under leader kim jong-un. his diplomats say the abduction issue is done. >>> japan's for minister disagrees that it is resolved. >> translator: there are various matters pending. i believe the abduction issue is a top priority. i'll proceed to discussions with north korea. >>> a 13-year-old japanese girl was abducted by north korean agents in 1977. the parents of the girl have not heard from her since. they have urged the government to make a break through in the upcoming talks with north korea. in a lecture in tokyo her parents expressed their hope. >> translator: i want japan to keep insisting that north korea respond to the cases of japanese abductees, otherwise, diplomatic normalization can never be realized. if the government can't make a break through by continuing to insist on a resolution, it will be impossible to solve the issue. >> japanese government officials say north koreans kidnapped 17 in all.

. >> host: some people point to kim jong il's uncle as one former. certainly he's had some international experience. it's hard to judge whether he missed the direction of earth warmed. let's say that somebody or somebody else emerge to place in a pox on the role, but within the same system. how do you think that the u.s. government would be response to that circumstance. >> host: is certainly welcome somebody like that. but the obvious problem -- first, we certainly welcome some unlike a senior figure who's interested in reform and interested taking it to a better place. if there was some unlike the generals we see today in north korea better looking to make a big turn in terms of their own system and the way the united states would welcome that. but the 800-pound gorilla in the room, even if that were a scenario still remains the nuclear issue. when it comes down to a score whether the chinese in the u.s. really did her because the chinese certainly what reform a right to promote reform as you said, but they're also willing to say in order to promot

the country's new leader, kim jong-un, has spent six months consolidating his power. held a number of expensive events to mark the transition from power from his father, who died last december. i think kim is now looking outside of the country and focusing on foreign affairs. about 30 north koreans, including his uncle visited on monday to talk about the development of economic zones with the chinese government. he is widely known as kim's mentor. >> what can we expect from the negotiations later this month? >> japanese government representatives will probably raise the issue of north korean's abductions of japanese nationals during the 1970s. but north korean authorities have repeatedly refused to reopen what they consider a resolved matter. if both sides clash again on this issue, then this latest round of talks could end. on the other hand kim jong-un has showed he's more open to the outside world. for example, north korean authorities invited international media to observe the launch of what they called a satellite. japan and other countries considered it a botched

opening up his country a little bit and becoming a little bit less militaristic than his father, kim jong-il woman. there was speculation that she was the lead singer of a north korean pop band, but last week a south korean lawmaker who had been briefed by intelligence officials said this woman is not the singer, but a woman named ri sol-ju who he married about three years ago. the woman was with kim at an event that gave us yet another great image from north korea, a disney-themed musical production. turns out the walt disney company said the north koreans should not have been using those outfits and characters, that they did so without the company's permission. something tells me, kate, any lawsuit emanating from this will not go well from either side. >> or go anywhere, really. brian, there bits to be a bit of family history of strange images that get blasted out to the world on occasion. >> there really is a history. we'll take you back three years. who could forget this picture, bill clinton, august 2009, he travels to north korea to help secure the release of two jailed american journa

north korean reported kim jong-un. kim told the servicemen north korea will fight a sacred war for reunification if enemies fire on its territory. >>> students who study abroad get an education far beyond the classroom. they learn about customs, language and culture. the number of foreign students in japan remain constant until around the year 2000. by 2010 a record 141,000 student were studying here. and they keep coming. nhk world has their stories. >> student here are studying corporate confines. students are all from other asian countries. waris came from thailand three years ago. he was interested in learning about japanese manufacturing and culture. we visited his apartment. >> translator: this is a japanese manga. >> manga comics and cartoons he read as a child drew his attention to japanese culture. he got hooked on the dynamics of japanese mongand yearned to know more about thculture. >> translator: i like ninja stories the most. they made me interested in japanese culture. >> reporter: waris received a bachelo

