i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. north korea has amended its constitution to recognize its policy on nuclear force. pyeongyang says its nuclear weapons program is now permanently part of the country's basic law. north korea's state media says the supreme people's assembly wrapped up its two-day session wednesday. it says the amendment will help the country deter war. pyeongyang had previously declared itself a nuclear power in 2012. in a speech leader kim jong-un said the country's nuclear force is now a permanent strategic asset. this comes after a new law last september legalizing a potential preemptive nuclear strike. meanwhile north korea also upgraded its aerospace agency into a bureau. it played a key role in recent ballistic missile launches. it was also behind two failed attempts to launch a spy satellite. north korea made it clear it wants to pursue space development in a recent visit to russia. pyeongyang is expected to make a third attempt to deploy the satellite in the coming weeks. south korea's yonhap n

i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. we begin in japan where people across the country are preparing for potential disaster. friday marks 100 years since tokyo and its surrounding areas were devastated by the great kanto earthquake. the anniversary is now used as a chance to hold drills to prevent tragedy. on september 1, 1923, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake tremor struck. more than 105,000 people were left dead or missing. in 1960 the government designated the anniversary as disaster prevention day. this year the government held exercises based on a scenario of a magnitude 7.3 quake hitting central tokyo causing heavy shaking in surrounding regions. officials setup an emergency disaster response headquarters for the drill to assess the extent of damage and response. prime minister kishida fumio then flew to neighboring kanagawa prefecture. he inspected a joint disaster drill conducted by four prefectures and five major cities. >> translator: it is very important to be well-prepared for emergencies on a regular basis and to

i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. we begin with the latest on the summit between north korean leader kim jong-un and russian president vladimir putin. north korea's state run media says the two reached a satisfactory agreement on various issues and areas of cooperation. korean central television said the agreements came after the two leaders held talks on wednesday when they discussed politics, economic issues, and military affairs. agreements were reached on national sovereignty, regional and global peace and security and international justice, but it wasn't clear whether they agreed on expanding military cooperation. pyeongyang says putin accepted an invitation from kim to visit north korea. they met at a spaceport in russia's far east. it was their first meeting in four years. kim is now expected to visit the city of in russia's far eastern region. he's expected to tour factories that manufacture aircraft including fighter jets for russia's air force. well, those agreements are just one of many issues facing japan'

i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. japan's environment ministry says tritium in seawater off fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant remains below the detectable level. it conducted its sixth weekly survey since the plant's operator began releasing treated and diluted water into the ocean in august. officials collected seawater samples from 11 points off the coast of fukushima, miyagi, and ibaraki prefectures on tuesday going as far as 70 kilometers away. the ministry says the concentration levels of tritium at all locations was below the minimum detectable level of ten beckerals perliter. this matches the results of the last five surveys. the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant suffered a triple melt down in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. water used to cool molten fuel there has been mixing with rain and ground water. the accumulated water is being treated to remove most radioactive substances but still contains tritium. the plant's operator has been delighting it to reduce tritium levels to about one-seventh of the world

i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo. we begin this hour in china where the defense minister has not been seen in public for about two weeks prompting speculation about his fate. a british newspaper says u.s. officials believe he's been stripped of his responsibilities. the last report of him in public was on august 29th when he dlifbed a speech at the africa peace and security forum in beijing. the financial times reported thursday at the u.s. has concluded he's been stripped of his responsibilities and placed under investigation. the paper added its sources did not say why. li had been in charge of china's crude spaceflight project and weapons procurement for the country's military. he was appointed defense minister in march. recently several officials of china's military rumored to be guilty of corruption have been removed. and in late july the former foreign minister was removed from his post about six months after being appointed. that happened nearly a month after he dropped out of sight. reacting to the situation o