(LinkAsia: April 27, 2012)
Yul Kwon:
South Korean authorities have a warning for their neighbor to the north, "Don't do it." They suspect that North Korea is planning to test a nuclear device. Seoul says that Pyongyang will pay a heavy economic price if it moves ahead with the test. Here's the story from NHK.

--

NHK World NEWSLINE
Airdate: April 25, 2012

South Korean Defense Ministry Spokesperson:
The north has made significant preparations to conduct the test. All that remains now is its political decision.

Reporter:
South Korean intelligence authorities confirmed this month that workers in the north have been digging a new tunnel in the region of Punggye-ri. They believe that will be a test site. A senior government official says North Korean leaders will further isolate their country if they carry out another nuclear test. The official points out it will also make it harder for them to develop their failed economy. The North Korean government made a rare public admission recently. State media reported an attempt to launch a satellite into space failed. Many nations consider it a long-range missile test. Still, South Korean officials say this admission could signal a change in political style under new leader Kim Jong-un.

Yul Kwon:
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said that North Korea should be feeding its people, not testing weapons. Those words, along with South Korea's own cruise missile test a few days ago, got North Korea's Central News Agency breathing fire. Now the KCNA often uses violent language, but the specific nature of the threats this time caught the attention of observers. In a dispatch, the agency said that North Korea's special forces were readying to strike: "Their targets are the Lee Myung-bak group of traitors, the arch criminals, and the group of rat-like elements including conservative media destroying the mainstay of the fair public opinion." The last line of the KCNA piece read: "Our revolutionary armed forces do not make empty talk." So who exactly are these "rat-like" media named by the North Koreans? Well, the news agency called out the following: the popular newspaper, Dong-A Ilbo; South Korea's national broadcaster, KBS; and LinkAsia's broadcast partner, MBC; as well as six other media organizations.

(LinkAsia: April 27, 2012)
Yul Kwon:
Meanwhile, South Korean activists are making provocations of their own. They're continuing to release weather balloons carrying food and pamphlets denouncing Kim Jong-un. Here's NHK with more.

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NHK World NEWSLINE
Airdate: April 25, 2012

Reporter:
Here is Gangwha Island, near the North Korean border. The NGO members are now preparing for launching balloons with leaflets and chocolate to North Korea.

The NGO is composed of citizens who fled North Korea. They released 10 huge balloons carrying 2,000 packages. The leaflets explain the budget for the missile launch equals the cost of feeding 19 million people for two years.

Kim Seong-min, NGO Leader:
We're sending these chocolate cakes with our prayers for the happiness of the North Korean people.

Reporter:
North Korean authorities have responded with harsh criticism, saying that the balloons are an insult against their leader Kim Jong-un. South Korea's armed forces have deployed vehicles to track the balloons by satellite to observe any retaliation by North Korea. The group says this action is meant to support the Northern civilian population in the wake of the recent leadership transition.

Another group is preparing to launch more balloons next weekend. This time, they will be loaded with pamphlets and radios capable of receiving broadcasts from South Korea.

Yul Kwon:
Activists in South Korea have sent all kinds of stuff in these balloons, including socks. Apparently you can trade one pair of socks for 10 kilograms of corn in North Korea, enough to feed a person for an entire month.

There are currently over 300 Palestinians in administrative detention. This means that prisoners are being held with no charge and without being tried. Hana al-Shalabi, a 29 year old from a village near Jenin enters her 15th consecutive day of hunger strike, protesting her administrative detention in the Hasharon Israeli prison. Hana took on the same method to peacefully protest her unjustified detention; similar to Khader Adnan, who successfully drew international attention to his case, and the case of many other Palestinian administrative prisoners. Adnan recently ended his hunger strike, which lasted for 66 days, after Israel agreed to release him on April 17th. 

 

Although she was previously arrested in 2009, with no charge or trial and was freed in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange in 2011, after 30 months in captivity, she was not exempt from being rearrested. She is currently sentenced to six months in prison, and her sentence can be renewed indefinitely.

 

Many former female detainees gathered outside the Red Cross in Tulkarm this week to stand in solidarity with Hana and other administrative detainees, inside Israeli prisons. Solidarity campaigns and sit-ins in front of the Red Cross are continuing amid warnings of her deteriorating health condition, and the escalating situations inside the occupation prisons. 

