they actually said well, the south koreans were shelling first. then the government can say "we don't know what's going on in the fog of war, we don't want to blame the north koreans." of course, at the security council emergency meeting this weekend, the chinese response was "we do not want to publicly shame the north koreans." now, that has been the consistent chinese policy for years on north korea. but, of course, while this has been going on, the north koreans have gotten more and more assert and their view is, well, the chinese are going to protect them a degree. they're not going to punish them. the real question is how much do the chinese believe that they have over north korea? and frankly after two two years of two nuclear tests and ballistic missile tests and the sinking of the "cheonan" the south korean corvette and now the shelling of an island with civilians on it-- merry christmas-- it's not clear to me the chinese themselves think they have a lot of leverage. the policies they're putting in place are hurting the chinese in terms of

the south korean military says it plans to stay on the highest alert for the time being. south korea and the united states began a four-day military drill in the yellow sea following the exchange of fire on november 23rd. on wednesday, the final day of the drill, the two nations will carry out exercises to protect the u.s. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "george washington" from enemy attacks and to deliver supplies to combat areas. >> conventional forces -- provocative actions by those forces. >> a weekend poll by south korea's kbs television shows that more than 70% of those surveyed want much stronger responses to any future provocations by north korea. >>> nations concerned with north korea are carrying out diplomatic moves following china's proposal of an emergency meeting of chief delegates to the six-party talks. japan's top negotiator to the six-party talks met china's special envoy on korean peninsula issues on tuesday in beijing. akitaka saiki asked wu dawei to explain beijing's request for a meeting of the chief delegates to the six-party talks on north korea's

the dangerous escalation what you hardy's south korean maneuvers which are in disputed waters which led to. the north korean response. of the artillery shelling of the island we've now seen massive joint us south korean exercises which clearly are leading to the north koreans are upping their. upping their readiness for for future for a future attack or military adventurism i don't think anyone's intending to start if you want a full scale war at this point but the danger with escalation is it gets out of control and that's obviously something we need to we need to be concerned about for the future what we need to see is and gestures from either side to try and step this down a maybe an offer from the north koreans for example to give up their their fuel rods from the yongbyon nuclear reactor and try and ship them to the scientists will be something that might be might allow us to start scaling down the current levels of tension. before an expert on korea speaking to us coming over the program fueling anger or find out about the u.s. congress criticize the key american air base in ku

south korean exercises which clearly are leading to the north koreans are upping their. upping their readiness for for future air for a future attack or military adventurism i don't think anyone's intending to start if you want a full scale war at this point but the danger with escalation is it gets out of control and that's obviously something we need to we need to be concerned about for the future but we need to see is some gestures from either side to try and step down and maybe an offer from the north koreans for. example to give up their their fuel rods from the yongbyon nuclear reactor and try and ship them to the scientists will be something that might be might allow us to start scaling down the current levels of tension. before they're an expert on korea all the way on r.t. her black ops denied the details of the patients against her could military officials in afghanistan would be preparing to take or over the border. the power's been restored moscow's domodedovo airport after twelve break over one hundred flights were canceled and others diverted to nearby airp

according to japanese officials, north koreans were quoted as saying they would not heighten tensions if the united states and south korea do not launch acts of provocation. the north koreans also reportedly said they would consider accepting iaea inspectors. the japanese government says it plans to keep calling on north korea to meet the five necessary conditions for resuming the six party talks. >>> in the commodities market crude oil prices are on the rise again. the benchmark wti futures rose above $90 a barrel in new york on wednesday. for the first time in 26 months. higher oil prices worldwide are pushing up the cost of petrochemical products in japan. crude oil prices have been rising since october. investors are moving their speculative funds into the market as a result of the long-standing easy monetary policy in the u.s. in japan firms such as sumitomo chemical have decided to increase their prices for polyester by about 8% in japan. japan's largest tire maker, bridgestone, will also raise the prices of its tires for trucks and buses by an average of 7% starting in march. other companies are expected to

