The Prime Minister would then take over her duties. The last and only south korean president to be impeached was in 2004. Thailands new king has given its people the first glimpse of him presiding over royal duties as their monarch. Our team in bangkok has the details. His father King Bhumibol died in october and was revered as a unified figure through seven turbulent decades. Heres the report on the mood in the capital one day after the historic moment. Reporter the 64yearold new king led a buddhist prayer ritual to mark 50 days since the death of his father. The ceremony took place at the royal palace and was televised nationwide. People in bangkok expressed hope the succession could encourage stability in a country that has been deeply divided. Translator the country has to keep walking. Everything will remain the same and go forward with the new king. Translator i expect the new king to develop our country along the better path, which the late King Bhumibol had done. Reporter the media is giving blanket coverage to usher in the new kings reign. They are rushing to print out the First Special edition welcoming the reign of maha. Officially thailands king is a constitutional monarch with limited powers. He occasionally played the role of mediator during times of crisis. The country is moving towards restoring democracy after a military coup in 2014. A general election is scheduled for next year. Conflicting forces of the military backed royalist establishment and populist Political Movement are still simmering. At this critical juncture, thailand has a you are in king. Thai people are looking to him and desiring unity for their country. Nhk world, bangkok. A new era has begun for thailands Constitutional Monarchy as the transitional period continues to move forward. Many have been posting their thoughts about the royal family online. Nhk world reports. Reporter tens of thousands of people fill the royal palace to mourn the passing of King Bhumibol. Volunteers helped people endure the long wait under the blazing sun. One of them is a bit worried about the change thats coming following the kings passing. King bhumibol was a widely respected father figure taking the country together during politically turbulent times. His son does not yet have the same reputation. Shes upset that some people have taken to posting comments online that are critical of the royal family. She feels it could trigger social unrest during this time of transition. Shes even reported what shes found to the authorities. Translator the monarchy is a pillar of thailand. False information should be restricted. Reporter since the kings passing, the militaryled government have started a crackdown on offensive remarks aimed at the royal family. Translator inappropriate information divides the country and disturbs the minds of the people. Reporter hundreds of sites have been shut down and more than 20 people have been charged with making antiroyalty statements. Defaming the monarchy is a crime, punishable up to 15 years in prison. Thai authorities want to pass a bill enabling them to delete what they believe are inappropriate postings as soon as one pops up before acquiring a warrant. Concerns are growing that free discussion might become impossible. This small gathering consists of people who mainly work in internet related industries. They are against the government restrictions on the internet. Translator well be unable to freely speak out as the situation continues. Reporter before too long, someone from the military arrived to check out their meeting. Young thais in particular are finding the Current Situation stifling. Translator the authority restricts society by saying that stability leads to peace. Reporter the crown prince is known as the tenth king of the 234yearold dynasty. In the not too distant future, theres an election scheduled so it wont take long before people get an idea about the new kings role and what direction freedom of expression will take. Nhk world, bangkok. Economic activity in thailand has called during the royal transition as consumers and businesses hold back out of respect for the late king. The mood at a motor show has been subdued but they are optimistic a rebound is coming. Nhk reports. Reporter 37 automakers are taking part in the motor expo that opened on thursday. Vehicles of many colors are usually on display at this event but this year there are either black or white. An apparent show of mourning for King Bhumibol who passed away in october. With the country in mourning, there is no loud music at the motor shows. Hostesses wear black or white costumes that reveal little. Translator this costume is subdued and suits the Current Situation in thailand. Reporter thai consumers have been cutting back since the late kings death. Car sales for october were about 60,000, down almost 11 from a year before. Translator we refrain from promotional activities or events at our showrooms for about a month, but will gradually restart campaigns to boost sales. Reporter the exhibition is projected to attract about 1. 