the air bearing all of which have had leaders in power longer than the former recently deceased north korean leader. they have all collapsed and north korea continues to survive that alone is the evidence that no one within the system is empowered to overturn. it's also just because, as you know, the very strict controls that exist, the society -- to use the term strong state would be an understatement. this is about the strongest state in terms of the control it has in the society and political freedoms and even thought, the way people think. for those reasons it's great difficult to imagine that there could be a group within the society that could speak out, that could challenge the view that a party congress, these sorts of things just don't happen in north korea. that is why it has lasted this long. in spite of a lot of the problems, economic problems, human rights problems, few -- food problems it has lasted this long because no one within the system is capable of changing it >> host: there are potential forces for change when you talk about market position, impression flow. post to tou

perhaps, it was simply too north korean. how much they have to blend in here -- it is sensitive. at the end, they send video messages back home. there's little chance they are watching. the pain is something south koreans empathize with. this is entertainment tv, after all. as she said, would you watch it if they look like north koreans? >> stay with us here on "bbc world news." there is plenty more to come. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> "bbc world news" wa>> workinw ventures and help provide capital for strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >>

he came across a north korean company. he has worked on developing ties with pyongyang ever since. r the past three years, he has organized and led trade tour tn north korea. >> the political relationships are not very well and for this reason, they are forced to go to europe. and europe is a little bit between the united states and i would say other countries. >> reporter: he says timing might be right for european businesses to pursue opportunities in the north. china s been a manufacturing hub for europe, but chinese labor costs are rising. north korea's labor costs are about half of china's. he recently explained other pros and cons of doing business in north korea to european textile industry officials. 30 people attended the closed-door session. he is optimistic that business conditions will get better over time. >> i'm maybe more positive about a new leadership than others. my personal belief is under the new leadership we will see more improvements in both business and economic development. >> earlier, my colleague sheri ahn spoke with nhk reporter to get some insights into

he came across a north korean company. he has worked on developing ties with pyongyang ever since. r the past three years, he has organized and led annual trade tours in north korea. >> the political relationships are not very well. and for this reason, they are forced to go to europe. and europe is a little bit between the united states and i would say other countries. >> reporter: tjia says timing might be right for european businesses to pursue opportunities in the north. china has been a manufacturing hub for europe. but chinese labor costs are rising. north korea's labor costs are about half of china's. tjia recently explained other pros and cons of doing business in north korea to european textile industry officials. 30 people attended the closed door session. he is optimistic that business conditions will get better over time. >> i'm maybe more positive about a new leadership than others. so my personal belief is that under the new leadership, we will see more improvements in both business and economic development. >> earlier my colleague shery ahn got some insights into new

in the drill, north korean troops cross over the demilitarized zone and invade. south korean surveillance planes and f-16 fighters practice an aerial response. on the ground, crews of mobile rocket launchers demonstrated their defenses. more than 2,000 personnel took part in the two-day drill. one of the largest ever exercises on south korean soil. just last month members of the u.s. and south korean air forces took part in their largest ever joint drills. both sides want to show they are committed to deterring any threat from north of the dmz. >> nhk world's fumitaka sato reporting from south korea. >>> north korean officials have opened to the media what they describe as a cemetery for japanese nationals. they say it holds the remains of people who died in the final stages of world war ii. at the time of japan's defeat in 1945, the korean peninsula had been a japanese colony for some 35 years. the officials invited japanese reporters to the site in the suburbs of pyongyang. they say about 2500 japanese who died of starvation or illness during their repatriation