south korean exercises which clearly are leading to the north koreans upping their . upping their readiness for for future for a future attack or military adventurism i don't think anyone's intending to start if you want a full scale war at this point but the danger with escalation is it gets out of control and that's obviously something we need to we need to be concerned about for the future what we need to see is some gestures from either side to try and step this down a maybe an offer from the north koreans for example to give up their their fuel rods from the yongbyon nuclear reactor and try and ship them to the scientists will be something that might be might allow us to start scaling down the current levels of tension. korea expert lean forward speaking to us on the way in the program diplomatic fallout find out why angry iran is considering breaking off all ties with the united kingdom. and details of allegations against american military officials in afghanistan who are reportedly preparing to take the war over the border. the aftermath of freezing rains causi

south. the lead government is more closely aligned with u.s. foreign policy goals on the korean peninsula than say the government's president's role in president kim. in south korea. president lee is often times seen as a puppet of the united states and the area around his office is called by many south koreans the news united state of south korea is there ever a danger do you think that the north would ever play the car that it's that it's brought out yet again talking about maybe using its nuclear deterrent if i have a bit of sacred war ever did break out there could that happen and which nations are likely to be drawn into the conflict. the north could use its deterrent you never know what's going to happen when there's a game of brinksmanship being played as the south koreans obviously are i don't believe the south koreans want to bring this to an open state of conflict and i don't believe they actually want the north koreans to retaliate but when you play this kind of dangerous game anything can happen i believe the vice chairman of the u.s. joint chiefs of staff had mentio

>> reporter: well, i think the north koreans would clearly appreciate it if the south koreans decided to postpone or cancel this planned live fire exercise at this island that was shelled back in november, november 23rd. i think the north koreans would see that as positive gesture on the part of south korea and clearly ease the tensions somewhat. but whether or not south koreans are going to do that, would that appear to be capitulating or show weakness in the face of this situation? that is an issue that would have to be discussed. the north korean, what you clearly get from them is the sense that south korea's fault, they're provoking this, they're backed by the united states, which for whatever reason is provoking this. they feel that they're surrounded right now and they're clearly hoping that the south koreans blink, if you will. my own personal assessment is the south koreans probably won't unless there's enormous pressure from the united states and from others to hold off on this exercise. that seems to be the pivotal point right now. there's no doubt, also, one more point, suz

south korean exercises which clearly are leading to the north koreans upping their . upping their readiness for future for a future attack or military adventures i don't think anyone is intending to start if you want a full scale war at this point but it is a danger with escalation is it gets out of control. which is something we need to we need to be concerned about for the future but we need to see is some gestures from either side to try and step down maybe an offer from the north koreans for example to give up their with their fuel rods from the only real nuclear reactor and try and ship them to the saddest will be something that might be might allow us to start scaling down the current levels of tension. and also from korea expert going for stay with us here on r t still on your way diplomatic fallout i know why you're wrong is considering breaking off all ties with e.u. ok. but first the aftermath of freezing rain is causing major delays around us ructions at one of moscow's main airports i stopped electricity cables have a ruptured and caused a power outage at

south korean exercises which clearly are leading to the north koreans upping their . upping their readiness for for future for a future attack or military adventurism i don't think anyone's intending to start if you want a full scale war at this point but the danger with escalation is it gets out of control and something we need that we need to be concerned about for the future but we need to see is some gestures from either side to try and step down a maybe an offer from the north koreans for example to give up their their fuel rods from the young nuclear reactor and try and ship them to the scientists will be something that might be allow us to start scaling down the current levels of tension. that was good for an expert on korea speaking to us coming up in the program fueling anger find out how the u.s. congress decides to keep american air base introduced and what isn't going to do with the revolution country. after mother freezing rain has been causing major delays and disruption and airports across russia one of the worst affected was moscow's domodedovo airport

south korean exercises which clearly are leading to the north koreans upping their . upping their readiness for for future for a future attack or military adventurism i don't think anyone's intending to start if you want a full scale war at this point but it is a danger with escalation is it gets out of control. which is something we need to we need to be concerned about for the future what we need to see is some gestures from either side to try and step down maybe an offer from the north koreans for example to give up their with their fuel rods from the only real nuclear reactor and try and ship them to the saddest will be something that might be allow us to start scaling down the current levels of tension. commentary from korea expert glidden ford. at least eight suspected militants have been killed in a counter terror operation in the capital of russia's southern republic of dagestan authorities say one of them was the leader of a local terrorist group artie's excitedly hunch over who's at the scene of the violence we're just a couple of meters away from the buildi