 

Israeli court officials say that Hana is a threat to Israeli security and they claim that she participated in planning actions after her release. The defense called for Hana's prompt release and held Israel accountable for her health.

 

On Thursday Hana al-Shalabi said that she will continue her hunger strike and that she will remain patient and steadfast despite her detention in the cold, her fatigue and weakness. Hana maintains high spirits and thanked people who support her and she assured that her hunger strike is open until her demands are met.

 

 

Photo: Badeeah Shalabi holds a placard depicting her daughter, Palestinian detainee Hana Shalabi, in the West Bank village of Birqin, near Jenin February 27, 2012. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini

(LinkAsia: February 17, 2012)
Yul Kwon:
Meanwhile, Japan’s NHK said Xi got a 'rough ride' in his meeting with Obama. It said the US president ‘lectured’ the Chinese leader on trade and human rights.

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NHK World NEWSLINE
Airdate: February 15, 2012

Reporter:
President Obama has certainly heard Xi Jinping's name, but his opinions remain somewhat of a mystery, so the two took time in the Oval Office to get to know each other a little better.

Xi Jinping, Chinese Vice President:
I look forward to my in-depth discussion with you, President Obama.

Reporter:
Obama got right to it, pressing Xi on some of the same issues he has stressed with other Chinese leaders.

Barack Obama, US President:
We want to work with China to make sure that everybody is working by the same rules of the road when it comes to the world economic system, and that includes ensuring that there is a balanced trade flow.

Reporter:
US diplomats rarely fail to raise human rights when they meet with their Chinese counterparts. Obama, too, had some advice.

Barack Obama:
Expanding power and prosperity also comes with increased responsibilities.

Reporter:
Xi said China and the US should build a partnership based on mutual respect and interests. Still, he suggested the two need to acknowledge their differences. The Obama administration is extending an unprecedented level of hospitality to Xi. Vice President Joe Biden is accompanying him to most destinations. That's not going over well with Republicans. They've argued for some time that Obama is too soft on China.

Yul Kwon:
Analysts say that Obama raised contentious issues to fend off Republican criticism that the administration hasn’t been tough enough on China, particularly on issues related to China’s currency.

(LinkAsia, December 16, 2011)

Sydnie Kohara:

What would happen if a nation decided to measure progress, not in terms of productivity but in terms of happiness?  That's what happened in Bhutan a decade ago when the king created the Gross National Happiness Index. But even this remote nation is finding it hard to escape the pressures of work and the influence of the media. Here's a report from NHK World.

--

NHK World NEWSLINE
12/12/11 - 6PM Broadcast

Reporter:

Bhutan was filled with an air of celebration when the country's king married in October. Watching over the couple was Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the previous king and father of the current monarch. He introduced the Gross National Happiness index around 10 years ago. 

Since then, Bhutan has followed policies that emphasize the level of happiness of its people, rather than pure economic growth. The country has worked to protect traditional culture, such as ethnic costumes as well as family and community ties. It also placed restrictions on excessive development. Children are told at school that happiness comes not only from making money, but also from helping each other. 

Student:

What I think exchange value means is making others happy. By giving our happiness to others. 

Reporter:

But while support for the king remains strong, clouds are gathering over the nation's pursuit of happiness. It all started when the country lifted a ban on television and the internet in 1999. Easy access to information from abroad has led more people to desire material wealth. 

Bhutan's capital, Thimpu, has seen a surge in the number of young people arriving from farming villages in search of a better life. The city's population has soared by 20,000 over the last five years. That's caused a serious job shortage, pushing the unemployment rate in urban areas up to 7.5%. 

24 year-old Karma Jamtsha  comes from a village in the east of the country. He moved to Thimpu wanting to become a school teacher. But he has only been able to find temporary jobs. 

Karma Jamtsha:

To get a job it is so difficult because there is a lot of competition with the nations and the youth.  And it is so difficult to get a job here. 

Reporter:

Bhutan's government is promoting tourism as a way to create jobs while preserving traditional culture.  It's busy attracting foreign capital to build hotels. The government also built a vocational school to train workers for the tourism sector. Tuition is free. Students learn everything from western table manners to how to mix cocktails. 

Student:

Either I can open up my own resort hotel. So through my experience I can give a good service for my guests. 

Reporter:

But there are also concerns that more tourism will cause overdevelopment. Bhutan faces a dilemma: how to find a right balance between economic growth and preserving traditional culture in its quest to make its people happy. Takeaki Yoda. NHK World. Bhutan.

