at 18:30 (JST), March 14

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/20230314183000_english_1.mp3


Key words : south short-range submarine
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230314_07/

South Korea's military says North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Tuesday morning. This comes one day after US and South Korean forces began joint military drills.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff say Pyongyang fired the missiles between 7:41 and 7:51 a.m. on Tuesday from South Hwanghae Province toward the sea off its east coast. They, together with the US military, are analyzing the details of the launches.

A senior Japanese government official said it did not receive any information that suggests the missiles fell inside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

Since the start of the year, North Korea has repeatedly fired missiles. On Monday, Pyongyang said it test-fired two cruise missiles from a submarine the day before.

The US and South Korean militaries are due to continue the Freedom Shield exercises until March 23.

North Korea has strongly objected to the drills.

Pyongyang said on Sunday the ruling Workers' Party's Central Military Commission had adopted steps to make more effective, powerful and offensive use of its war deterrent.

Key words : taiwan missing
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230313_34/

A Taiwanese minister says a missing soldier who was serving on an islet located a short distance from China's Fujian Province is now in mainland China.

The head of Taiwan's China-policy-making Mainland Affairs Council, Chiu Tai-san, told reporters on Monday that it is confirmed that he is in China.

The soldier serving on Erdan islet of the Taiwanese-controlled Kinmen group of islands had been missing since last Thursday.

The soldier was reportedly plucked from the sea by Chinese authorities while he was trying to swim across the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwanese authorities are investigating why the soldier left his unit without permission.

Concerns are rising over how the soldier will be treated because of strained relations between China and Taiwan.

Key words : kenzaburo giant
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230314_29/

An essay and a poem written by Japanese literary giant Oe Kenzaburo during his high school days have been discovered at his alma mater in western Japan.

Oe won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994, becoming the second Japanese author to receive the honor. He died on March 3 at the age of 88.

Oe was born in Uchiko Town, Ehime Prefecture. He enrolled in a local public high school in 1950 and attended for a year.

When Oe's death was reported on Monday, officials at Uchiko High School searched its archives and found the essay and poem he had written for a school newsletter.

In a passage about Shakespeare's "Hamlet," he muses that to go on with life is to suffer continuously, but that humans are destined to go forward.

In a poem titled "Red Autumn," he depicts a sunset and refers to it as "miserable," in a possible expression of teenage angst.

Uchiko High School Principal Fujimoto Shoji says he was stunned to see such literary skill from a first-year high school student. He says he felt a renewed sense of duty to pass on Oe's great works to future generations.

Key words : kenzaburo nuclear
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230313_25/

Nobel Prize-winning Japanese novelist Oe Kenzaburo has died at the age of 88.

Publishing house Kodansha announced on Monday that Oe died of natural causes on March 3.

Born in 1935 in the western prefecture of Ehime, Oe caught attention for his literary work while he was still a student at the University of Tokyo.

His work "Shiiku," known as "The Catch" in English, won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 1958.

He went on to win a series of awards and became a leader of the new generation of postwar Japanese writers.

Oe won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994, becoming the second Japanese author to receive the honor after Kawabata Yasunari.

Oe was also a peace activist. He interviewed survivors of the 1945 US atomic bombing of Hiroshima City and doctors who treated victims. His book "Hiroshima Notes" became a bestseller.

He was one of the founders of a group opposing amendments to Japan's pacifist Constitution and led campaigns calling for the end to nuclear power generation.

Key words : tokyo high court decided
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230313_21/

The Tokyo High Court has decided to grant a retrial to an 87-year-old man convicted in a 1966 murder case.

In 1980, the Supreme Court finalized a death sentence for Hakamada Iwao for killing four members of a family in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan. He pleaded innocent and filed for a retrial.

In 2014, the Shizuoka District Court granted a retrial and released him after 48 years in detention. Prosecutors appealed the ruling.

The Tokyo High Court rejected a retrial in 2018, but the top court later canceled the high court's decision and ordered it to re-examine the case.

The point of contention in the high court was the color of blood stains on items of clothing that allegedly belonged to Hakamada. The clothes were found in a tank of fermented soybean paste, more than a year after his arrest.