and the kim jong-rick staged enthusiasm staged with the schoolchildren thing didn't happen until after the scott administration had scoured the area for democrats and dissenters and had them removed from the scene. look at this. at the urging of scott officials, sumter county authorities escorted a group of more than a dozen democrats, mainly retirees who live in the villages, from the event. staffers and republican operatives searched the crowd of about 200 looking for people holding anti-scott signs. they are noted and asked to leave. those with pro-scott signs were allowed to stay. that's the villages. that's why and how republican democrats always do vote opts there. romney has been to the villages twice this campaign season. the villages is where mr. romney became so moved about his own thoughts about how awesome america is that he awkwardly burst into song. >> there's a song that captures that for me. ♪ o beautiful for spacious skies ♪ ♪ for amber waves of grain ♪ for purple mountains majesty across the fruited plain ♪ can you sing that song? i love that song. you know that song?

suddenly kim jong-il. it's so crazy. >> look at al alec. >> what does your family think of this?orea and south korea, my family is an amalgamation of the koreas. so they really had a lot of struggle and tragedy and our family's been split apart for over 50 years. so it's great to go back and do something like this and have a little bit of karmic retribution. i think if you're nominated for playing a man who is a deceased dictator, you automatically win. >> could be. it's a sympathy vote. but in truth she's such a patriot, hoda woman. we didn't realize this. you may be of north and south korean descent, but in your heart of hearts, you are all american pie. you've got george washington here and abe lincoln. >> are those real tattoos? >> yes. >> who is on your back? >> ben franklin. i wanted to be in a one-man band. that's my idea. so i was going to do knee symbols so i could bang my knees together. thought it would be good to keep the beat, be patriotic. >> is this a dragon, may i? >> this is a japanese crank. >> i have really short spanx on. i just came from the gym. lots of thin

. >>> uncle and mentor to kim jong-un is waving the way for the leader to go to china. china arrived in beijing airport monday with about 30 delegates from puyongyang. they will discuss projects in a border area in northeastern china and in the port city of rasan. china has been in charge of north korea economic reform and investment. he is seeking assistance from china and hopes to rebuild the economy by moving forward with joint economic projects. >>> about 48 south koreans are swimming to a disputed group of islands in the sea of japan. they are trying to show support for their country's claim to the territory. both country claim sovereignty over the islands. swimmers set out monday morning on south korea's eastern coast. south korean singer is one of those taking part. he is being joined by student from the korean national sport university. they will take turns swimming legs of the 220 kilometer trip. they aim to arrive wednesday on the anniversary of korea's liberation from japan's colonial rule. the swimmers will stream footage of their attempt on the internet. re

the first since kim jong un took power in december. the talks are expected to lay the ground work for bureau chiefs. red cross officials from both sides set up the meetings, they asked for government help in collecting the remains of japanese people who died at the end of world war ii. the remains of more than 20,000 japanese are buried in what is now north korea. japan plans to bring up the abductions at the talks. the north koreans have maintained the issue has been settled. >>> the japan meteorology agency plans to install three tsunami sensors on the sea bed. agency chiefs hope to speed up the ability to detect tsunamis after earthquakes. engineers will install the sensors around october. they will place them about 300 kilometers off the coast of japan. the sensors measure changes in hydraulic pressure and sent data to satellites from buoys on the sea surface. the monitors are designed to detect tsunamis about ten minutes after the earthquake. that is 10 to 20 minutes faster than current systems such as gps based wave monitors and

some japanese government officials say the talks are a sign that kim jong-un is trying to make policy changes. others say north korea is looking for an opportunity to resume dialogue with japan with a humanitarian issue that's easy to handle. they will also assess if the time is right to resume intergovernmental talks. russian prosecutors have demanded a three-year prison sentence for members of a female rock band. the women sang a protest song against president vladimir putin at a church in february. the flee-member band was charged with hooliganism. they performed the song in a russian orthodox church in moscow before the presidential election. prosecutors said on tuesday a loud performance at a church undermines social order and is against social norms. the defendants said they were simply expressing their opinion. the church is demanding severe punishment. u.s. pop singer madonna defended the band. she said what happened to them is unfair. human rights groups have expressed anger over the case. anti-government protesters have been given large fines since putin's return to the pres

