasized. amphibious operations, the most peacetime and wartime operations, require a lot of work of air, maritime, and ground forces working together. to bring power to protect against armed attack or to bring power to rescue people living in those islands, we have to have ability, and that is exactly what we are talking about, amphibious capables. >> that was professor gogoru yamaguchi of the defense strategy of japan.

north koreans have been marking the anniversary of the death of their former leader kim jong-il, died two years ago. state television broadcast images of the memorial ceremony in pyongyang. the son and successor of the former leader kim jong-un sat on the podium flanked by leaders, said to be playing a larger role in the leadership following the execution of the leader's uncle, chon sun thaek, the former vice chairman of the national defense commission. later in the day, kim and his wife visited the palace of the

son, the final resting place of his father and grandfather. kim bowed before the statue of his predecessors. kim yong-he, the wife of the executed chon. state media have not reported anything about her since september 10th. she is thought to have kept her political status, despite her husband's execution. some reports say she is ill. earlier we spoke with rafael woburg in pyongyang, he has covered north korea for the past decade. >> reporter: today is not a public holiday, not a day off, it is a normal working day, but what we saw this morning is while that major event, the main central memorial meeting was going on, starting about 11:00 in the morning here, before that and while it was on the streets were almost deserted. very, very few cars on the

streets and very few people about. from what i can understand, they were mostly inside in their workplaces taking part in their own small memorial gatherings, some of them watching the event live on tv, as well. the actual setup and the kinds of speeches were fairly similar, of course. one of the main officials executed last week was not there, but apart from that, the others around on the central stage were fairly similar, and i think the events were very similar, however the content of the speeches, although similar, perhaps intensifying the veneration of the former leader and the need to intensity express loyalty to the present leader. to go into detail a bit, the two flanking him on either side closest to him were certainly fixtures of the past years. kim jong-un and the policy leader on the one side and the

vice marshal and head of the army's political bureau on the other side. they are familiar faces. he was sent as a personal envoy after leader kim jong-un to beijing earlier this year. that, some people noticed, as being remarkable, because it wasn't his time, who had visited beijing in the past. so the people flanking him directly were familiar faces. in public, all kinds of mention, any kind of mention, of a person like her, who we can consider in other countries like members of the royal family, all kinds of public discussion is very rare. in fact, basically, one could say taboo really. it's something in which people are intensely aware of, of course, but it's not spoken about publicly. however, it is possible to say that when watching these events in general, people, the general public, do pay close attention,

are familiar with the faces and the personalities there and their relationships, and in the privacy of their own thoughts or other private conversations, i'm sure that this is the topic that people are aware of. it's fair to say that such a shocking end came as a surprise, and whether it actually affects people's lives, i think in the daily struggle to keep warm and find something to eat and the average person's concerns, it doesn't have a direct effect. the reports that people related to him or businesses related to him might be affected. that could well be true, but on levels which are probably mostly removed from average, everyday person's daily life. we did have a chance to sit down and talk with a senior economic official here, who stressed that the country's economic policies should remain the same, that nothing would change in its attempts to develop its economy,

even after last week's execution. >> that was rafael wobar, a.p. senior video journalist in pyongyang. experts and government officials in south korea have been following the day's events. they are looking for signs of change within the regime. anna jong reports from seoul. >> reporter: these images are two kilometers south of the river that separates it from the north. the video shows about 100 people going into a building in the morning. they left shortly after noon. they are believed to have attended a ceremony for kim jong-il. south korean media reported extensively on events to mark the anniversary of his death.

>> translator: we always have to be careful about national security. >> translator: north korea might need to go through a purge to build a new framework. they might be showing off their toughness. >> reporter: we asked a professor how south koreans view the day's events. >> translator: his name had originally been on the official list of people who would attend the funeral of a high ranking party official on monday, so she hasn't completely lost favor. but she didn't appear at the memorial ceremony for kim jong-il, because her husband, jang sun thaek was executed and suffered a huge shock. also, north korean citizens would connect her with the

execution. kim jong we has lost power in terms of her position in the political structure in north korea, but in terms of relations by bloodlines, she is the only living relative of kim jong-un, and she will remain in place as a symbolic figure. she will probably be given some type of honorary post and remain behind the scenes in support of the administration of kim jong-un. but other than that, we expect that she has essentially lost all of her real political power. the third and fourth generation of descendents of the revered group who rebelled against japan during the war, otherwise