.> north korean leader kim ng-un has made military developmentrity sinceower. the north is also seeking ways tattered economy. that's the attention pe.s. ♪♪♪♪ >> reporter: a n pyongyang restaurant north korean cuisine. eskorean dishes are popular in this may be the first ry in europe.. and it's spe the paintings and the music.th korean k at the restaurant. a nine-course the business' dutchh korean officialsn they first heard the id oney, so of cour oppor: according to the nal monetary fund, north korea's top trade partnestorical ally.eu ranks fourth. this man has spent last twying to strengthen europe's trade ties with the north. s, outsource c development overseas across a northorean eloping ties or led trade north korea. >> the political relationships l and for this europe.>> reporter: he says timing might be right for bu opportunities in the china ha hub for euro bor costs are about half of china's. recently explained other pros and cons of doing business north kore industry off 30 people attession. he is optimistic that buions will get better over ore positi

a north korean foreign ministry spokesperson criticized the upcoming drills. they are scheduled to happen thursday and friday off the korean peninsula. the "uss george washington" will take part. the aircraft carrier is based in japan. the american military commander in south korea revealed last week he asked the u.s. defense department to deploy more attack helicopters to the area. the u.s. and south korean foreign and defense ministers also agreed last thursday their countries will work with japan to improve coordination to defend against north korean aggression. the north's foreign ministry spokesperson called that decision and the upcoming naval exercise open provocation. and blamed the u.s. for increasing tension in the region. >>> the philippines and china have been locked in a standoff in the south china sea for two months. both countries are pulling out of the area. but the territorial dispute has not been resolved and tensions may continue. tratia at our bangkok bureau has details. >> china is withdrawing its vessels from the south china sea following

. >> what do north koreans tell you about these launches? >> north carolinians have fascinating stories to tell. they will tell them not to touch anything with a balloon or pack ajs because it is coated with poison. for a north korean to pick up a bible is a serious thing. >> it isn't useful to be carried ashed a pipe. even though it is dangerous for them to poe susz the materials. they are interested in coming to know jesus christ. >> thank you, gary. >> you see the images of visitors to jerusalem writing the prayers on the cracks of the western wall. >> i have done it. julie stall has the answers of when it gets too full. >> 10 million people visits the western wall last year. many tucked prayer requests in the walls. >> many come and pray and this is a tradition for thousands of years. >> this is the retaining wall of the second temple from 2,000 years ago when king soloman dedicated. if they can't make the trip, they sent the request via post, e-mail or even text. what happens when the cracks get too full. twice a year the prayer slips ar

north south korean military exercises they were actually using the north korean flag as one of the targets in their exercise for the first time and it was seen to be a provocation so on monday pyongyang was registering their complaint about that and then comes this announcement so this has to be seen as something of an escalation that that may indicate an increase in border tensions and perhaps even military tensions between the two entities the question is why now what's really changing what what dynamic is changing between the two countries and it has to be understood that there is something of a quiet revolution happening in north korea in terms of its relations with china since kim jong un took over and the wrestling area in the eastern part of the china north korea border closer to to the russian border they have a special economic zone called rest on where they china has invested over two billion dollars worth of infrastructure in the last year alone to build roads and and other things that may be part of an infrastructure whereby china will be able to start investing more and more i

. >>> north korean military leaders are threatening again to attack media outlets in south korea for criticizing the north's leadership under kim jong-un. the military issued what it calls an open notice through the state-run broadcasters. it condemned coverage of an event under way now in pyongyang. 20,000 children are on a state-sponsored visit to the capital. they portrayed it as a staged attempt to show the public supports kim. military leaders said the media outlets must apologize or face an attack. they identified the offices of several newspapers and tv stations as possible targets, including the newspaper and public broadcaster kbs. it's the second time this year that north korean officials have threatened to attack media organizations in the south. >>> people in japan's northeast are focused on overcoming the challenges of the 2011 disaster, but it won't be easy. they have to rebuild homes, businesses, entire communities. we'll show you their struggles and their successes on "the road ahead" every wedneay at 1:00 p.m. japan time here on "newsline." >>> officials at the japan'

