at 20:00 (JST), June 07 AS

Myanmar's de facto leader has said her country can't immediately address international criticism over its handling of the Rohingya minority people.

Japanese Foreign Minister and US Secretary of State have reaffirmed that they will demand North Korea's denuclearization in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.

Japanese experts have estimated for the first time the long-term economic damage that would be caused by a possible mega-quake off the country's Pacific coast, or in the Tokyo.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20180607200000_english_1.mp3


Key words : myanmar
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180607_38/

Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, spoke about her country's Rohingya population in her first one-on-one with NHK in 5 years. She said deep-rooted feelings against the minority group can't be overcome overnight.

The Nobel Peace laureate has been under fire for not speaking out about one of the world's biggest refugee crises. An estimated 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh since last August.

The United Nations has called the military offensive against the minority group a textbook case of ethnic cleansing. Aung San Suu Kyi says she cannot fully respond to the international community's criticism.

"Very few people outside of Myanmar and even very few people in Myanmar are aware of all the historical issues that are involved. So, it's not just for the world outside.

It's also for our people inside the country to understand what's going on and why we take the steps that we take. It's most important that our people should understand. Because we are the one who must in the long run preserve the stability and security of our country."

On Wednesday, Myanmar and UN agencies signed a memorandum of understanding on the repatriation of the Rohingya.

"We have carried out all our responsibilities in line with the MoU. If you study the MoU, if you look at what we've been doing, I think you'll find that we have called out all our responsibilities."

Aung San Suu Kyi defended her country against criticism that it isn't protecting the rights of the Rohingya.

She says the Myanmar government investigates all alleged violations of human rights. She said the government will proceed with the repatriation with UN support to settle the issue.

On the subject of democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi said the military's influence is still strong. A quarter of the seats in parliament are reserved for its generals.

"It's and added dimensions to the challenges that we have to face. And that's quite normal. Because as you said and I have explained, we are not a wholly democratic society yet. Because our constitution is not wholly democratic."

Key words : foreign minister US complete
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180607_09/

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have reaffirmed that the 2 countries will demand North Korea's denuclearization in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.

Kono met with Pompeo for about 25 minutes in Washington on Wednesday.

Pompeo has been negotiating with North Korea to hold the historic summit between the US and the North.

During the meeting, Kono was informed about the ongoing negotiations with Pyongyang ahead of the first-ever meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader, which is scheduled for June 12th in Singapore.

The 2 reaffirmed that the international community is united in implementing economic sanctions against the North based on UN Security Council resolutions and will press for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization.

They agreed to share information by meeting again after the US-North Korea summit and by holding a trilateral meeting with the South Korean foreign minister.

Kono briefed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about his meeting with Pompeo. Kono is expected to attend the meeting between Abe and US President Donald Trump on Thursday.

After meeting Pompeo, Kono referred to Trump's earlier remark that he doesn't want to use the term "maximum pressure" against North Korea any more.

Kono told reporters that he thinks Trump would like North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to respond in a way that will not require the United States to use maximum pressure.

Key words : rescue worker
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180607_28/

Rescue workers are struggling to find survivors from Sunday's volcanic eruption in Guatemala.

Government authorities said on Wednesday that 99 people have been confirmed dead and more than 190 are unaccounted for.

The critical 72-hour deadline has passed since the eruption of the Fuego volcano.

More than 2,000 military personnel and firefighters were sent to search for any survivors in villages engulfed by pyroclastic flows.

Rescuers returning from a village on Wednesday afternoon were welcomed with applause by local people.

One firefighter said they keep working without a break, but most houses were completely buried and, unfortunately, there are many bodies. The firefighter said it is very difficult to recover them now.

Guatemala is in the rainy season and bad weather is hampering the search operation.

Key words : Kono Guatemala
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Key words : Taiwan inspected
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180607_23/

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen has inspected a large-scale military exercise simulating an attack by Chinese military forces together with the King of Swaziland.

Taiwan's biggest annual exercise involving its air, sea and land forces runs from Monday to Thursday.

Tsai observed the drills on the final day at an air force base in Taichung, in central Taiwan. The exercise is based on a scenario in which the base comes under a bombing attack and is occupied by Chinese forces.

Speaking at the drill, Tsai said Taiwan's military capacity is the cornerstone of its security and a shield to protect the values of democracy. She said Taiwan cannot exist without its military forces.

She stressed Taiwan's position of not bowing to China, which is upping military pressure on Taiwan for refusing to accept the "one China" principle.

King Mswati III of Swaziland, the only African country to maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan, watched the drills alongside Tsai.