referred to as the crown prince party, are likely to be supporting the kim jong-un administration. >> reporter: north korean leaders have vowed to launch more of what they claim to be satellite-carrying rockets. their counterparts in south korea will monitor developments closely with japan and the u.s. anna jung, nhk world, seoul. tokyo wants to invite as many investors to its stock market as possible. ron madison has more on this. ron? >> you may remember about two years ago the trading day got longer when they extended the morning session a half hour to 11:30, so now it looks like officials do want to squeeze as much trading action out of the day as they can, so they had the

company that runs the tokyo stock exchange says serious discussions will begin early next year on whether to start nighttime trading. they now open at 9:00 a.m. and closes at 3:00 p.m. >> translator: considering recent developments surrounding the financial markets, we think it's our responsibility to provide trading opportunities after 3:00 p.m. that would enable investors to respond to events that occur in and outside the country after the closing. >> there has been talk about extending trading hours, but some companies have expressed reservations, saying they would need more staff and would also have to upgrade their trading systems. saito said he'd take immediate steps if they decide to go ahead with the project. european equities are retreating from the previous day's solid rally. london is down by almost 0.4 of

a percent, similar declines for frankfurt, paris losing 0.9 of 1%. in asia, tokyo's nikkei rose more than 0.8 of a percent. the shanghai composite dropped over risks of a liquidity crunch. pretty cautious trading ahead of a policy meeting on wednesday. expectations are rising, but the reserve bank of india may raise its key rate. checking on other currencies now, dollar/yen around 102.95. all eyes are on the fed meeting. some market participants are expecting the fed to start scaling back its bond purchases. meanwhile, the euro rose against the dollar after german poll for december showed a bullish

economic outlook. the survey is based on responses by analysts and institutional investors. euro/dollar right around 1.3764. well, the bank of japan has decided to postpone for two years sales of stocks that it has bought from financial institutions. central bank officials are worried about the potential impact of such sales on equity markets. boj policy makers made the decision on tuesday. this is the second time for the bank to make such a step. it purchased stocks for two years, beginning november 2002 and for little over a year, starting in february 2009. back in those days, share prices were languishing and the boj wanted to stabilize japan's financial system. stocks have been on an up trend recently and have acted after studying trends in overseas financial markets. the sales are zjed to start in april 2016, instead of next

april. another budget airline is getting off the ground in japan. a subsidiary of china's spring airlines will start service next may. the new airline has received a government permit to begin domestic flights. it will be based near tokyo and link three cities in western japan. the carrier will offer two round-trip flights a day among these cities. its parent companies already operates flights that connects shanghai with three airports in japan. the new service will also make it easier for chinese tourists to change flights in japan. the start of domestic flights is expected to intensify competition among budget carriers in the country. and google has fought another robotics company, bringing its total number of robot acquisitions in the past six months to eight. the u.s. i.t. giant admitted to purchasing boston dynamics and

declined to discuss the amount and other details of the massachusetts venture based firm known for building robots for the u.s. defense department. it's built attention for building animal-like robots. boston dynamics said as a member of the google team, it hopes to create even more advanced robots. google is planning to develop industrial robots. they include a venture business launch by the university of tokyo, some of these companies do make humanoid robots. all right, that's going to do it for biz tonight. let's see how things are looking on the markets.

the leaders of iran and the united states have been making an effort to mend their sour ties, but iranian officials are protesting sanctions over their nuclear program. authorities said last thursday they would add more companies to a list of firms subject to the sanctions. officials in tehran say the agreement calls for the countries to ease some sanctions if iran suspends part of its nuclear program. iranian officials say foreign minister zarif protested the tightening of the sanctions. zarif said in an interview with "the washington post" he intends

for talks to continue. catherine ashton said she'd discuss the issue on tuesday. a u.s. federal judge has ruled that the nsa's collection of bulk phone records may be unconstitutional. this is the first ruling of its kind. a district court judge ruled that the mass collection of data likely violated the u.s. constitution. richard leon said that he cannot imagine a more indiscriminate and arbitrary invasion and granted an injunction against the two plaintiffs in this case, but he put enforcement on the decision on hold, pending an appeal citing significant national security interests. the plaintiffs went to court after former nsa contract worker edward snowden disclosed the government's massive data collection program. snowden's actions caused