attack helicopters to guard against action against north korean forces. thurman announced the military would be on the peninsula on a high readiness. he revealed a plan to introduce the amount of apache helicopters from the 24. you wants to prevent attacks like the 2010 shelling of a south korean island. he also says he requested more troops to staff a unit equipped with the patriot three missile defense system, the technology can defend against ballistic or short range rocket attacks. thurman added the u.s. will work with the south korean army to enhance cyber attack counter measures and north korean has been threatening to attack their southern neighbors. activity is reportedly on the rise. talks between pakistan and the united states over supply routes to afghanistan hit a bump in the road. here the details. the united states says it's withdrawing a team of negotiators from pakistan. the two sides were seeking an agreement to reenter supply routes that have been closed for more than six months. pakistan closed the routes supplying international forces

the parent company mega ultra super corp has a north korean circus showing jump roping brown bears and basketball playing bar boones. take a peep, peep takers. >> jumping through a hoop and being held by a roller skating bear and a female trainer. the final game saw the baboons given basketballs at one end of the rim. they whizzed across the floor and slam dunked them into mini nets. >> i feel like we can see more of that. do we need more? >> the female bear in the gold dress swing the rope to jump over. the animals are ordered to leap frog over one another as the crowd clan and cheer. the human male trainer. the shocking footage and aping gear among the animal rights -- and anger among the animal rights protesters. >> so three animal rights groups issued a joint statement expressing outrage saying the bears this this footage seem distressed, frightened and fig discomfort. it is shameful to use baboons in this way. i have to say i agree with the animal rights groups on this one. >> really? >> how are you supposed to use a baboon? >> i would think i would say i am not. >> let me tell yo

from the media organizations themselves, but as you say, several of them have been named in that north korean statement. and quite unusually, north korea gave the specific military coordinates as it sees them of several of those organizations. >> would we say that this is a departure, if you like, from the usual rhetoric coming out of pyongyang, and is this something that really should alarm people in seoul? >> it seems to be a bit of a departure, this sort of rhetoric we get of north korea tends to be more general than this, although it has seems to get a little bit more specific over the last year or so. and indeed, it's gun targeting the media organizations, as well as the conservative authorities here recently as well. so it's not the first time it's attack the media in south korea, but it is the first time we've had something as specific as military coordinates, really a way of trying to ratchet up the pressure from what it calls an ultimatum for south korea. north korea would like the south to apologize or it says face strikes. as to whether people really should be concerned, an artille

from south korea against north korea in fact just on monday peeling was protesting the use of the north korean flag as a target during some joint military exercises that were being conducted very close to the north korean border and so this has to be seen as something of an escalation that me indicate an increase in border tensions and perhaps even military tensions between the two entities the question is why now and it has to be understood that there is something of a quiet revolution happening in north korea in terms of its relations with china china has invested over two billion dollars worth of infrastructure in the last year alone to build roads and and other things that may be part of an infrastructure whereby china will be able to start investing more and more in north korea and south korea to me see that as a type of threat against their their one leverage over north korea which is their food aid and their monetary aid to the north and if china is investing more and more north korea that kind of gets gives them more of an advantage in that respect so we might see some mounting militar

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. >>> north korean leader kim jong-un has outlined the country's military approach in his second speech since succeeding his father. he spoke at an event to celebrate the anniversary of the korean children's union. about 40,000 children attended. >> he closed his peach by wishing for a bright future for the next generation. later, kim waved and applauded as the children marched around the stadium. analysts say the speech was aimed at showing that kim wants to communicate directly with his people in the style of his grandfather, the national founder. >>> the new russian ambassador to japan says his country is ready for territorial talks. japan has long sought negotiations with its neighbor over four islands in the north of the country. japan claimed sovereignty over the islands. the islands are controlled by russia. >> translator: japan and russia see the territorial issue differently but have agreed to work toward a mutually acceptable solution. if talks are to go forward, neither side should impose conditions. >> the ambassador held his first press conference in tokyo since assuming th

