(LinkAsia: November 9, 2012)
Yul Kwon:
In the wake of Romney's defeat and Obama's victory, Japan's prime minister congratulated the president and stressed the importance of the Japan-US alliance for East Asian security and economic recovery. Here's Japanese public broadcaster NHK with more.

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NHK World NEWSLINE
Airdate: November 7, 2012

Reporter:
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has congratulated the US President and promised his co-operation. The foreign ministry will also welcome Obama's second term. Senior officials expect the US will maintain its international policies, including its focus on Asia. But problems remain in Japan-US ties. There is the stalled plan to relocate the Marine Corps' Futenma Station in Okinawa. The deployment of the US transport aircraft, the Osprey, is another sticking point. Defense officials have yet to convince local populations to accept training flights over their neighborhoods. In Okinawa, people are calling for stronger controls on US troops after the recent sexual assault of a woman by US servicemen.

On the economy, Japanese officials will be preparing a response should the US press Japan into joining free trade talks for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. There may be friction if the US insists Japan drop its tariffs.

But overall, Obama's win should be good for Japan. There's the chance of stronger US ties. With China relations gone sour over the Senkaku conflict, that's sure to be re-assuring.

Jun Oikawa. NHK World, Tokyo.

(LinkAsia: October 26, 2012)
Yul Kwon:
So who won the debate?  Here's Japanese broadcaster, NHK, with one analyst's opinion.

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NHK World NEWSLINE
Airdate: October 23, 2012

Fumiko Nishizaki:
I think foreign policy is usually the domain of the incumbent president, and I think President Obama used the opportunity quite well by explaining his specific foreign policy agenda and priorities and so on. Whereas, Governor Romney tended to be more general. He had this broad approach mapped out as his foreign policy agenda, but he was a little weak on specifics.

I guess they spent a whole lot of time on the Middle East, Middle Eastern policy and the Al Qaeda and Pakistan, Afghanistan-what impressed me was that President Obama was emphasizing a lot about his multilateral approach to many things, like in Libya or Iran. How the administration has dealt with in cooperation with the other countries. And in that sense I think Governor Romney tended to emphasize on leadership, on America's leadership. And he was attacking President Obama for not exerting strong American leadership.

Among the three debates I think the first debate made the strongest impression on the American public, because President Obama unexpectedly did not very well. He was not so focused and energetic and so on. The third debate, President Obama was clearly the winner I think. But it deals with foreign policy, first of all, and it's not something that the American public is most concerned about. They were worried about the economy and domestic policies. It is very difficult to say that either of these debates would have a definitive impact on the account of the election.

(LinkAsia: October 26, 2012)
Yul Kwon:
This week, South Korean police rushed to contain groups of North Korean defectors and activists after Pyongyang threatened to attack them. The police were trying to stop the groups' plans to launch balloons carrying aid and propaganda into North Korea. They've done this several times in the past, but this is the first time that North Korea has threatened violence against them. Here's NHK with more.

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NHK World NEWSLINE
Airdate: October 22, 2012

Reporter:
South Korean police cordoned off the road leading to Imjingak, a town near the demarcation line. They got into scuffles with the activists who protested against the move. Most of the activists are defectors from North Korea. They started chanting slogans against the north once it was clear they would have to give up on their leaflet campaign. Activists say they managed to release some of the balloons on Monday evening from an area not guarded by the police. The South Korean government's intervention in cases like this one is rare, but relations with the north have been more tense than usual. North Korean leaders have been making provocative moves ahead of South Korea's presidential election in December.

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Yul Kwon:
North Korea has often tried to influence presidential elections in South Korea. The most notorious incident occurred during South Korea's first democratic election in 1987. Two weeks before the election, two North Korean agents blew up a Korean Air passenger plane, killing all 115 people on board.