korea the collapse of the north korean regime that's about two hundred thousand people caught in the gulag system in north korea political prisoners several hundred thousand more prisoners maybe not exactly political prisoners but nonetheless held under difficult circumstances and a number of million more who are basically starving or not getting medical aid and so forth and living in an extremely improbable press condition i'm sorry to have to press the human rights as you so much but i think those people and that's quite a lot of people would stand to benefit from north korea's collapse but all the powers around north korea including the united states by the way which has twenty seven thousand twenty seven thousand south korea no longer thirty eight thousand psi including the united states twenty seven thousand five hundred troops are now u.s. troops in south korea the united states. probably japan certainly japan china south korea certainly none of those none of the powers surrounding north korea want north korea to collapse but there's a

economy is good for -- in the further development of the north korean economy is good. i totally agree with you. i would like to see north korea become like vietnam or china. their living standards have gone up. that will help south koreans reduce the cost of the reunification in the future and will change a north korean people. if the people are hungry and they become rich and well fed, they will change their mind set. there hostile posture toward the -- their hostile posture toward the south could change once the economy goes up and they're living style goes up. this peninsula -- it could help the whole security of the northern and southern peninsula. i want to wait -- and make one more point -- i want to make one more point. there's discussion about the role of china. it is time to address our problem to the chinese people, especially the young chinese, more so than rely on the information from the internet. -- most of them rely on the information from the internet. through the chinese internet -- i read chinese, russian, all of that information -- what they are talki

how about transforming the north korean regime? this relates to a question about the korean public's view about the government's very aggressive and depressive approach to north korea. in korean society, there is a view emerging that we need to distinguished leadership -- and distinguished the leadership versus the people. at the same time, many people demand that the korean government provide assistance to the ordinary people. when i go out in towns and give public lectures to the korean people, they're concerned about the programs, the nuclear threat. this perception is rising, especially after the incident. but the same time, this proportion of assistance [unintelligible] one reason why this negative polling data is that there is no communication assistance in north korea. do you provide a certain amount of money? we have to take a two-pronged approach, continuing with the present sanctions and opening a channel for assistance and dialogue with the north korean people. the korean people want to put pressure on north korea, but th

the north koreans cannot escape them. hese things together that ends up being very important. we have to be as much concerned with the what that has happened in north korea. we have to learn to start describing patiently and carefully the details without describing purpose intent to flatly describe what went on and begin to build all of. let me end up with a joke, which i like. i think it applies to this very --stion we're talking about a ceo of a company calls an accountant in his office and says, "i'm going to meet with the board out here in a minute, and what i need from me is a one-word description of the state of this company." he opens his books and says, "that is pretty hard to do. one word, very complicated issues, nuances, some things i do not know yet." >> the ceo says, "i do not want to hear that. i want one word that describes it." he says, "we have all this information that is hard to put together." >> if you do not give me that in 10 seconds, you are fired. i want one word that describes this." "good, close "

with the north korean leader expected to name his successor any time now to an expert on the region and who met kim jong il. just a moment. there's evan thank you so much for joining us north korea remains one of the few mysteries today everything is known information about everything can be found easily but north korea maintains that shroud of secrecy while. you were it happened so that for centuries korea was detached from the rest of the outside world this has to do with the fact that back in the middle ages it frequently suffered from invasions by the mongers and japanese feel free this convince the ruling class that the country would live better if it reduced its contacts with the surrounding countries to a minimum but today in the twenty first century when the economic ties back in the world do you think that this policy of isolation will help north korea progress economically yeah there has been that much talk in the west about north korea opening up with some of its integration into the world community goes up with you with whoever a real policy it's very often at all it's a sta

presence in the southern part of the korean peninsula and japan and for deploy missile defense systems there which they've done somewhat more actively than in europe. to north korea the soviet union was the very opposite of a threat especially in the korean war of the early one nine hundred fifty s. the u.s.s.r. came to see as many socialist states emerges possible was happy to a communist regime against u.n. troops. but the veterans of those battles only recently got the chance to talk about their memories for them it was yet another war that didn't exist. i was there for a year and a half and when we came back we couldn't talk about it we couldn't even hint those that died were buried and the notes to their families would read killed in the course of duty where when how it was not open for discussion it was hard for what it was top of their of course seventy seven out of seventy eight green cities were destroyed almost completely and yet everywhere i went i saw people trying to rebuild homes roads everything we'd see women on the road carrying their kids and their belongings to a new town and would give them lifts we weren't allowed to but we did. when th

