cholaphansa narula joins us from bangkok. >> president thein sein gave a wide ranging interview to nhk. it was his first with foreign media since the historic bielections in myanmar sunday. those elections were won by the national league for democracy. its leader, aung san suu kyi is set to take a seat in parliament. the interview took place in phnom penh. he leads the new government that was naug inaugurated last year. it took over after the autocratic rule by the country's military leaders. the national league for democracy led by aung san suu kyi won a landslide victory in sunday's bielections. thein sein said it was progress towards democracy. the number of seats won by the nld accounts for less than 10% of all the seats in parliament. after the elections, aung san suu kyi called on the ruling party to cooperate for more democratization. in the interview, president thein sein responded positively to the call for the first time ever. the toughest challenge for myanmar is to boost its economy, one of the worst in southeast asia, and to do that, it has to get economic sanctions lifted

i'm cholaphansa narula in bangkok. >>> japan's defense minister naoki tanaka and u.s. defense secretary leon panetta are vowing their countries will work closely together to respond to north korea's rocket launch. the reclusive nation says it will send a satellite into space between april 12th and 16th, but some governments believe it will be testing a long-range missile. tanaka and panetta spoke tuesday over the phone. they agreed the launch violates u.n. security council resolutions that demand north korea halt its missile development. tanaka updated panetta on how his ministry is preparing. he's ordered self-defense forces to intercept any part of the missile that could fall on japanese territory. panetta stressed the need to show that the japan/u.s. alliance is strong. they also agreed the self-defense forces and the u.s. military will share information on upcoming launches. >> translator: we will watch how the diplomatic efforts work. however, i told secretary panetta, if north korea does go ahead with the launch, japan will take appropriate measures. the secretar