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 by western countries. the president expressed hope that the recent bielections will help achieve that. known for its rich natural resources and abundant labor, myanmar is often called the last frontier in southeast asia. many countries are paying attentio

but today, the summit in the cambodian capital of phnom penh was different. myanmar's president thein sein received a warm welcome after sunday's historic bi-election. asean leaders praised the vote won by pro-democratic leader aung san suu kyi. the development could boost asean's project to create an economic community by 2015. cambodian prime minister hun sen chaired the summit. he apparently believes removing sanctions from the asean economic area to be an important step forward. asean leaders agreed to call on europe and the united states to lift sanctions against myanmar. they said the move would further promote democratic reform in the country. >> one thing that we are very much keen on just now is to ensure the sanctions against myanmar be immediately lifted. it is extremely important as a symbol, as a democratic divider for a country that has become the process of change, and it's the process of change must be acknowledged. >> reporter: myanmar has rich natural resources but its economy has been closed from much of the world. lifting economic sanction

a rundown village on the outskirts of phnom penh.ny taxi driver can tell you it's the place to go if you're looking for the youngest girls. >> young, young girls? >> all young girls. >> what's the name of that place? >> svay pak. >> svay pak. it's a 20-minute drive. and we're on a dirt road dotted with cafes and gated storefronts. it takes just a second for a pimp to approach. >> hi. how are you? >> everyone in svay pak assumes we're here for sex. when we sit down at one of the cafes, we're greeted by a young hustler named po. he's only 15 but already a real operator. he tells us he's grown up in the village and introduces his mother, who knows exactly what he's up to and takes a cut of the money he brings in. po says he can get us girls who are even younger than the ones we saw at the brothel in the city. and despite all we've seen, we're stunned at just how young he says they are. >> 8. >> 8. >> 8? >> 8 years old. it's hard to believe. he tells us to come see for ourselves. along with the human rights investigator, we follow po thr

he makes the rounds of phnom penh's markets. he's collecting coconut shells. coconut flakes are an ingredient in many cambodian dishes. so there are lots of shells left over at the markets. len can earn money with them. a factory on the outskirts of phnom penh is willing to pay for coconut shells. here, they're not waste -- they're a raw material. >> the idea is to provide cambodia with an environmental friendly product, since deforestation is a big issue here in cambodia. so our charcoal is out of complete recycled organic waste so we dont cut any trees to produce charcoal. >> cambodians use lots of wood -- for construction, furniture- making -- and for fuel. even large textile factories like this one use wood as an energy source. the storage area is fully stocked. jeans production for overseas contractors can swallow up entire forests. cambodia's woodlands have shrunk by about 20 percent over the past ten years. there's hardly any rain forest left, at all. no trees have to be felled for the coconut shells. chopped into manageable size, they form the basic ma

khimimomo myint, nhk world, phnom penh. >>> ean leaders are acting in unison to support me yab march. at a summit meeting that ended in cambodia on wednesday, the leaders welcomed the outcome of the bielections. they also called on western nations to lift economic sanctions. nhk world's pinh chanda reports. >> reporter: asean leaders seemed cheerful at the closing ceremony. prime minister hun sen of cambodia chaired the summit. he issued a statement saying the bielections in myanmar on sunday were just and fair. he called it a big step forward in the country's democratization. hun sen called on european countries and the united states to reward myanmar for its progress. myanmar has recently chaired the regional bloc in 2014. they agreed to come together and support the bid. asean summits regularly take place at the same time as the east asian summit, it's likely that the u.s. president may find himself invited to myanmar. that would be a meaningful opportunity for myanmar to show its return to the international community. for years, myanmar's lack of democratization was a lingering pr

the interview took place in phnom penh where thein sein attended a summit. he leads the new government that was inaugurated last year, and took off after decades of autocratic rule after the country's military leaders. aung san suu kyi one a land slide victory in sunday's by-elections. the vote was closely watched by the international community, as myanmar's progress towards democracy. however, 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 democraticization. the president responded 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 by western countries. the president expressed hope that the recent by-elections will help achieve that. known for its rich natural resources and abundant labor, myanmar is often called the last frontier in southeast asia. many countries are paying attention to

nhk world, phnom penh. >>> and that's going to wrap up our bulletin for today. reporting from bangkok. >>> a south korean envoy has stressed that his country should strengthen cooperation with japan and the u.s. to prevent north korea from taking further provocative action following last week's missile launch. the north claimed it was attempting to launch a satellite. >> translator: the u.s., japan and south korea must work closely to coordinate action to urge north korea to give up its nuclear program. >> shin referred to a unanimously adopted presidential statement from the u.n. security council. he called it an important message to the north as it has the support of china and russia. he said the north spent more than $800 million to develop the rocket and build a launchpad. in addition, the south korean government estimates that north korea spent $340 million celebrating the birth of the nation's founder kim il sung last sunday. the unification ministry said new statues of kim il-sung and his son kim jong-il cost an estimated $39 million to build. fireworks a