they have a north korean policy in the south korean policy. at the same time, the administration in united states have pursued a policy through tough diplomacy, which i might describe as a very prudent in its approach to north korea. this is a very recent recession that demonstrates the u.s. is very strong in its reaction to the cheonan incident. they joined at the very beginning in the rescue operations, and also, [unintelligible] -- the were in strong support of the u.s. administration. this is the largest area ever conducted in the caribbean peninsula. -- kirby and peninsula. i might say that this is the reincarnation of the incident that happened between 1977 and 1993. it was a deterrent to north korean leadership and rain that in north korean policies -- north korean policies. one side effect of this is china's reaction. when we conducted this exercise in the wake of the cheonan sinking, the chinese reaction was unusually harsh. i think it has awakened at the international community. it is central in the war, as reflected in the sense of c

of north korean leader kim jong il promotes his son general possible first step towards a hereditary transfer of power. and more news in about fifteen minutes time but right now it's time for the full with. tonight's news i hear yes the first of three big nights thinking some russian interests take on china more on that plus the rest of the force that's coming up. well welcome to the sports news on a busy night of european football but here are the headlines aiming high spots at moscow target the top spot in their champions league group that has slowed that. was carlos sings the blues chelsea angell return to winning ways against french champions pass a. nice easy we catch up with the surrogate father of a russian hockey legend starts his second season in the k h l. but let's start with football and spartak moscow are looking to make it to him in the champions league as they take on jay leno at the luzhniki stadium this tuesday evening richer than portly looks at what is a good opportunity for the moscow side to go top of group earth spot i find themselves in a great position going i

on the north korean threat is appears this face will be hard to keep as it will be clear who the troops on the missile defense are actually saying that it will be obvious that it's not against north korea weakened and worn out by long economic turmoil but against a rising china and russia as well. so recent statements from people like former president jimmy carter who went to korea and said that he saw signs of north korea willing to work with the six party talks and take steps toward denuclearizing itself do you think that's just good p.r. worth i think that carter sense the. moved to north korea he's an experienced politician has been there more than once the thing is that north korea realizes that without an agreement with the united states it won't be able to solve its main problem the removal of the military threats north korea was really frightened by the events in iraq in yugoslavia when the us unilaterally change the regimes in both those countries even without the consent of the united nations north korea is really afraid of that secondly it's aware that due to the u.s. sanctio

and you mention that the north korean leader knows what he wants for his country and from his country he's calling a party meeting that hasn't been held in thirty years and many in the west specifically are very excited trying to guess why exactly or what he's trying to say to tell the world by doing that what do you think at the purpose of the conference and the workers' party. will you if the good. if we talk about detail the only thing known to be on the agenda of the forthcoming conference are the elections for the governing bodies of the ruling party and it really makes sense for it's been forty four years since the previous conference and thirty years since the previous party congress money leaders who used to be members of the governing politburo in secretariat have died the central committee must by now have less than half the men from the original list so it appears to be high time for elections the second thing on the agenda which is perhaps the key thing is about a successor to the incumbent leader it's no secret that there have been many reports about his weakened health a

. >>> north korean leader kim jong-il has named his third son, kim jong-un a four-star general in the military. north korea's state-run television made the special announcement on tuesday, the opening day of the workers party conference. it marks the first time that the son's name has ever been mentioned in public. kim jong-un is also expected to be given a high-ranking party post to succeed his father. the announcement said the leader's younger sister, kim yong he, has also been promoted to a four-star general. it's thought she will serve as care taker until power is transferred to kim jong-un. now little is known about kim jong-un, even basic facts about jong-un, who is likely to succeed his father as leader, have been long been shrouded in mystery. >> such things as the year of kim jong-un's birth cannot be acertained with certainty. it is widely thought that the heir apparent was born in 1983, but some experts suggest 1984 is the more likely year. in the late 1990s, kim jong-un studied in switzerland for several years. at school, he used the name pak un and it is said he identifie

not many north korean refugees cross the river. these traffickers go into north korea and recruiting girls. they cheat them. they cross the river and can makebetter living. >> they actually go in after them. not ve subtle is it? what do you want china to do mr. kim? >> china must recognize refugees. they came into china for desperately to survive. reason why they must recogne them. they are facing to even the worst is death sentence or to the political prison camp or torture. these kinds of things. because once they know meet the foreigners, like south korean or missioners. >> what are the chinese christians doing to help these north kore refugees? >> providing shelter and food and sometimes a way how to meet. >> you are in contt with christians in north korea? >> yes. i contact underground churches. many underground churches. their societies are like a family, 2-3 ople. it is not easy to contact them inside north korea. we contact them when they come into chie na. >> we wish you all the best, 318 mission paners, >>> vatican declari

