at 18:30 (JST), May 01

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/20230501183000_english_1.mp3


Key words : Kishida egyptian rule of law
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230430_14/

Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is on the first leg of a tour of four African nations. He held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo on Sunday. The two leaders highlighted the importance of maintaining the international order based on the rule of law.

Kishida said, "Japan and Egypt are very important partners that cooperate in the region and in international society. Based on these circumstances, we agreed to upgrade the bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership."

Kishida and Sisi discussed Russia's invasion of Ukraine. On Sudan, they confirmed they will step up their alignment, including information-sharing between their countries.

The two also discussed the issue of food security for Egypt and plans to facilitate Japanese investment in the rapidly growing Egyptian economy.

Egypt is the world's largest importer of grain. It has depended on Russia for most of its imports.

But shipments have been hampered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The price of bread has more than tripled.

This is Kishida's first trip to the region since he took office. He will also visit Ghana, Kenya and Mozambique.

Key words : favored trade partner
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230429_01/

The Japanese government plans to include South Korea on a list of favored trade partners for the first time in years.

Industry ministry officials excluded South Korea in 2019, citing deficiencies in the country's trade control system.

They also tightened export controls to South Korea for three materials used in products such as semiconductors.

Japan lifted the controls in March.

Ministry officials say they have now decided to reinstate South Korea as a favored trade partner after a series of checks.

The officials say they have confirmed that Seoul is taking measures to prevent imported goods from being diverted to countries such as North Korea.

The South Korean government announced last week that it will put Japan back on its own list of preferential trade partners. Seoul has been asking Tokyo to do the same.

The developments come after the leaders of the two countries held a summit in March.

Key words : north reacted sharply
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230429_09/

North Korea has reacted sharply to a US-South Korea agreement to strengthen Washington's "extended deterrence" against Pyongyang. The North suggested countermeasures with "more powerful strength."

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, released a statement via state-run media on Saturday.

The statement slammed the Washington Declaration issued after Wednesday's summit between US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.

As North Korea is accelerating its missile and nuclear development, the declaration said that the US will strengthen its extended deterrence. Such deterrence refers to the US commitment to defend Seoul and other allies with all its capabilities, including nuclear weapons.

Biden and Yoon also agreed to create a framework for sharing information on nuclear weapons, and for a US nuclear ballistic missile submarine to make a port call in South Korea.

Kim Yo Jong criticized the agreement as a typical product of the two leaders' extreme anti-North Korea hostile policy.

She also denounced Biden's warning in a news conference after the summit that a nuclear attack by North Korea would mean "the end of whatever regime." She also called the president "an old man with no future."

She went on to warn that "the pipe dream of the US and South Korea will henceforth be faced with the entity of more powerful strength."

Key words : coast guard emergency guideline
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230429_02/

The Japanese government has announced new emergency guidelines that clarify when the coast guard could be brought under command of the defense minister.

Examples include an order for defense mobilization in the event of an armed attack on Japan.

The measure could also be taken if the conventional relationship between the Japan Coast Guard and Self-Defense Forces proves insufficient.

A law dating back to 1948 states that the coast guard cannot carry out military functions. It was enacted to provide clear distinction from the SDF.

Government officials say the measure would be subject to Cabinet approval.

They say the coast guard would act as a police force under command of the ministry. And they insist that would not equate to a quasi-militarization.

Former Japan Coast Guard chief Okushima Takahiro says the guidelines reflect the increasingly severe security situation around Japan.

Key words : defense minister india border dispute
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230429_04/

The defense ministers of China and India have discussed a border dispute that has left the two countries at odds for years.

Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu met his counterpart Rajnath Singh on Thursday in New Delhi.

The dispute centers on a provisional border known as the Line of Actual Control, where tensions have on occasion reached boiling point.

Both sides suffered casualties during a clash in the frontier region of Ladakh in June 2020.

India's defense ministry said Singh told Li that the "development of relations between India and China is premised on the prevalence of peace and tranquility at the borders."

He also accused China of breaching agreements and eroding the basis of bilateral ties.

China's defense ministry quoted Li as saying the two sides share far more common interests than differences.

He also said they should work toward normalizing how they manage the border.

The ministers began their meeting without shaking hands.

Key words : camera nagai grave
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230430_11/

The sister of a Japanese journalist who was killed in Myanmar has visited his grave with a camera that was recently returned to his family.

Nagai Kenji was fatally shot in Yangon in September 2007 while covering a protest against the military regime.

A media outlet in Myanmar returned the video camera to his sister, Ogawa Noriko, on Wednesday.

On Sunday, Ogawa brought the camera to Nagai's grave in his hometown of Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, western Japan.

She placed it in front of the grave and offered a prayer, telling her brother it had been returned after more than 15 years.

Images recovered from the camera show demonstrators and Nagai describing the scene, moments before he was shot by security forces.

Ogawa says she will have the video analyzed by police and experts to find out what actually happened.

She said Nagai must be concerned about the suffering of people in Myanmar, and she hopes the video will help to make sure they are not forgotten.

Key words : reading corner american woman tsunami
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230429_10/

A reading corner with donated books and a bookshelf has been set up in the alma mater of an American woman who was killed in the tsunami that hit northeastern Japan in 2011.

Taylor Anderson was an assistant English teacher in Ishinomaki City in Miyagi Prefecture. She died when the tsunami struck on March 11 of that year.

Her parents have given books and book shelves to 29 schools in the disaster-hit area to fulfill the wish of their daughter, who had wanted to be a bridge between Japan and the US. The nooks are known as Taylor Bunko or Taylor's Reading Corners.

The 30th recipient of a book corner, and the first outside of the disaster-affected area in Japan, is Randolph-Macon College in the US state of Virginia, where Taylor studied. The college offers Japanese language studies.

Taylor Anderson's mother Jeanne said that over the past 12 years they have been blessed to be connected to so many people who have worked to keep Taylor's wishes alive. She added that she wants college students to become a bridge connecting the US and Japan.

Woodwork artist Endo Shinichi who has been making the bookshelves for the Taylor Bunko project, was present at a donation ceremony on Friday. He lost three children in the tsunami.

Endo said that he could not imagine 12 years ago when he was at the height of his despair, that a day like this would come. He said he hopes students will share Taylor's aspiration.