domestic and international debates. foreign ministers from the european union are trying to put their russian counterpart at ease. they met with sergey lavrov and said they would not harm relationships with russia in any way. lavrov said the wish of its people should be respected. >> it was our common agreement that everyone should respect sovereignty of any country, including ukraine. the trade agreement would pave the way for ukraine's entrance into the e.u., but it was decided last month to walk away from the deal out of consideration with ukraine's ties for russia. protesters have hit the streets and haven't left.

a large winter storm is hitting japan. we might see some snow here in tokyo on wednesday. our meteorologist robert speta has more. robert? >> yeah, gene, indeed, we are looking at this storm system and it's already bringing foul weather. winds as high as 80 kilometers per hour reported down here towards the south, and that is coming after the storm brought foul weather as far south as northern portions of vietnam. you saw some snowfall on monday. we have photos here, definitely a very rare scenario, typically you associate this part of the world with tropical weather. definitely, that cold air coming towards the south caught a lot of people off guard. now this storm system still being intensified with cool air from the south, moisture flowing ahead of it, and it's still going to be bringing rain

showers out there for much of western portions of japan, but that will be changing over to snow with cold air behind it, it's going to trigger snowfall in eastern portions of korea and then we look at the 48-hour rainfall, look at that, pushing just towards the south of japan. some of these areas out here, it will indeed be some snowfall across parts of the plain, even northern konto, but in the downtown area, looking at a dusting or mixed precipitation coming out of this storm system. the closer to the water, the more likely it's going to be rainfall, but at the very least, you're going to be seeing this snowfall and it is going to be very frigid temperatures by wednesday night, going through thursday morning. the low in tokyo, likely the coldest since last march, only 2 there, getting right around the freezing mark. and if it does snow, it will be the first time since last february, which is going to be happening here. seoul getting down to minus 8, as well, so a lot of people

feeling the teeth-chattering cold out here across much of northeastern asia, and i suggest heading towards the south and australia, we have been talking about the heat wave out here and it is still going on. you have a low pressure area over southern portions of australia, high off here towards the east, those two are working together, pulling the warm air down towards the southeast. we have fire weather warnings in effect, as well, some areas will definitely spread rather quickly, but take a look at this, melbourne, 40 for your high by thursday. all these temperatures well above average here, even for this time of year. it is summer there in australia, but this is still well above average. speaking of, record breaking temperatures in the southwestern u.s. los angeles on monday, you saw 39 degrees for the high, tying the record for that location here on that day. and as far as off towards the

north, definitely a different story being written up here. we have an alberta clipper coming through the western great lakes, bringing snowfall with it. nothing too significant, nothing too serious for the great lakes region, but it will be intensifying as this storm system races here towards the east, it's going to hit the gulf stream just off the coastline, pick up some moisture, and some areas into maine could see as much as 20 to 25 centimeters of snowfall. down towards new york, some snowfall there for you. good news if you're in new york along the eastern seaboard, this cold air is going to be filtering in, but later in the week, expect it to rebound up to normal temperatures. but that's a look at your world weather. here's your extended forecast.

people in northern finland are keeping the magic of christmas alive. they are sorting letters that children around the world have written to santa claus.

santa is said to live in a city in northern finland. every year half a million children write him asking for presents. they letters flood into the village post office. workers arrange the letters by country before handing them over to santa. he is supposed to read them one by one. >> my wish is that all the children in all the schools around the world would become friends, would have one another, support one another if they are problems, and, therefore, become real friends and everybody would be equal. >> legend has it that santa departs from this village on a reindeer sleigh to deliver presents on christmas eve. that's "newsline" for this

hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. from all of us here at nhk world, thanks for joining us. have a great day, wherever you are.

will be getting the latest from the ground in the central african republic. the french military are involved in an operation there in the country's capital today. we will be talking about the divisions at the top of the central african government that are leaving many analysts worried about the possibility of stability returning to the country. we will be heading twos tunisia -- to tunisia three years after the suicide which sparked the revolution in tunisia, butls