then last december leader kim jong il died. his son, jim jong un, took over. then there was discussion about repatriating japanese who died on the korean peninsula at the end of world war ii. they agreed to involve government officials in a separate round of talks leading to the meetings in beijing. >>> mitt romney has dreamed for years of occupying the white house. delegates to the republican national convention have nominated mitt romney as their choice for president. now they are busy to reintroducing him to americans. >> the honorable mitt romney of the state of massachusetts has received 2,061 votes, more than a majority of those votes entitled to be cast at this convention. >> delegates chose the former massachusetts governor as the challenger to president barack obama. >> at every turn in his life, this man i met at a high school dance has helped lift up others. this man will lift up america. >> the republicans approved their party platform. they say obama has failed to bring the country out of the worst economic slump since the great depression. the pl

. >>> the uncle and mentor to kim jong-un is paving the way for the north korean leader's visit to china. he's expected to hold meetings with hu jintao. he arrived in beijing airport on monday with about 30 delegates from pyongyang. north korea's state-run media said chang will meet with chinese leaders to discuss the joint development of economic zones. they'll discuss projects in a border area in northeastern china and in the port city of roson. china has been in charge of north korea's economic reforms and foreign investment. kim planned his uncle's trip in an apparent attempt to seek assistance from china. he hopes to rebuild north korea's economy by moving forward with joint economic projects. >>> about 40 south koreans are swimming to a group of islands in the sea of japan. they are trying to show support for their country's claim to the territory. the islands are called takeshima in japan and dokdo in south korea. both countries claim sovereignty over them. the swimmers set out monday morning from gyeonsangbuk-do on south korea's eastern coast. singer kim jang-hoon is one of those

. >>> the mentor and uncle of kim jong-un is on a mission to do more business with north korea's closest ally. he's visiting china. he met with the chinese commerce submissioner and they developments near the chinese border. they agreed to speed up inf infrastructu infrastructure. north korean officials place top priority on improving the standard of living. they say they hope to rebuild the economy. >>> a record heatwave in the united states has led a nuclear plant to shut down after the water used to cool down the turbine became too warm. the operator of the millstone power station inonneicut ys it shut down one of its two reactors on monday morning. the utility says the temperature on seawater used to cool the turbine and other equipment rose beyond the safety limits 23.8 degrees celsius. it's the first time the reactor has shut down due to excessively warm water since the plant began operating in 1975. >>> u.s. retail sales were up in july. that's a gain for the first time inour nths. the se was due to stronger personal spending across all sectors. this suggests an improvement in the

. >> the meeting will be the first under leader kim jong-un. his diplomats claim the abduction issue is resolved. japan's foreign minister disagrees. >> translator: there are various matters pending. i believe the abduction issue is a top priority. i'll proceed to discussions with north korea. >> a committee of the south korean national assembly has adopted a resolution on japan in a climate of diplomatic tension. members are demanding an apology and compensation for korean women forced to work in military brothels during world war ii. they want japan to admit responsibility for so-called comfort women. south korean lawmakers described what they endured as a crime against human values. members urged south korean officials to discuss the matter with their counterparts in japan and elsewhere. a spokesperson says the government has yet to decide on a course of action. >>> japan's ground self defense force has conducted a drill to evacuate a remote island in the event of an emergency. participants played out a scenario in which an island had come u

moving on to someone else with a poisonous missile, here's north korean dictator kim jong-un!hen the official north korean news agency announced the opening of the amusement park, everyone in north korea said the same thing-- "what's amusement?" by the way, "fun park" is also the name of the guy who owns the place. north korean fun park. it's like disney world, except at disney world, you don't end up eating goofy and pluto. [laughter, groans] sorry. wow, a groaner. that one went over like mitt romney at an naacp meeting. [booing in video] [cheers and applause] wow. look at him. you would have thought he just did a joke about the aurora shooter. am i right, people? [nervous chuckle] my buddy snoop dogg-- have you heard about this? he's become a rastafarian now, and he says he's changing his name again to snoop lion. it's a true story. when i heard that snoop was changing his name to lion, i said, tigger, please! [laughter] here's someone else with the munchies. look at this. christina... what happened, baby? looks like those fishnets caught a whale. am i right, people? [applau