and the south koreans have been criticized back home for the south korean government not doing enough, especially after the north koreans -- they knocked out this south korean warship. north koreans deny they did it, but almost everybody else accused the north koreans of doing it back in march, 46 south korean sailors died in that incident. and there was a big uproar that the south korean government wasn't responding tough enough. and then after the shelling of the island, they didn't respond tough enough. they got a new defense minister in place right now. so under domestic political pressure, the south koreans have to show some determination. and there's concern, richardson i know is concerned that if the south koreans go ahead with these exercises at this sensitive moment, that will provoke the north koreans and who knows what will happen. so they're trying to calm things down. but it's -- it's by no means easy. it's a lot easily said than done. >> wolf blitzer traveling with former u.n. ambassador bill richardson right now in north korea trying to calm things down. wolf, we apprec

not into south korean waters i should say. but certainly is carrying out drills in the area. so that just illustrates how tense things still are here. >> and because of this public pressure, the military in south korea might even consider further fortifying some of the islands on its maritime border. and that would send a very powerful signal of one sort or another to pyongyang. >> that's right. there was some proposals put forward this week to the president in terms of reforming the defense policy here. and one of them said that the number of marines stationed on those islands should go from 5,000 to 12,000. that's a massive jump. but that's partly for military reasons. i think it's also partly to reassure the civilian residents of those islands that it's ok for them to go back. and one of the things the government is worried about is that if the residents withdraw from those islands as some of them have been doing following last attacks it becomes a problem in its own right. the islands need to be populated to secure the fact that they are south korean. >> lucy williamson i

south korean exercises which clearly are leading to the north koreans upping their . upping their readiness for for future for a future attack or military adventurism i don't think anyone's intending to start if you want a full scale war at this point but the danger with escalation is it gets out of control so we see something we need that we need to be concerned about for the future what we need to see is some gestures from either side to try and step. and maybe an offer from the north koreans for example to give up their their fuel rods from the young real nuclear reactor and try and ship them to the scientists will be something that might be allow us to start scaling down the current levels of tension that was the korean expert glenn ford speaking for us there now coming up in the program at fueling anger. find out how the u.s. congress criticize the american air base in kyrgyzstan and what it all has to do with a revolution in the country. power has been restored moscow's airport after a twelve hour break over one hundred flights were canceled and others diverted

to the north they they had cross border visits trade all that has been stopped by this present south korean president lee myung bok he's basically gone back to the cold war days. he's playing brinkmanship if the north attacks south korea the united states will respond. commensurately i think. you know it's very possible we could see this go nuclear that is probably something that would get out of control rather rapidly i think you would see then japan get involved obviously china we get involved where we would definitely see a lot of casualties of course you are with r t we've got plenty more in store for you including a fresh fight for land in israel. the government's bulldozing of bedouin villages and uprooting inhabitants from the desert where they've lived in for over a century archie looks at the reasons behind the crackdown in. the united states has long championed the cause of capitalism but now with globalization and outsourcing in full swing the country is experiencing its less pleasant aspects faced with a huge economic slump one american town is turning to an unlikely savior chin

south korean exercises which clearly are leading to the north koreans upping their . upping their readiness for for future for a future attack or military adventurism it seems to be a lot of saber rattling right now repeated warnings from the north continued war games in the south in this ever be resolved or do you think things have gone maybe too far. well i mean the danger is that somebody makes a mistake and what's happening is that both sides are escalating the rhetoric and if you want the preparation for military action i don't think anyone's intending to start if you want a full scale war at this point but the danger with escalation is it gets out of control so if we see something we need that we need to be concerned about for the future. and a worst case scenario if a quote sacred war begins who do you think is going to get involved. oh wow i mean i think in terms of the bottles it will clearly be science in north korea with the americans assisting and less with troops than with if you want naval and air force components that will try early on to take out a nor