korean war. lee praised the return of the remains of soldiers killed in the north during the war. u.s. troops brought them back to seoul last month. >> finding other soldiers remains in north korea would be the first priority if the two koreas are unified. >> north korean military leaders have been threatening to attack the government and media outlets in south korea. they blame the neighbors for carrying out smear campaigns against the new leadership under kim jong-un. >>> the leaders of china and russia remain opposed to any military intervention in syria. president vladimir putin and hu jintao held a summit meeting in beijing. their show of unity is frustrating western powers looking for ways to increase the pressure on the syrian government. nhk world reports. >> reporter: russian president vladimir putin is in beijing where he held talks with chinese president hu jintao. this was his first visit to china since returning to the presidency in may. putin told hu that the two countries share common interest in many fields, including international affairs, the economy and technologies.

from the north. >> translator: we will punish any provocations in a strict manner. >> he went to the national cemetery and paid tribute to fallen soldiers, including those who died in the korean war. u.s. troops brought remains back to seoul last month. >> translator: finding other soldiers' remains in north korea would be the first priority if the two koreas are unified. >> north korean military leaders have been threatening to attack the government and media outlets in south korea. they blame their neighbors for carrying out the smear campaigns of kim jong-un. >>> attacks are targeting security forces. patchari raksawong has the details. >>> bombings have hit kandahar. the twin attacks killed at least 23 people and wounded around 50. the explosions occurred shortly before wednesday noon in an area where vehicles belonging to u.s. and international security forces were parked. the first bomb was set off by a man on a motorcycle. people were gathering at the site following the explosion when another man carried a second bomb into the crowd and detonated it. local police say all of the dead and injured were civilians, including a truck driver. afghan president hamid karzai con

they say the paperwork shows a ship transported four large special vehicles from shanghai to the north korean city of nampho. japanese officials say it's likely these vehicles match those displayed as missile launchpads during a military parade in april in north korea. they also say exporting this type of hardware violates u.n. security council resolutions. the resolutions ban countries from sending materials related to weapons of mass destruction to north korea. japanese officials are reporting their findings to the u.n. a chinese foreign ministry spokesperson is denying the accusations. >> translator: china firmly opposes proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. we strongly implement unsc resolutions. >> he added firms in china do not export goods that are banned by security council resolutions or chinese law. >> our senior reporter gives us more insight into the special vehicles that have been transported to north korea. tell us a little bit more about these vehicles. >> well, the international community has raised concern over transporter reactor launcher which, for the first time, a

north. kim wongsix spokeson monday. he attended a ceremony at a war memorial in seoul. about 4,000 retired military personnel and relatives of the war dead gathered for the event. kim called the conflict the korean people's biggest tragedy. he added that the north remains a threat to peace on the peninsula. he was referring to their reclusive nation's rocket launch in april. many countries say it was a ballistic missile test. >> translator: we must do our best to increase our defense capability and maintain strong aware balance national security so the tragedy of war is not repeated. >> south korea's military has been conducting exercises this month with american forces. north korean leaders have reacted angrily to the drills. >>> cloudy skies in tokyo, but it's holding up for now. southern japan, we're seeing a different story. robert speta has more. robert? >> you can cross much of southern and western japan. heavy rainfall all associated with this rny season stationary boundary has been continuing to occur here. the max total for today in kagoshima was up to 305 millimeters of rain here. it's all due to that boundary. also a new low pressure area will start to develop off of this and, unfortu

-- we can count on one hand how many people have gotten into north korea and told us about the north koreans inside north korea for the free world. we know what's happening there. but my point to you is the power of the media. and my point is this, actually. i am actually here to castigate the media. the american media, which in many ways is not doing a good job any more for covering foreign news for americans, keeping these things on the front burner. you all talk about you talking about congress. there has to be political will behind what we do. and all i'm here to say is having covered the news at the beginning of my career as a kid basically, and being told more and more in my later years, you don't want to go overseas. nobody's going to pay you to go overseas to cover the news. something is happening that's very bad for our security and human rights and what's happening to other countries. north korea is a good example of it. i think far more could be done to cover these stories. it's tough for you. my point is, why doesn't the american media arise to the tougher stories and cover them.