last friday north korean leader kim jong un visited a military unit that shelled the south korean island of yong pong in 2010. the north is apparently trying to raise troops' morale while keeping pressure on the united states and south korea. u.s. officials have launched a project in vietnam to clean up lingering deposits of agent orange. u.s. forces sprayed the toxic chemical during the war there to clear forests that provided cover for north vietnamese fighters. 37 years after hostilities ended, many civilians still suffer from severe health problems. >> reporter: a ceremony was held earlier this month in central vietnam to mark the start of the cleanup operations. >> this morning we celebrate a milestone in our bilateral relationship. the u.s. and vietnam are moving earth right here and taking the first steps to bury the legacies of our past. >> reporter: this was the center of the u.s. largest air base during the war. fighter jets took off from here to spray agent orange over jungles and forests. the airport was also used to store the chemical, which permeated the ground, making it h

north korean leader kim jong u.n. is under pressure to improve his country's economy. that's a tough priority for him in order to win over loyalty of the people. north korean leaders seem to be using the issue of the japanese remains as a bargaining chip with negotiations with japan. by normalization of relations with japan, the country hopes to eventually get economic assistance. for its part japan wants to maintain the path of dialogue. the japanese position is that progress must be made on the issue of japanese abductees in order to conduct negotiations. the issue of the japanese remains seems to be a touchstone in predicting how far dialogue will proceed. >> all right, thanks for that. that was takahide nagasuma. >>> apple and samsung's patent work continues all over the world. in japan a tokyo court has rejected the u.s. high tech giant's argument that its south korean rival violated its patents. apple filed a lawsuit against samsung electronics japan arguing that samsung infringed on its patents this what is called sin kronization technology. that permits muse ek

boxing match of the union takes twenty years of male dominance seventy aver dating north korean kim jong twelve nine in the fifty one kilogram flyway category. so on the ninth day of the olympics russia edging their way up the table currently in a position with five goals so far was china usa and great britain to continue to lead the way. meanwhile it's been a hugely disappointing olympics so far for australia they currently lie in twenty fifth place in the medals table with just one gold they finished sixth in beijing four years ago with fourteen goals to their name and further humiliation is being caused by the fact they currently lie eleven places behind arch rivals new zealand look i think now to catch j.b. is. we don't need our to use the words nigh on impossible but it's going to be extremely difficult. new zealand we don't want to suffer jokes for the next three years and fifty wakes until radio. so hopefully we can we can overcome them they've had a fantastic start so russia may have dominated the judo and already have a gold in the wrestling and now the gymnastics but elsewhere

north korean leader kim jong un has set out plans to develop the economy and people's livelihoods as his top priorities moving away from the military first mindset the statement was made during a meeting with china's foreign minister in the aftermath of floods and famine which have devastated swathes of north korea reformers have been circulating since a top military figure in killing young was sacked for opposing change. let's return now to syria and specifically how it's tragic events are unfolding across the media from many foreign outlets that simple reports that back up the push forward change get top priority talks on a boycott explains. right now pursuing a story and joining the camp when a japanese journalist traveling with syrian rebels converted to islam it wasn't just his old name he abandoned. but for those around him he still being someone who reported the conflict he became one of the few camera hanging in place of a rifle. while religious conversion of journalist is rare on the syrian front lines becoming political disciples on one side of the rebels is almost the norm