but state-run media condemned the war games as a south korean plot. >> ( translated ): the puppet warmongersre doing it to scheme a war to invade north korea. >> warner: and a senior north korean defense official warned his country would wage a sacred war using nuclear weapons, if it's attacked. the war of words was the latest sign of rising tensions on the peninsula. in march, north korea torpedoed a south korean warship, killing 46 sailors. and last month, the north shelled a south korean island in disputed waters, killing four. this morning on abc, vice president biden suggested a reason for thnorth's recent aggression. >> going through a power transition that great leader is about to and has designated his young son to be his successor i'm sure whether is a lot of muscle flexing in the near term to satisfy the military that the successor will be able to handle the deal. but it is dicey, it is reason for concern. >> warner: amidst all this, new mexico governor bill richardson returned monday from a private visit to pyongyang. he said north korean officials told him they were willing to re

provoke its northern neighbor washington based investigative journalist wayne madsen says the south korean leader's policies seem to contradict the more conciliatory approach of his predecessors and that may lead the peninsula toward war. last few presidents south korea had had what were known as sunshine policies with the north they opened up to the north they they had cross border visits trade all that has been stopped by this present south korean president lee myung bok he's basically gone back to the cold war days. he's playing brinkmanship if the north attacks south korea the united states will respond. commensurately i think. you know it's very possible we could see this go nuclear that is probably something that would get out of control rather rapidly i think you would see then japan get involved obviously china we get involved where we would definitely see a lot of casualties the united states has long championed the cause of capitalism but with globalization and outsourcing underway the country is experiencing some less pleasant aspects faced with a huge economic slump one u.s. to

/south korean maneuvers. >> translator: japan and the u.s. are allies. still need to resolve a number of issues with south korea. >> kitazawa said japan must continue efforts to resolve pending issues to make the south korean public more receptive to the idea of joint drills with japan. japan ruled the korean peninsula before world war ii for 35 years. south koreans are still wary of japan's participation in joint military activities. >>> a key member of japan's government is promising to do everything he can to resolve an international issue dragging on for decades. more than 30 years have passed since north korean agents abducted japanese citizens. chief cabinet secretary yoshito sengoku spoke at a symposium attended by families of the abductees. >> translator: the japanese government will do everything it can in order to resolve this abduction issue as soon as possible. >> sengoku said the abductions were an extremely serious infringement of japan's sovereignty and an unimaginable violation of human rights. he also expressed regret and apologized for

we've now seen massive joint us south korean exercises which clearly are leading to the north koreans upping their. upping their readiness for for future for a future attack or military adventurism i don't think anyone's intending to start if you want a full scale war at this point but the danger with escalation is it gets out of control so we see something we need that we need to be concerned about for the future what we need to see is some gestures from either side to try and step down a maybe an offer from the north koreans for example to give up their their fuel rods from the young nuclear reactor and try and ship them to the scientists will be something that might be allowed us to start scaling down the current levels of tension. and this week the brother of the way polish president killed in a plane crash in russia has claimed the body buried in cracow does not belong to lech kaczynski chance he has not yet announced whether he will ask for the remains to be doomed moscow was startled by the comments as a polish side had been involved in all stages of the identification last wee

south korean exercises which clearly are leading to the north koreans upping their . upping their readiness for for future for a future attack or military adventurism i don't think anyone's intending to start if you want a full scale war at this point but the danger with escalation is it gets out of control and so we see something we need that we need to be concerned about for the future what we need to see is some gestures from either side to try and step down a maybe an offer from the north koreans for example to give up their their fuel rods from the young nuclear reactor and try and ship them to the science will be something that might be allow us to start scaling down the current levels of tension that was going forward an expert on korea. now find out why on the diplomatic fallout scene why iran breaking off all ties with the u.k. . power has been restored at moscow's. airport after a twelve hour break over one hundred flights were canceled and others diverted to nearby airports after freezing rain downed electricity cables authorities have been ordered to do ev

island of north korea and the sinking of a south korean warship in march. hat this is part of the south's psychological warfare an >>> and that concludes this edition ever "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. we'll be back in half an hour with the latest news and weather.