military near the north korean border, and they also scrambled fighter jets from airbases in the west. defense officials in north korea appear to be maintaining a hard line stance. they've increased the frequency of fighter jet sorties over the yellow sea. military analysts say south korea designed the drills as a deterrent against the north. >>> egypt's supreme constitutional court has ruled that the parliamentary election was unconstitutional. the decision comes only two days ahead of the presidential runoff election. the ruling could bring more uncertainty to the country, and force the dissolution of a five-month-old parliament. the court decided on thursday that the parliamentary election held after the ouster of former president hosni mubarak did not provide equal opportunity for all candidates. it said independent candidates could only run in a single seat constituency while those belonging to political parties could run in both single and proportional representation districts. the ruling could force new parliamentary elections. the islamic fundamentalist muslim brotherhood hold

this is a misprint north korean leader do. you think tank in mongolia. or do you. know. this is just news because it is just on the top of the. mood use it for the t.v. i want to expand on our tradition. then you have a new music t.v. . put does some key to download gold and now my love is going to put the new students to their god place after that. for my horse in mongolia i did present george a couple in georgia national dressed in what you just learned is going to place this no no he is going to fight. this nice. and. then there's. no the drug business in the us the part of no other is. in the region a lot of different regions and. this is just so different to the national interest to know. just here thank you this is our home and bread oh boy and you know this is a woman. just just trying. to hold. a fish and. this is the answer. and. the day. i read your. home was. all right it's not. just once a week or up. ok thank you but. yes for. showering here is an issue. if you think of how people used to wash themselves and try to leave as your ancestors did. well i think i

there because of the regime they have plenty of control in that country deal of what you see the north korean regime is certainly more aggressive than pakistan. at the same time and should be noted that north korea currently has forty two kilos weapon grade plutonium that they used different technology you said when reaching uranium they have a single facility where they enrich tony i'm the new one there is a more advanced technology but their stock of what i'm grade plutonium would be enough to produce some seven to eight warheads similarly to iran's capabilities. they were already got a delivery vehicle to do. that is why north korea generally poses a serious threat. but unlike here in north korea does despite or to dominate its entire region. its regime is not using the nuclear issue tuna hance it stands any public domestically it's already strengthened to the extreme you know i would say north korea does not essentially pose a nuclear threat to its neighbors and the promising thing about pyongyang is that it is a client to commercialize its nuclear controversy but not in the sense of nucl

we're focused on looking for the opportunities to widen the space for information and to get the north korean people information from the outset that they so earnestly want. in terms of their broader question about how we are using internet, i think the story is that we are using the internet not only in this state, but broadly because of the moment we are in. everything is increasingly happening on-line. under the secretary, there has been a concerted effort to take advantage of the opportunity for 21st century statecraft, to reach out to people in more places, people we couldn't have reached for back-and-forth conversation 20 years ago and we now can. we have twitter feeds in 20 different languages. it allows us to have a back-and fourth, obviously, and 140 characters or less on a variety of topics. it comes at a good time because the internet has placed an enormous focusing connecting not just our foreign policy to government, but to people in other countries. she gave a speech in krakow a few years ago where she talked about the importance of civil society and being changemakers and being

we're focused on looking for the opportunities to widen its base for information and to get the north korean people information from outside the space. i think in terms of your broader question about how we are using internet i think the story is we are using the internet not only the space but brought the part of it is because the moment we are in as i said at the outset everything is increasingly happening on-line in the new technology and under the secretary there's been a concerted effort to to get advantage of the opportunity for 21st century statecraft to reach out to people in more places, people we couldn't have reached back-and-forth conversations ten or 20 years ago we now can so we have to refer feeds and a number of different languages that reach a large portion of the world and allow us to have a back-and-forth. 140 characters or less what allowed us to have a back-and-forth on a variety of topics not just human rights topics, and i think it comes at a good time because it also places enormous focus on connecting not only the foreign policy to governments but people with other c