Taiwan authorities say it is very rare for a leader of a country with diplomatic ties to observe the drills.

In May, the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean and the West African nation Burkina Faso severed ties with Taiwan and established ties with China. Taiwan now has formal relations with only 18 countries.

Key words : expert estimated
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180607_19/

Japanese experts have estimated for the first time the long-term economic damage caused by a possible mega-quake along the Nankai Trough, off the Pacific coast of central and western Japan, or in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

The Japan Society of Civil Engineers issued a report on Thursday saying a mega-quake would cut off transportation systems and damage production facilities, which could result in long-term declines in production and income.

The report says in the worst-case scenario a Nankai Trough earthquake would result in economic damage of 12.8 trillion dollars, and a Tokyo mega-quake 7 trillion dollars, over the ensuing 20 years.

The figure for the Nankai Trough earthquake is roughly 14 times the size of the national budget for the current fiscal year, while that for the Tokyo quake is 8 times larger.

The civil engineers society describes this as a national crisis in which people's standard of living would be lowered over a long period.

The report also says long-term damage could be reduced by 30 to 40 percent by making roads, ports and embankments more quake-resistant.

The head of the civil engineers society, Hisakazu Ohishi, said the estimated damage came as a shock. He said if a mega-quake should strike now, the outcome would be unimaginable, and could possibly make Japan one of East Asia's poorest countries.

Ohishi urged the government to make plans for building infrastructure to help reduce the damage.

Key words : space agency
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180607_24/

Japan's space agency says its Hayabusa-2 asteroid probe is expected to reach its destination around June 27th after a 3-and-a-half-year journey.

Scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said on Thursday that the probe is about 300 million kilometers from the Earth and about 2,100 kilometers from the Ryugu asteroid.

They said Hayabusu-2's ion engines were turned off on Sunday and cameras are being used for navigation in the final approach phase.

The probe will make 3 landings on Ryugu over a period of one-and-a-half years to collect samples of materials from its surface.

The scientists are hoping that the mission will shed more light on the origins of life if water or organic matter is found in the samples.

JAXA's mission manager, Makoto Yoshikawa, says accurate navigation will be important. He says they will do their best to ensure the probe will arrive as scheduled.

Key words : fishery eel
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Key words : government drawing up
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180607_22/

The Japanese government is drawing up measures to help foreign visitors cope with sizzling summer heat during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

A government panel tasked with working out anti-heat measures met in Tokyo on Thursday. Officials of the Tokyo Games organizing committee and the metropolitan government were among those taking part.

The minister in charge of the Games, Shunichi Suzuki, stressed the need to inform foreign visitors about the risk of heatstroke in the Japanese summer and precautionary measures.

The panel was told that the Japan Tourism Agency has designated 1,260 hospitals and clinics that can provide medical services in foreign languages, and is working to spread the information.

The panel also heard that firefighting authorities will expand simultaneous interpretation services to respond to emergency calls from foreigners.

The organizing committee said tents will be set up to create shade and cooling equipment will be installed outside Olympic venues.

The meeting wrapped up after the participants decided to redouble their efforts to beat the heat at the Olympics and Paralympics.

Key words : record number
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180607_21/

A record number of foreign tourists came to Japan last year. But a government report says they are spending less these days.

The annual white paper on tourism shows almost 29 million people visited Japan in 2017, marking a record high for the fifth straight year. They spent a total of 40 billion dollars.

But spending per person fell to 1,400 dollars. That's down more than 180 dollars from the peak in 2015.
The report also says consumption by foreign visitors in Japan accounts for just 0.6 percent of gross domestic product. The spending-to-GDP ratio is 12 percent in Thailand, nearly 5 percent in Spain and 2.6 percent in Australia.

Government officials say they've got a plan to reverse the trend. They're going to encourage tourism operators to create services that focus on experiences such as nighttime entertainment.

The government hopes to raise the number of foreign visitors to 40 million by 2020 and to nearly double their total spending.

Key words : key index
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180607_27/

Japan's government says a key index for the nation's business conditions improved sharply in April, led by strong sales of automobiles.

The Cabinet Office released indexes of business conditions for April on Thursday.

The coincident index, which reflects the current state of the economy, was up 1.7 points from the previous month. The pace of improvement was the sharpest in 3 years and 7 months.

One factor behind the rise is increased production of vehicles for sale at home and in North America. Another factor is growth in shipments of mobile phones and flat-panel TVs.

The Cabinet Office left unchanged its assessment of the economy as "improving."

The leading index, which projects future economic activity, rose 1.1 points from the previous month, for its first improvement in 2 months.