well north korean leader kim jong il has promoted his youngest son kim jong un to the rank of general and what's seen as the first step of a power transition and came before the country's ruling workers' party gathered for its biggest convention in decades no official announcements were made on the issue of succession has been shrouded in mystery but as r.t. is getting us out of a reports that practice is not uncommon in north korea. and the twenty first century everything is global and all kinds of information is available online but there remains a lot of mystery in the world wide web that is north korea that many are pretty trade secrets but like an exception steve was one of you to visit the place and hopefully will share his impressions a alex so tell me you were in place yang what's it like what's your biggest impression be honest with you when i was going there i felt a little nervous haven't read all the stories about north korea in the west media that it's a scary place it's all the different sort of scary things when i arrived there i thought it was nothing like that but the

north's succession. however, what china wants more than anything for the korean peninsula is stability. in other words, the last thing china wants is the north spiralling out of control or collapsing. if china openly opposes kim's planned dynastic transfer of power, it could badly provoke the north. instead, china is aiming for a soft landing by guiding north korea's future leadership towards chinese-style reform and to abandon nuclear ambitions. >> well, thank you very much for your report. >>> now some of the news received from broadcasting stations across asia. we begin this item in thailand. after months of tension between thailand and cambodia over a border dispute and other issues the prime minister says, a meeting with his cambodian counterpart may take place by the end of the year. on friday, a thai envoy returning said the prime minister is willing to hold a summit meeting in order to reinforce bilateral ties. the two neighbors must find ways to live happily together. both countries' ambassadors have recently returned to their posts in bangkok. >>> china is sending trops for mem

he went there una false name posing as the son of the driver of the north korean embassy. and reportedly he idolizes michael jordan and he is into roller blading, skateboarding, and basketball and snow boarding, skiing. he likes good food, obviously, from the pictures we have seen of him. but the one thing, the important thing about him is that he is not ready to take over from his dad. remember, the founder of north korea, spent more than 20 years preparing for the succession of his son, kim chong-il, the current leader. kim chong-il has spent basically two years trying to get his son ready. and, so, this is really haphazard planning. >>reporter: and that could mean a power struggle. his son may have the backing of his father but he has put his sister in a powerful position and her husband and those two may decide weapon kill chemical dies they would rather have all the power rather than advising from the shadows. >>reporter: there will be a free-for-all and because assassination is a time-honored method of dispute resolution in the regime we can imagine it will be bloody

actually i talked to north koreans working in china so they're not really defectors. they said if his father runs the country this way, what can we expect from the son? >> warner: does the opinion of the people matter? >> well, i think the most interesting changes since the 1990s that killed... the famine that killed up to three million is the so-called common ordinary people awoke from the nightmare basically. the state is not reliable source of our income. they don't take care of us. so we better feed ourselves. now through porous borders and the defectors from north korea, maybe up to 20,000 in south koreas, basically north koreans are learning that they have to change. >> warner: a lot to walk. thank you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> ifill: again, the other major developments of the day. home prices rose again in july, thanks in part to a federal tax credit for home buyers. but consumer confidence was down this month to the lowest point since february. and former president jimmy carter was taken to a cleveland hospital after he got sick on a flight from atl

." >> cementing the family dynasty -- the north korean leader promotes his son to the general. looks like the first public step to anointing his successor. the palestinian president responds to the israel -- israeli settlement building on the west bank. and and electrowinning force hugo chavez -- the opposition makes parliamentary gains that make the president paused next five years very difficult indeed. welcome to "bbc world news" broadcast on pbs in america and around the globe. coming up later -- the world's biggest energy producer meets the world fastest growing energy market. why russian and china are signing an oil and gas deal. the holes could soon be alive with the sound of skiing -- why this picturesque spot in georgia is in people's mind. >> on the face of it, it's just another drawing pen and a notice board -- an official announcement of a military appointment. but in north korea, very little is routine. the latest news from the state media looks prescient -- kim jong-un, the son of north korea's ailing dictator has been given rank of general just as the stalinist s

