at 18:30 (JST), February 09

Asian View

"Asian View" is a five-minute news segment broadcast by NHK WORLD-JAPAN. It features the latest news and deep analysis from Japan and the rest of Asia. Listen to "Asian View" and get the latest information from a region that's playing an increasingly important role in the world.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20230209183000_english_1.mp3


Key words : north armed forces daughter
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230209_21/

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over a huge military parade in Pyongyang on Wednesday night that showcased intercontinental ballistic missiles.

North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency said on Thursday that the event marked the 75th founding anniversary of the country's armed forces and was the first large-scale parade since April last year.

It said Kim attended the parade with his wife and daughter but did not deliver a speech.

The state-run media said the parade displayed units operating intercontinental ballistic missiles, tactical nuclear weapons and long-distance cruise missile.

Weapons in the published photos included the Hwasong-17, North Korea's largest ICBM, which was launched in November 2022.

New types of missiles could also be seen on a mobile launcher with nine wheels on one side. South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted observers who said the missiles may include a new solid-fuel ICBM.

Kim Jong Un has said the country needs to mass-produce tactical nuclear weapons, "exponentially" increase production of nuclear warheads and develop a new intercontinental ballistic missile in 2023, the third year of its current five-year defense plan.

Observers say the latest military parade shows North Korea's determination to push ahead with its nuclear and missile development programs.

Key words : tokyo police arrested senior member
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230209_04/

Tokyo police arrested two Japanese men on suspicion of fraud on their flight back to Japan from the Philippines early Thursday. The pair are among four Japanese who are suspected of orchestrating a series of robberies across Japan.

Watanabe Yuki and Kojima Tomonobu had been held at an immigration facility in the Philippines.

Police say the two are suspected of stealing cash cards from a man in Tokyo in November 2019, pretending to belong to the Financial Services Agency. They reportedly told the victim that illegal balance inquiries had been made regarding his bank accounts.

The two others -- Fujita Toshiya and Imamura Kiyoto -- were extradited from the Philippines on Tuesday.

Police suspect the four are senior members of a group involved in phone scams that netted more than 6 billion yen, or about 45.7 million dollars.

They aim to shed light into the organization as well as learn whether the men are behind a robbery spree in Japan that left one person dead.

Key words : trade goods record high
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230208_18/

Goods trade between the United States and China hit a record high in 2022, indicating close economic ties between the two economies despite ongoing disputes in the high-tech field.

Figures released by the US Commerce Department on Tuesday show that trade, excluding services, stood at 690.5 billion dollars in 2022.

That's up about 5 percent from the previous year. It also exceeded a record set in 2018 of 658.7 billion dollars.

US exports to China rose about 1 percent to 153.8 billion dollars on brisk grain exports.

US imports from China rose about 6 percent to 536.7 billion dollars, partly due to an increase in imports of toys and other plastic products.

The US administration of President Joe Biden has tightened regulations on US exports of semiconductor-related products to China.

Such measures have heightened tensions between the two nations in the high-tech field.

Disputes remain, although the latest figures clearly show that economic ties between the two are strong.

Key words : france dispatched
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230209_05/

The French government has dispatched an amphibious assault ship and a frigate to the Indian Ocean for joint exercises with Japan, the United States, Australia, Britain and India.

The Dixmude and frigate La Fayette left the southern French port of Toulon on Wednesday.

The French defense ministry says the two vessels will participate in joint drills with Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force and the US, Australian, British and Indian navies between March and around April.

At a ceremony held before the vessels set sail, General Thierry Burkhard, chief of defense, described the mission as at-sea operational training. But he called on the sailors and soldiers on board to be prepared for possible combat.

Following the ceremony, the captain of the Dixmude, Emmanuel Mocard, told NHK that France has strengthened its partnership with Japan in waters near Japan, the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific despite the distances between the two nations. He added he is glad to be able to conduct exercises with Japan.

Observers say with China stepping up its influence in the Asia-Pacific region, France aims to keep China in check by joining hands with Japan, the US and other countries.

Key words : earthquake engineer
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230209_01/

Heavy damage from Monday's devastating earthquakes near the Turkish-Syrian border is complicating the search for survivors.

The death toll in the countries has passed 11,000. It's the first natural disaster to kill more than 10,000 people since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the hard-hit city of Kahramanmaras on Wednesday. He has declared a three-month state of emergency in 10 provinces to speed up rescue work.

The World Health Organization estimates as many as 23 million people in Turkey and Syria could have been affected.

Many have been left homeless. They are pleading for warm clothing and medical supplies as temperatures dip below freezing in some stricken areas.

In northwestern Syria, a newborn baby girl was pulled alive from the rubble. She was still attached by her umbilical cord to her mother. Her parents and siblings did not survive.

The quakes leveled buildings across vast swaths of Turkey. University of Tokyo Professor Kusunoki Koichi, an expert on earthquake engineering, said an apparent cause of the extensive damage was that the violent shaking caused building pillars to break instantly as if they had exploded, and that caused floors to collapse down onto each other. Kusunoki said the phenomenon called "pancake collapse" occurred at several locations.

Several apartment buildings collapsed in the same direction. Kusunoki said this suggests they were toppled by a sudden powerful jolt. He said further analysis is needed.

Kusunoki said Turkey's building standards are on par with Japan's. But code enforcement is another matter. A study by the Turkish Parliament found about 6.7 million buildings were not up to code as of 2021.

Key words : arrested tokyo olympic
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230208_11/

A Tokyo Olympics executive has been arrested on suspicion of violating Japan's Anti-Monopoly Act. Sources say former deputy director of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics Organizing Committee's operations bureau Mori Yasuo has admitted to involvement in rigging bids for test events.

Prosecutors and Japan Fair Trade Commission officials suspect that the organizing committee colluded with Dentsu, the country's largest ad agency, to steer contracts to specific companies.

The arrest comes amid a probe into 26 bids held in 2018 for contracts to plan test events. Investigators say nine firms, including Dentsu, and one consortium won related contracts worth more than 500 million yen, or almost 4 million dollars.

Sources say explanatory documents prepared before the tender suggested that winning firms would also, in principle, receive orders for projects leading to the Games.

Also, investigators are believed to be looking into possible bid-rigging involving around 40 billion yen, or about 303 million dollars, in contracts related to operating the Games themselves as well.

They say winners of test-event bids signed discretionary contracts that included work for the actual Games.

Sources also say Dentsu officials have already admitted to rigging bids.

Separately, 15 people, including another former executive of the organizing committee, have been indicted in a bribery case related to the Tokyo Games.

Key words : researcher monkey
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230208_39/

An object looking like a mummy of a monkey with a fish tail has long been held at a Buddhist temple in western Japan. A group of researchers recently scrutinized the mummy of the so-called mermonkey, which combines the words mermaid with monkey, and says it is an artifact made around the 19th century.

The roughly 30-centimeter object is kept at the Enjuin temple in Okayama Prefecture, along with the description of "a dried merman."

A group of researchers from several organizations, including Kurashiki University of Science and The Arts and Kurashiki Museum of Natural History, examined the object from February last year. The analysis included X-ray photography to examine inside it.

The researchers provided the results at a news conference on Tuesday.

They said that the figure has no skull or ribs, and its upper body is made of paper and cloth. They also said its lower body has features of a fish species inhabiting off Japan's coasts, judging from the shape of the scales and other evidence.

They said the radioactive carbon dating indicates that the object's materials date back to the second half of 19th century.

The researchers said from the viewpoint of folklore, it was apparently made not as an object of worship but for entertainment shows, and later transferred to the temple.