some big international news, it was just announced that north korean leader kim jong un got married. on their wedding night when he was unable to launch any missiles. it was just a -- [ audience ohs ] [ laughter and applause ] another dud. another dud. hey, here's some campaign news you guys. during a speech this week president obama said that thanks to him people in the rest of the world have a new attitude toward america. that's true. people used to hate us. but thanks to him now they just feel sorry for us. [ laughter ] so that's the difference. >> steve: so, you know? [ scattered cheers ] >> jimmy: it's a difference. speaking of the election. a new poll found that 90% of voters think they know where the candidates stand on the important issues. when romney heard that he was like, "great, now tell me where i stand on the important issues." [ laughter ] listen to this, a recent survey found that women are more satisfied with life than men. [ cheers ] of course, most of them are just faking it so they won't hurt life's feelings. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] and finally, new

north korean leader kim jong un, made his debut as a diplomat. the dig anynarys characterized ace his first official foray to foreign service and affairs since taking over seven months ago. the state department is helping with investigation whether it shipped computers and other equipment to north korea in violation of u.n. sanctions. congressional aides say the legislators from both parties are frustrated by what they are calling the administration musseled approach to the technology transfer. nato wants to be america's next top diplomat, says climate change is america's top threat. guess who is on twitter? instagram. the grapevine is next. most efficient line of luxury hybrids on the road, including the all-new esh. ♪ while many automakers are just beginning to dabble with the idea of hybrid technology... ♪ ...it's already ingrained in our dna. during the golden opportunity sales event, get great values on some of our newest models. this is the pursuit of perfection. >> shannon: now fresh pickings from the political grapevine. senator john kerr

kim jong-un is telling his troops to be prepared for a sacred war during upcoming training exercises between south korea and the u.s. state media says kim ordered the forces to deal a deadly blow to the enemy if a single shell is dropped on north korean territory. >>> and now to major developments in syria. rebels are saying the syrian vice president has defected but may still be in the country. syrian state tv released a statement saying "the vice president didn't think for one second to leave the homeland." our nick robertson is live in b d there now. how do we clarify the discrepancies? >> reporter: the best test may come tomorrow. it is the end of ramadan now. there will be a big service, a big service in damascus. normally you would get the president and the vice president standing there. if they're not there together, then i think that's the best indication that the government doesn't have their hands on this. what the rebels are telling us is they've been trying to get him across the border. commanders are trying to smuggle him out of the country. they say they lost contact wit

. >> kim jong-un met with a delegation with china and called for building a prosperous country. >>> mittpaigning in indiana today. the president is expected to spend a quiet weekend at camp david. he turns 51 today. happy birthday, mr. president. >>> he was raised by a single mother who was a woman before her time and graulted from harvard and quickly became a rising political star. we could be talking about president obama but our focus is on san antonio mayor julian castro. party leaders announced he will deliver the key note speech at the democratic national convention next month. who is julian castro and what does he bring to the table for the democratic table? joining me from the "texas tribune" morgan smith. it's nice to see you. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> give me the rundown. who is julian castro? >> he is the mayor of san antonio. when he was elected in 2009, he was 32 years old. that made him the youngest mayor of a top 50 city in the united states. and he is a harvard and stanford law graduate. >> okay. what about the relationship with the white ho

wearing afghan security uniforms. 39 nato troops have died in such attacks and north korean leader kim jong-unas a warning as the u.s. and south korea get ready for joint training exercises and any violation of north korean sovereignty will result in what he calls a sacred war. those military exercises start on monday. >>> all right, let's get to another big story that we're watching. in syria, rebels are saying the syrian vice president has defected and they're trying to get him out of the country and into nearby jordan, but syrian state tv is contradicting those claims. jonathan mannman is at cnn international. so lots of conflicts here as to whether the vice president has defected, does he want to leave the country? what's going on. >> where in the world is farouq al sharaa and we have no shortage of answers and we just don't know which is true. if he looks familiar and we've been showing you his face, he has been the face of the syrian regime since before bashar al assad was in office. when bashar al assad was studying to be an eye doctor. he's been there 40 years. he's 74 years old. would