at 20:00 (JST), May 29 AS

Japan's Prime Minister says he and US President Donald Trump have agreed to meet before a possible US-North Korea summit.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has reiterated that the government will seek swift return of all Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea.

A North Korean official who has a key role in preparing for a possible US-North Korea summit has arrived in Beijing, and it's supposed to be on his way to the US.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20180529200000_english_1.mp3


Key words : prime to meet before resolved
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180529_90/

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he and US President Donald Trump have agreed to meet before a possible US-North Korea summit.

Abe spoke with Trump over the phone for about 30 minutes on Monday evening.

Abe later told reporters that he was briefed on what is going on, regarding the expected talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Abe said he and Trump agreed that their countries will work together to make the Trump-Kim summit meaningful.

Abe also referred to the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents decades ago.
Abe noted that Trump has promised to bring up the abduction issue during his meetings with Kim.

The prime minister said he relayed the feelings of the abductees' relatives he met on Monday to Trump. He also said he told the US president that the issue must be resolved.

A White House statement later confirmed the 2 leaders' decision to meet before a possible US-North Korea summit.

The statement said they "affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs."

Key words : swift return
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180529_21/

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has reiterated that the government will seek swift return of all Japanese nationals recognized as abducted by North Korea, and other missing people suspected of having been abducted.

North Korean agents repeatedly kidnapped Japanese nationals, mainly in the 1970s and 80s. The Japanese government officially recognizes 17 as abductees. Five of them have returned to Japan.

Suga made the remark to reporters after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. He said the government will do its utmost to ensure the safety and immediate return of all the missing Japanese including the recognized abductees.

He said the government will also work hard to get details about the abduction cases and to demand the extradition of the abductors.

Suga said Japan will urge the North to return all the missing Japanese based on a bilateral agreement reached in 2014 in Stockholm.

In the Stockholm agreement, the North promised to conduct a full investigation into the whereabouts of the missing Japanese.

Key words : officials from now in
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180529_19/

Officials from both the United States and North Korea are now in Singapore to prepare for a potential bilateral summit.

US President Donald Trump, who last week called off the summit scheduled for June 12th, expressed his intention to hold the summit as scheduled in Singapore.

A "pre-advance" team of US officials arrived in Singapore on Monday.

The White House deputy chief of staff for operations, Joe Hagin, was seen at a local hotel on Tuesday morning. Asked by reporters whether he will meet North Korean officials, Hagin only replied that there would be many meetings.

A top aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also arrived in Singapore on Monday night. Kim Chang Son is called the North Korean leader's "butler" by South Korean media. He is likely to discuss the logistics and security arrangements with the US team.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, who is former US special envoy for North Korea policy, was seen in a hotel in the South Korean capital of Seoul.

The US State Department said a US delegation is in ongoing talks with North Korean officials in Panmunjom, a truce village on the military demarcation line. Some US media reported that Sung Kim will head the delegation.

Attention is focused on whether the 2 sides are discussing details about North Korea's denuclearization.

Key words : north has a key role
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180529_27/

A North Korean official who has a key role in preparing for a possible US-North Korea summit has arrived in Beijing. It's believed he is on his way to meet with American officials in the US.

A North Korean plane carrying ruling Workers' Party vice chairman Kim Yong Chol arrived in Beijing on Tuesday morning.

Also on the plane was the deputy chief of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's North American affairs bureau, Choe Kang Il. Before heading for the North Korean Embassy, Choe told reporters at the airport he had nothing to say.

Informed sources say Kim and Choe are among the names on the passenger list of a plane scheduled to leave for New York on Wednesday afternoon.

Kim accompanied North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his 2 meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, and in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He also met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Pyongyang.

Key words : major US newspaper
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180529_12/

A major US newspaper says the administration of President Donald Trump has decided to defer launching new sanctions against North Korea.

The Wall Street Journal reported on its website on Monday that the White House had been preparing to announce a ramped-up sanctions package on Tuesday following the cancellation of a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

But the report says the US government decided to delay the measures targeting more than 30 companies, including Chinese and Russian entities with business ties to the North.

