at 20:00 (JST), February 26 (Autoscroll)

The head of a high-level North Korean delegation visiting South Korea has reiterated that the door for a dialogue with the United States is open.

The Japanese Olympic team returned home from Pyeongchang on Monday. Japan's athletes won 13 medals in all. That's the most any Japanese team has ever won at a Winter Games.

An information security firm in Japan says a cyberattack that targeted the PyeongChang Winter Olympics had been in the works since late last year.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20180226200000_english_1.mp3


Key words : north door
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180226_26/

The head of a high-level North Korean delegation visiting South Korea has reiterated that the door for a dialogue with the United States is open.

Kim Yong Chol and other delegates had lunch on Monday with their South Korean counterparts -- National Security Director Chung Eui-yong and Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung.

Kim reportedly told them that his country has repeatedly expressed its readiness to hold talks with the US.

The delegation is on the 2nd day of its 3-day visit to the South to coincide with the closing ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympic Games.

On the previous day, Kim met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and said Pyongyang is fully ready to talk with Washington.

He added that inter-Korean ties and North Korean-US relations should develop in tandem.

Also on Monday, Moon held talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong.

Moon said the US should lower its bar for dialogue, and that the North needs to show its willingness to denuclearize.

Key words : white house response
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180226_12/

The White House has given a lukewarm response to Pyongyang's message that it is willing to hold talks.

It issued a statement after a high-level North Korean delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics told South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Sunday that the country is fully ready to talk with the United States.

The statement said that the administration of President Donald Trump has been trying to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula permanently and verifiably and that it will wait and see if the message represents the first step toward denuclearization.

It also stressed the need to continue to impose maximum pressure on Pyongyang until it abandons its nuclear program.

The statement said that "there is a brighter path available for North Korea if it chooses denuclearization."

The Trump administration has been in contact with North Korean officials via the North's UN representative in New York and other diplomatic channels.

But the country has not shown readiness to enter talks on denuclearization.

Key words : olympic team
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180226_23/

The Japanese Olympic team returned home from Pyeongchang on Monday. Japan's athletes won 13 medals in all. That's the most any Japanese team has ever won at a Winter Games.

A crowd of supporters was on hand at Narita Airport east of Tokyo to greet the athletes and officials.

The fans cheered and applauded when the team members, including speed skater Nao Kodaira and figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu, appeared in the lobby wearing their medals.

Team leader Yasuo Saito, Kodaira, Hanyu and other medalists were handed bouquets on behalf of the group.

Hanyu is the first male figure skater in 66 years to win gold at 2 consecutive Olympics.

Kodaira took gold in the women's 500 meters and silver in the 1,000-meter race.

Speed skater Nana Takagi was the women's mass start champion and a member of the gold medal pursuit team.

In all, Japan collected 4 golds, 5 silvers and 4 bronzes. That's 3 more medals than the previous Japanese record, set at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games.

Key words : cyberattack target
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180226_17/

An information security firm in Japan says a cyberattack that targeted the PyeongChang Winter Olympics had been in the works since late last year.

The attack hit during the Games' opening ceremony on February 9th, causing internet disruptions.

A computer virus that was likely used in the attack has been found. The "Olympic Destroyer" virus was programmed to target one of the computer servers of the Olympic organizing committee.

Experts at Japan's Mitsui Bussan Secure Directions have analyzed the virus in detail. They found that it could steal IDs and passwords stored in infected terminals, and use them to look for new targets.

They also found the virus was created in late December last year, and began to spread at least one month before the Games opened.

An official of the firm, Takashi Yoshikawa, has called for measures to be put in place against possible cyberattacks at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. He says preparations for any such attack will likely get underway well ahead of the Games.

Key words : labor ministry additional
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180226_25/

Japan's labor ministry says additional irregularities have been found in the employee work-hour data used for Diet debate on working system reform.

Labor minister Katsunobu Kato disclosed the finding at a Lower House committee meeting on Monday. The committee is now discussing working system reform, which includes expanding a discretionary system that sets fixed wages regardless of hours put in.

Ministry officials had explained that they confirmed 117 suspected errors in survey data on the number of work hours put in by employees under both the discretionary system and those in general.

Kato said that after closely looking into the ministry data, 233 more cases of irregularities were found.

The cases mention weekly and monthly overtime records of employees in general, while showing that their daily overtime was zero.

Kato called the data irrational, saying it is impossible to mention weekly and monthly overtime without daily records.

The minister also referred to a survey on work hours of officials involved in company management under a discretionary work system. He said there were 42 cases in which less than 2 daily work hours were performed.

He indicated that his ministry would further investigate the cases and report to the Diet, saying the cases give a feeling of incongruity.

Key words : cambodia
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180226_07/

Cambodia's ruling party has swept all seats in Sunday's Upper House election after thousands of opposition lawmakers and local council leaders were stripped of their right to vote.

Senators are elected by lower house lawmakers and members of local council assemblies.

Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party, the CPP, has taken all 58 seats. The nation's king and the lower house will appoint another two members each.

The outcome was much anticipated as the largest opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, the CNRP, was dissolved by the nation's top court last November.

The party's leader had been arrested and charged with treason for an alleged attempt to overthrow the government.

The court's decision came after the CNRP had won nearly a majority in a local assembly election last year, in a campaign that called for a change of government.

As a result, the ruling CPP has since occupied most seats in local assemblies.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power for more than 3 decades, is tightening his grip ahead of a Lower House election in July.

The United States and other countries are criticizing Hun Sen, saying an election without the largest opposition party is not legitimate or fair.

Key words : Insight cambodia election
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Key words : export
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180226_21/

Robust exports on the back of a strong global economy generated high growth performance in 2017 for many countries in Southeast Asia.

All but one of the region's 6 major economies posted higher growth than in the previous year.

Gross domestic product in Indonesia, the region's largest economy, grew 5 percent last year.

Thailand grew 3.9 percent and Malaysia 5.9 percent.

Vietnam's economy expanded by 6.8 percent, the highest figure in a decade.

But the pace of growth in the Philippines slowed slightly, compared with the previous year.

Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore saw higher exports of manufactured products. They benefitted from the strong economies of the US and China.

Indonesia reported increased exports of farm and fisheries products.

Analysts say Southeast Asia is expected to maintain strong economic conditions this year as well.

But they warn investors might start pulling their money out of the region if the US quickens its pace of interest-rate hikes.

Such investment has been supporting the growth. They say an outflow of funds could trigger instability.

Key words : mitsubishi
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180226_29/

Mitsubishi Motors is looking to grab a share of Indonesia's automobile market through efforts to help alleviate the nation's air pollution problem.

The Japanese carmaker is supplying the government there with a fleet of new electric vehicles. They'll be part of a project looking at how to encourage drivers to go electric.

Mitsubishi handed over the keys to 10 cars including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, or PHEVs.

The project team will spend a year studying the best ways to set up charging stations and other infrastructure elements essential to the spread of electric vehicles.

Jakarta's notorious air pollution has led the government to search for cleaner ways of getting around.

Indonesia is a Mitsubishi production hub for the massive Southeast Asian market. The automaker hopes the joint research can build a foothold to expand EV sales in the country.