(LinkAsia News - November 4, 2011) YUL KWON, LinkAsia host: After decades of house arrest, Myanmar's pro-democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, says she senses a change in attitude in the country's year- old government. Lately, it's been more willing to engage with the opposition movement that she leads. Japanese broadcaster NHK World has this exclusive interview with the Nobel Peace Prize Winner.

 

- -

NHK World NEWSLINE Transcript
10/28/11 - 9PM Broadcast

 

AUNG SAN SUU KYI:  I think the president is very desirous of positive change.

 

REPORTER:  Myanmar held its first general election in 20 years last year. However, Aung San Suu Kyi was effectively barred from participating in the ballot. More than 80% of the rule-makers elected turn out to be supporters of the former military government.

 

The military maintains a strong influence over the country. However, in August, President Thein Sein held his first meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi in an upfront effort to improve ties with the pro-democracy movement.

 

SUU KYI:  The force to its changes... I think we've got to make it strong. This is our responsibility; this is our duty to try to make it as strong as possible. We prefer to emphasize what is positive, and to help the process along. We also are cautious about saying that change has taken place.

REPORTER:  Then, earlier this month, the government granted amnesty to more than 6,300 prisoners, including political detainees, who were accused of criticizing the former military regime.

The United States has suggested that it might review its economic sanctions on Myanmar, if the government allows more political participation by opposition parties and moves closer towards democracy. Even Aung San Suu Kyi says she would be willing to take part in the party's political framework, if the government asks her, but only with one condition.

SUU KYI:  Such matters are very much things that have to be decided with the rest of the party. It's not something that I decide for myself. I think you have to be committed to the process of dialogue, and even sometimes when it is perhaps not everything that you might wish for, you still have to continue and try to make it more meaningful and more substantial.

REPORTER:  Aung San Suu Kyi says she sees the change in the government's attitude as the golden opportunity to advance democracy in the country. Jun Kobayashi, NHK World, Yang Gong.

(Guest blog from the director of "The Edge of Joy", originally posted on the PBS NewsHour website)

In the time it takes to read this post, somewhere in the world a pregnant woman will have started hemorrhaging and her baby might soon be motherless. One thousand women die every day trying to bring new life into the world, and this toll is what drew me to shoot my documentary film, The Edge of Joy.

 

I encountered many of the heartbreaking and hopeful stories that underpin this global tragedy, but it was only through the people, the doctors and nurses of Nigeria that I was able to tell them. The roughly one dozen Nigerian doctors and midwives I worked with closely over the course of making the film, didn't push agendas, or act as obstructionists when I asked tough questions or wanted to follow story lines to their natural conclusions.

 

Nigeria is better known for corruption and oil production than as the vanguard of fighting maternal mortality, but this small close-knit group of men and a handful of women trusted me not to create an indicting portrait of pregnancy and childbirth in their West African country.

 

Documentary filmmaking is an art, not a science, and at times during the making of this film, the process was challenging. I always kept my questions dignified and did my reproductive health homework so I could ask informed questions in hospitals and in the communities.

 

Getting permission to film in such sensitive settings requires government approval, a process that Habib Sadauki, the second obstetrician/gynecologist to be trained in the Nigerian state of Kano, helped me through.

 

After many meetings with the Ministry of Health and a mutual understanding that I would have a "minder" assigned to me while filming in the north, I was given permission to film in tertiary hospitals and primary health centers.

 

What I didn't know at the time is that the then Minister of Health Babatunde Osotimehin, recently appointed executive director of the UN Population Fund, had approved the access himself. During his tenure as minister, his office approved some ground breaking research about postpartum hemorrhaging.

 

I caught up with Osotimehin in May of 2009 at a health conference in Los Angeles. Our scheduled time to sit down and talk on camera kept being pushed back, so I made the bold move of taking over the role of the waitress at the café where he was enjoying a coffee.

 

Handing him a glass of water, I introduced myself as the filmmaker who had been documenting maternal health initiatives in Nigeria. I kept going on and on and he stopped me and said something to the effect of "you are persistent and persuasive just like they say" and with that got up, and came to sit with me for more than an hour.

 

We discussed safe motherhood, community leadership for better healthcare and, at the conclusion of our interview he shook my hand and said "your access is continued, enjoy your next trip to Nigeria." My field director and I began breaking down the equipment and she asked why I looked dazed. I said I was not even aware our access had to be renewed.