north korean leader kim jong un has given his second public speech since taking power in front of tens of thousands of children wednesday marks the anniversary of the country's children's union the organization that helps ensure the young generations loyalty to the regime it comes two days after north korea want to solve or a neighbor of military action of their critical coverage of children is a festival in pyongyang. up next artie's interview with syria's the minister of information adnan mohamad he tells r.t. his views about the so-called information war and its conflicted reports stay with us. then the arab league council has asked satellite operators are upside. down the row cast of sirius satellite channels what do you think about this decision. this decision is an attack on free media and freedom of expression it's an attack on syrian media the purpose is to hide the truth about what is really going on in syria from people both inside and outside the country this is part of the smear campaign launched by certain satellite channels and supported by the gulf nations behind it the

japanese and american troops are holding their largest ever joint military exercises right near the north korean border around two thousand troops are expected to be involved in the maneuvers condemned by the north which says they're all in preparation for an attack author and specialist on asia dr tim beal says the war games are really about winning over u.s. and south korean voters. the americans have been mentioned there's no real sign chinese sign is really all to do with with elections elections in the united states you know in south korea so then they're doing it knowing really can't do nothing very much going to happen it's just a matter of raising tension in the worst case scenario we might get. this is possible or two in the united states and china with you and south korea. and it'll hopefully that's not going to happen but we will get this continuing tension and it's really all to do with china it's to do with the containment china and that's going to go on as china goes up in the world united states comes down it's going to be a continuing. concern and danger oh well well i do stay wi

north korean leader kim jong un's given this second public speech since taking power in front of tens of thousands of children wednesday marks the anniversary of the country's union organization to help the young generations loyalty to the regime that comes two days off the north korea with the southern neighbor of military action over the critical coverage of children's festivals in. the u.s. defense secretary is wrapping up his first visit to india to a largely regarded as an attempt to shore up washington's influence in the asia pacific and those. challenging the growing military muslin economic expansion of china. explains the world's got its eyes on india it's the planet's biggest arms importer and is set to spend one hundred billion dollars on beefing up its military arsenal over the next decade while many weapon makers from far and wide are lining up to cash in on this need to modernize the united states's dash to the front of the pack. through farmed america. ships. through the movie to many it's seen as part of the u.s. is bigger shift towards asia one that its defense secret

places and you know of people in the west love to talk about our iranians and the chinese and north koreans they need anonymity and they need freedom and they need all that stuff but we don't need it here and it's very important to know that actually it is not just oppressive regimes because if you happen to be in the top echelon of any regime it's not oppressive to you as it turns out right but i mean we consider the u.k. to be a wonderful place we consider generally people think sweden is or is a pretty pretty great place and yet you can see that when you fall out of favor with the people in power that you know you don't end up in a favorable position i mean but you're still alive right so i mean clearly that's a symbol that it's a free country. that edition of julius launches show airs tuesday eleven thirty g.m.t. and remember you can catch up on all previous programs any time at r.t. dot com also while mine today for you a hairy situation at new york's police department fires a jewish officer who refused to trim his beard sparking a lawsuit over the just discrimination. and saudi arabia

north korean leader kim jong un has given his second public speech since taking power in front of tens. thousands of children wednesday marks the anniversary of the country's children's union the organization that helps ensure the young generations of loyalty to the regime it comes two days after north korea warn their southern neighbor of military action over their critical coverage of children's festivals in pyongyang. daniel bushell now joins us from the business desk hi daniel and france and america have a blazing route over the euro what's happening here the trading blows over who's to blame for the crisis new foreign minister laurent fabius says the u.s. spoke the problems he said quote lehman brothers was not a european bank we should not shift responsibility that's him there france's new socialist government is seen as less friendly to washington than previous incumbent nicolas sarkozy washington says brussels is to blame by not helping its members enough. spain has admitted to it anymore the treasury minister also warned the country is too big to be dealt with twenty five perc