The move comes as both countries are stepping up efforts to revive the summit originally scheduled for June 12th in Singapore.

The US daily also says that talks between US and North Korean delegations were set to take place at the truce village of Panmunjom through Tuesday and could continue beyond that.

Key words : Hitachi UK
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180529_29/

Hitachi has decided to continue talks with the UK government to build a nuclear power plant in Britain.
Its executives had raised concerns about the profitability of the project.

They say construction costs are expected to rise to meet tougher safety standards.

They have also been asking UK authorities to boost financial assistance for the planned atomic power plant.

Hitachi Chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi met British Prime Minister Theresa May earlier this month to discuss the project.

Sources say UK officials have since shown Hitachi a proposal outlining their financial support. But that offer reportedly falls short of what Hitachi wants.

The sources say the executives have decided to continue talks with the British side.

In past negotiations, the UK government proposed about 18 billion dollars in loans. That would be roughly two-thirds of the expected cost.

Key words : Hitachi developed
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Key words : Insight Japan revised copy right law
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Key words : new subway line
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180529_25/

A new subway line has opened in the Indian capital of New Delhi. It was built with a financial support from Japan.

Officials from the 2 countries attended an opening ceremony on Monday.

The newly opened 25-kilometer line connects eastern and western parts of New Delhi.

India has been building a subway system in the capital city for 20 years at a total cost of about 12 billion dollars. Japan is extending nearly half of the construction cost.

India plans to complete the construction of 8 lines spanning some 350 kilometers by the end of this year.
New Delhi has been suffering from heavy traffic congestion and serious air pollution following the country's rapid economic growth.

India's Minister of State for the Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, delivered a speech at the ceremony, expressing his hope that the new line would ease traffic jams.

Takema Sakamoto of the Japan International Cooperation Agency's India Office said he hopes to provide Japan's knowhow of safe and accurate subway operation.

Connecting with 3 other major lines, the new route shortens travel time between southern suburbs of the capital where many IT and foreign firms are located and residential areas to the east. The new line also makes a stop at the domestic flight terminal of an airport.

Key words : Malaysia scrap
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180529_02/

Malaysia's newly installed Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, is scrapping his country's high-speed railway project that was to link Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Mahathir reportedly says his decision is final, and he will talk to Singapore about terminating the project.

Japan and China have been vying to win the contract for the project to connect the capital of Malaysia with its neighboring city-state.

The decision came after the government claimed last week that the national debt is 30 percent higher than the previous government had disclosed and accounts for nearly 65 percent of the country's GDP. Mahathir has pledged to review costly projects.

Key words : Japanese beef
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180529_35/

Japanese beef is set to return to the Australian market for the first time in nearly two decades.
Authorities there have decided to lift a ban imposed in 2001 after an outbreak of mad cow disease in Japan.

Japanese officials say exports may resume as early as July. They say the beef will have to be processed at facilities that meet Australian standards. Restrictions apply to the animals' brains and other internal organs.

Officials are planning to use promotional campaigns to boost the popularity of Japanese beef in Australia.

Key words : police arrested
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180529_23/

Police have arrested a 90-year-old motorist who ran down pedestrians in Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, on Monday. One person was killed and 3 injured.

The driver, Kumiko Saito, is suspected of negligent driving resulting in death and injury.

Witnesses said the pedestrians had the green light.

Saito has been quoted as telling investigators that she knew her light was red, but thought she could make it through the intersection ahead of the pedestrians.

She reportedly said she became confused when she noticed the people crossing the street, and turned the steering wheel to the left, toward the sidewalk.

Saito's son told NHK that his mother drives about once a week to see her doctor, and that she had been involved in some minor, non-injury accidents over the past few years.

He said they had talked about her giving up her license, and that she told him she would no longer renew it. He said he should have pressed her harder to give up driving.

Saito passed a cognitive function test given to drivers 75 and older when she renewed her license in March.