 

The freedom to shoot in medical settings was crucial to documenting the harsh realities of giving birth in Nigeria. In the film, blood became a ubiquitous character: women were losing too much of it, there wasn't enough of it when you needed it and midwives were always trying to keep it from flowing.

 

"Hemorrhage requires that you stop the bleeding and you repair the blood loss. If you don't repair (replace) the blood loss the woman will die," Sadauki told me.

 

We documented a case of severe bleeding where the midwives were able to manage a patient's hemorrhage with a drug and saline until her husband found a pint of blood and she received the transfusion in time to save her life.

 

And there are new tools on the horizon. A low-tech first aid device, known as the non-pneumatic anti-shock garment, shunts blood out of the extremities and back to the vital organs in cases of hemorrhage. No magic bullet, but a potential game changer for women giving birth in the developing world and new hope for the health care providers.

 

After I showed this film recently, I was embraced by a woman in the audience who thanked me for saving the world. Locked in a bear hug with a complete stranger, I thought to myself: "Thank you, but no, I'm not saving the world, I just make films about people who are saving the world."

 

# # #

 

Dawn Sinclair Shapiro's documentary film, The Edge of Joy, which was featured on PBS NewsHour in April 2011 as a selection of the PBS NewsHour partnership project with The Economist magazine -- the Economist Film Project -- will premiere on independent Link TV on Friday, October 28, at 5 pm ET and Tuesday, November 1, at 8 pm ET, and will stream on Link TV's ViewChange.org beginning on Tuesday, October 25. The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, an international journalism organization, has created an online curriculum that accompanies the film to be distributed to high school educators around the country; educators and others can download the film for free to accompany the curriculum at www.viewchange.org.

(LinkAsia News - October 7, 2011) YUL KWON, LinkAsia Host: Now, on to Japan, where the government has passed a new law targeting gangsters, known as Yakuza. When a gangster tries to extort money, what should a Japanese citizen do?  The government is holding role- playing sessions to help businesses abide by the new law. It prohibits companies from helping gang members earn money.  NHK World examines whether this type of law is the solution.

 

--

NHK World's NEWSLINE Transcript

10/3/11 Broadcast

 

REPORTER:  People in Japan rally against organized crime. The anti-gang sentiment in this country is on the rise. More citizens are vowing to stop the far-reaching syndicate, known as The Yakuza.

 

COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVE:  I declare that our community will eliminate crime groups.

 

REPORTER:  Their elected representatives are behind them.

 

TOKYO OFFICIAL (DURING TRAINING SEMINAR):  I need to talk with the branch manager face to face.

 

REPORTER:  Tokyo officials are trying to help companies understand the capitol's new anti-gang by-law.

 

TOKYO OFFICIAL (DURING TRAINING SEMINAR):  Be rational. That's all I ask.

 

REPORTER:  They're teaching employees how the ordinance works, and the consequences of not following it.

 

TOKYO OFFICIAL ADDRESSING GROUP:  It's important to reject all demands by gangsters, however trivial they are.

 

TOKYO OFFICIAL:  The by-law prohibits private businesses for helping crime groups turn a profit. Authorities will issue warnings to companies that assist gangters in any way, including paying for protection, or help in resolving conflicts.  Serious violators will be identified in public.

 

This type of by-law is already in effect in other parts of Japan. In one case, authorities warned a lumber business after it knowingly did interior decoration on the office of a crime group. In another, they advised a business against letting local gangsters use a parking space for free.

 

Then there's the case of the cemetery operator. Authorities zeroed in on him for entrusting  the management of his business to a company run by the head of a crime organization.

 

Finding links between businesses and Yakuza might be the easy part. Severing the ties might be much more difficult. This Tokyo bar manager says he pays gangsters to act as bouncers.

 

TOKYO BAR MANAGER:  I won't disclose the amount, but I'm paying them every month. I have a lot of trouble at my place.  For example, fights or quarrels between customers, and that can hurt my business. I need their help to keep my bar running.

 

REPORTER:  Will you stop paying them immediately?

 

TOKYO BAR MANAGER:  It will be rather difficult.

(Al Jazeera English: 1532 PT, May 16, 2011) There is a serious and growing rift in Iran between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader. Ahmadinejad has reportedly asked the Khamenei if he can resign. Al Jazeera's Dorsa Jabbari reports from Tehran.