The lawyers said the evidence was fabricated as the red color of the blood would have faded over time.

But the prosecutors countered that an experiment showed blood stains could retain some of their color.

Key words : suicide children
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230314_10/

Japan's health and welfare ministry says 21,881 people took their own lives in 2022, and the figure includes a record number of children.

The total number rose 4.2 percent from 2021, when it posted a year-on-year decline.

The number of men who took their own lives increased for the first time since 2009. The figure stood at 14,746. The number of women grew for the third straight year to 7,135. Men accounted for 67.4 percent of the total.

By age, there were more people in their 50s, who took their own lives, and they accounted for the largest share of the total. They were followed by those in their 40s and 70s.

Among minors, 354 were in high school, 143 were in junior high school and 17 were in elementary school. The total reached 514. It is the first time that the figure has surpassed 500 since data was made available in 1980.

Ministry officials noted that there were more suicides among children and middle aged men. They said they intend to provide more support measures, such as telephone and internet counseling hotlines, and work with other relevant government offices.

The ministry is introducing various counseling services on its website.

Key words : dozens of buddhist
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230313_36/

Dozens of civilians, including Buddhist monks, have been shot dead at a monastery in eastern Myanmar.

The killings came after the military attacked a village in Shan State on Saturday with airstrikes and artillery. Pro-democracy forces have blamed junta soldiers for the massacre.

The pro-democracy camp released a statement about the incident on social media.

It says when their fighters advanced on a monastery in the village, they saw junta troops herd 30 villagers and three monks out of the building, stand them against a wall and shoot them.

It says 28 people, including monks, were confirmed dead at the scene the next day.

The military has not commented on what happened.

The deputy head of Human Rights Watch in Asia pointed out Myanmar's military is accused of killing at least 263 civilians since December.

Phil Robertson said the increase in what he called "brutal massacres in Myanmar" shows that "the junta commanders have given the green light to their troops to indiscriminately attack civilian targets without hesitation."

He called on the international community to impose sanctions on the military to "stop these atrocities" immediately.

Key words : britain china epoch-defining
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230314_05/

Britain says its relations with countries in the Indo-Pacific region are "a permanent pillar" of the country's international policy.

The country wants to step up its engagement in the region. This comes amid the backdrop of China's increasing assertiveness.

The British government on Monday released a review of its foreign and security policies.

The report says that "China under the Chinese Communist Party poses an epoch-defining and systemic challenge with implications for almost every area of government policy and the everyday lives of British people."

It says Britain will defend its security in close cooperation with its allies and partners.

In 2021, Britain deployed its state-of-the-art aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, in the Indo-Pacific region.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth's aircraft carrier unit held a joint exercise with Japan's Self-Defense Forces.

Britain and France agreed at a regular summit meeting in March to maintain their presence in the Indo-Pacific region by working together to send joint forces and aircraft carriers to the region.

The report also focused on the "AUKUS" partnership. AUKUS is the trilateral framework that Britain, the United States and Australia are a part of. The report says the AUKUS partnership will help strengthen ties with Australia, which is one of Britain's closest partners.

Britain is expected to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.

The two countries plan to jointly develop technology in various fields, such as quantum science, artificial intelligence and electronic warfare.

Britain has been trying to strengthen relations with non-EU member countries since before it left the bloc in 2020. This is part of its "Global Britain" policy.

Key words : travel hub going green
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230313_28/

Japan's busiest international travel hub is going green. Narita Airport near Tokyo says it will install a solar panel system that will eventually supply a big portion of its energy needs.

The initiative is a joint venture of Narita International Airport Corporation and Tokyo Gas.

They have created a firm that will install a vast array of solar panels next to runways and on building rooftops. The panels are expected to cover about 200 hectares by the time they are all in place at the end of fiscal 2045.

The system will generate 180 megawatts of power.

Narita officials say that's enough to provide 40 percent of the airport's annual energy needs.

The venture is expected to cost roughly 100 billion yen, or about 740 million dollars.