it is still possible that north koreans actually did it, but is the burden of proof on the j.i.g. the burden of proof lies on the party that points the finger at north korea. even though i remain open to the possibility that north korea might have actually done it, i need to be convinced by taxes, and perhaps as others are also waiting to be convinced by fax. unfortunately, the joint investigation group has so far failed to convince me or some of the doubters with facts. now some of the facts that j.i.g. is sonar evidence of the torpedo coming in. at the time of the incident, the u.s. military and the south korean military were engaging in joint naval exercises, precisely inside the submarine exercises. the main message region -- the main objective is to search a for submarines. there might be some evidence, sonar, radar, whenever that would show that north korean submarine or torpedo or both. but nothing has been made public so far. >> does anybody else want to address this? >> in the back. >> i would direct my question to the professor. i have several questions. first of all, are

in a siymposium held at the sam venue a north korean trade ministry official expressed hope that his country could boost trade with china and other asian nations in order to promote economic development. chang chun has been in the news recently after north korean leader i kim jong-il visited the city last month to meet chinese president hu jintao. the two leaders discussed the need to increase economic exchanges. >>> the russian fisheries agency chief paid a visit to one of four russian-held islands claimed by japan. russia's federal fisheries agency says that andrei krainy started a two-day trip on thursday to etorofu island off hokkaido, northern japan. the agency says the chief inspected a fishery processing plant on the first day and will board a fishing boat on friday. before starting his tour krainy said the four islands are russian territory and will convey to the world his country's intention to develop them. russia sent its fisheries chief to etorofu island on september 2nd, the day it was designated as the official end of world war ii, apparently to emphasize russian owners

majorve a list of neighbo provocation from the north koreans. certainly, the north koreans are very good students of using the military as a tool as a political and diplomatic tool. political policy has worked fairly well. as one looks at this sunken ship, the way that they have shaped the west see, they have done a pretty good job. we have done a good job maintaining the status quo out there, but it has cost quite a bit. of course, our response was limited. we have an exercise, we bring in an aircraft carrier, it looks good, but will not change anything for the north koreans. as a matter of fact, they seem to be sitting pretty good, celebrating, drinking, knowing that the chinese and russian support them. china and russia continue to use their own interest to shape their response. in other words, the implicit approval to continue provocations. our lack of response, in a kinetic way, does the same thing. i am not suggesting we go to war, but we do not learned to take out targets that cannot really hurt them, and without any retaliation, the bull

the untold story of how a village in russia's far east might have been the bath place of north korean leader kim jong il. this week saw prime ministers and presidents along with analysts and academics come together in the russian city of yaroslavl it played host to the global policy forum a brainstorming session tackling some of the toughest questions of our time and how to make a democracy will work and how to make the world a safer place because he has been following it. which young which you are in fact if solver and democracy as it turns out is different things to different states but these years for many years loving standards of democracy and efficiency made it sound alluring even for the kremlin's toughest critics gave some of them the chance to hit the presidents wrong. you're going to go to church he said listen i strongly disagree with those who say there's no democracy in russia and that there's authoritarian tendencies here it's not true that russia is a democracy beyond any doubt it's young it's immature it's still not perfect and experience but it's a democracy nonethele

it was the home of a joint chaney's korean guerrilla regiment fighting against japan before north korea was established as a state its future leader kim il sung also used to serve year as a captain of the red army and i thought he could be called was born and spent his whole life in the arts can. i remember this camp we want allowed to go there but chinese and korean soldiers were free to walk anywhere they wanted some of them even got married had some left leaving three or four women pregnant female soon fled to the soviet union after his grueling team was crushed by japanese authorities in nine hundred forty five years later the second world war brought its results japan was defeated soon sent to pyongyang to suit soviet common dance working there so if you didn't leave vance care for around five years it's unlikely came young you was born somewhere else it's this is allegedly what's left of the hell swear both came from leaders of north korea used to live there also used to be a terrorist here and the rumor is this song here still enjoy drinking fiend during warm summer evenings on t

on august 8th, a north korean vessel towed a south korean squid boat with a crew of four south koreans and three chinese to a port on the northeast coast. the south called on the north to release the crew. the north said the decision to release the crew members was made from a humanitarian point of view after the crew admitted coming into the economic zone and promised never to do it again. monday's announcement is the north's first flexible response to the south since tensions soared over the sinking of an n. a commission concluded that the vessel was sunk by a north korean torpedo. >>> chinese president hu jintao said his government plans to improve the life of workers in shenzhen, an economic bordering hong kong. hu made the comment at a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the zone on monday. shenzhen was designated in 1980 as the first special economic zone in china to accept foreign investment. >> hu stressed that the reform and open door policy led to the economic recovery of china. hu also said the government will establish a system for companies and workers to share benefi