the flag an torch were handed over to south korean delegates. south korea's incheon will host the next edition of the games in 2014. >>> malaysia plans to build two nuclear power plants by 2022 to reduce its dependence on fossil fuel. gas accounts for 64% of the country's energy, with the remainder coming from coal. the energy minister said on sunday each of the two power plants will generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity. he added the initial blueprint for the projects will be ready by 2014 and tenders will be called for in 2016. he said this nuclear energy has become a viable alternative energy source due to its lower cost in the long run. >>> and before we check on the weather, we want to show you how monkeys at a zoo in central japan are staying warm now that winter is here. how's this for a way to cope with the cold? the 160 macaques gather around a fire every day. the zoo keepers keep the flames going. they also bake sweet potatoes, a favorite for the monkeys. when the food is ready, they scramble to get some. the greedy ones take extra he

south. the lead government is more closely aligned with the u.s. foreign policy goals on the korean peninsula. say the governments of presidents rowan presidents kim. in south korea. president lee is often times seen as a puppet of the united states and. the area around his office is called by many south koreans the news united state of south korea south korea certainly seized on any opportunity it can to escalate tensions there is the sinking of the south korean. chain on that which was immediately blamed on north korea over north korean denials and there are many in south korea who do not believe the official inquiry then we have the artillery exchange that happened on november twenty third which has been blamed on north korea however the exchange was triggered by south korea and marine garrison on an island that lies very close to the north korean coast you consider that you consider president leaves hostility toward north korea. it's his policy of confrontation deescalating war games and it's hard not to conclude that south korea is trying to precipitate a fight to to pick a fig

. >> woodruff: next, new tensions on the korean penninsula and what they look like to people in the south. southern forces continued their military exercises today and leaders in both countries stepped up their rhetoric. a high ranking north korean defense official talked of war. >> (translated): the armed forces of the d.p.r.k. are getting prepared to launch a sacred war of justice korean style. it is deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of war. >> woodruff: >> woodruff: south korea's president said his country would make an unsparing response if attacked. we have a sampling of public opinion in seoul. it comes from justin mccurry of our international reporting partner, global post. >> reporter: air raid sirens warn of an impending attack on the south korean capital seoul. the source of the threat: north korea. fortunately, it is only a drill. but as residents of a city just 27 miles from the border with north korea, the people of seoul are accustomed to preparing for the worst. this recent civil defense exercise was the largest in years. traffic was brought to a halt; people

came after south korea shifted to a tougher alignment against the north following its attack on a south korean island in the yellow sea last week. lawmaker who is attended the meeting say won't explain the background of the north's attack. the chief reported that the north was irritated with south korea's rising international status after the group of 20 summit in seoul last month. he also said that the north's leadership needed to distract from the worsing on the economy and the success of kim jong il. >>> china's foreign minister says that china remains neutral on the korean issue and is working towards calling attention on the korea -- calming tensions on the korean peninsula. he made the remarks at a forum attended by foreign diplomats based in beijing on wednesday. >> he stressed the importance of not enflaming intention and ask that the country exercise restraint. diplomatic sources say china will send two senior officials, one state counselor in charge of diplomatic affairs. and a special envoy on korean issues to the north. >>> observers say yang's remarks were aimed at rebutting criti

secretary of state hillary clinton, japan's foreign minister and south korean foreign affairs and trade minister hwan met for 2 1/2 hours in washington on monday. the three countries adopted a joint statement denouncing the north's shelling of a south korean island. the three nations say they would build strong, productive and stable relations with china to achieve the shared goal of realizing a peaceful northeast asia. it's believed that the three nations discussed china's proposal for an emergency meeting of the chiefs of the six-party talks on the nuclear issue. the ministers expect china to urge the north to take specific steps to abide by its obligations before talks by the parties resume. >>> u.s. secretary of state clinton said top united states military officer mike mullen will visit sew to enhance coordination with its asian allies. iran and six major countries resumed talks over tehran's nuclear development program for the first time in more than a year. officials from iran, the united states, britain, france, germany russia and china start the meeting in geneva on monday. the