5 million visitors. Exhibiters hope it lays the groundwork for a pickup in sales once Economic Activity returns to normal. Nhk world. That wraps up our bulletin, im Patchari Raksawong in bangkok. A former u. N. Secretarygeneral is in myanmar Western State to investigate alleged abuses of Rohingya Muslims by the countrys military. Hes leading the team on a Factfinding Mission there amid rising ethnic and religious tensions. Aung san suu kyi appointed him to find solutions for ending the bloodshed. O he says hes concerned about the escalation of violence by both sides. Its worrying when such developments happen. We dont need violence. People have to find a way of resolving their issues. Myanmars military launched a sweeping operation in villages in the state after rohingya militants attacked security forcy early in october. The government says 17 soldiers and please as well as 69 militants have died. The rohingya say the actual number of their casualties is much higher. About 800,000 rohingya people o live there. U. N. Officials say at least 10,000 rohingya have fled to bangladesh in recent weeks. Donald trump has travelled to indiana to praise an air conditioning manufacturing for scrapping a plan to move. During the campaign it was said that countries moving production overseas will face consequences. Trump visited carriers factory during its decision. Company executives said in february they were going to relocate the plants operations to mexico to cut costs. But they cancelled the plan after receiving a promise of tax breaks from the state government. Trump made a speech criticizing the north American Free trade agreement and said he would work to protect american jobs. We cant allow this to happen anymore with our country. So many jobs are leaving and going to other countries. Not just mexico. Many, many countries. We have nafta which is a total and complete disaster. Its a total and complete disaster. Trump said during the Election Campaign he would impose high tariffs on imported products made by u. S. Companies in mexico. Some analysts say carrier gave in to trumps pressure. The u. N. Security council already slapped tough new sanctions on north korea. Over its most recent nuclear tests. Now, japan says it will follow suit with its own round of penalties. Translator we have decided to take our own measures as we aim to resolve issues such as the abduction of our citizens and north Koreas Nuclear and missile programs. We are working closely with the United States and south korea. Members of the National Security council drew up the details. They say theyll expand the list of north korean officials living in japan who will be banned from reentry if they leave. Theyll do the same for nuclear or missing experts living in japan who traveled to the north. The reentry restriction will extend to ships registered in japan that dock in north korea, even if they visit for humanitarian purposes. Tokyo says it will freeze more assets belonging to people and organizations with links to the norths nuclear and missile programs. The measure will affect chinese firms. Japan imposed this last round of sanctions against the north back in february. That was after pyongyang launched what experts believe to be a longrange ballistic missile. Nhk learned japans government is planning to increase its cooperation with the Global Nuclear watchdog. It will work closely in taking measures against Nuclear Terrorism ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and paralympics. The government will send a state minister for Foreign Affairs to vienna next week and he will met with the director to discuss terrorism threats. Japan hopes to share terrorismrelated information with the group and receive information to prevent Nuclear Terrorist attacks. The iaea has been providing help to those hosting the games and world cup soccer tournaments. Japans ruling lawmakers have cleared one hurdle to legalize casinos in the country. Even though there were concerns from certain lawmakers, the controversial bill made it through the Committee Stage on friday. Prime minister shinzo abes liberal Democratic Party and some conservatives from the opposition camp were in favor of the bill. They want to promote the construction of what they call integrated resorts that include casinos. Translator we had thorough discussions. There are issues that need deliberation for the followup bill, so for now we got a lot sorted out. But members of the Junior Coalition partner komeito were divided. Most voted against it. Translator i believe more careful discussions are necessary. So i had to vote against it. Communist Party Members criticize the legislation calling it nothing more than a gambling bill. Translator how this bill was passed was unprecedented. Its absurd to stimulate the economy by creating more gambling addicts. The Largest Opposition Party abstained from the vote. Translator ive never seen such a steamrolling despite concerns from the ruling bloc itself. There are multiple local governments and businesses eyeing the move as an opportunity to invigorate the economy. But there are growing concerns over the legislation including possible health issues. Translator i have doubts about the morality of the bill as it will bring a new type of gambling to japan. That will create more patient suffering from addiction. The ldp is aiming for the bill to be passed by both chambers of the diet before the end of the month. But that does not mean casinos will be legalized immediately. First legislation on ways to regulate casino operators and cope with gambling addiction must be passed. Japans diet will toughen bus regulations. It follows a bus accident that left 15 people dead, most of them university students. The bus operator involved in the accident had violated safety regulations prompting a nationwide audit by the transport ministry. More than threequarters of the firms checked were in breach of the law. Critics say the government should do more. It only has 366 inspectors to cover about 120,000 bus and transport firms across japan. The upper house on friday unanimously passed a bill to revise the road transportation law. Operators will now have to renew their Business Licenses every five years and they will be kept under strict scrutiny over safety and management. A new system will tap private organizations to help the government by visiting bus firms to give guidance. The maximum fine for companies that fall that fail Safety Measures has been hiked 100 times to about 870,000. Japanese education officials have apologized after an Elementary School teacher addressed a student in what they say was an insensitive manner. The boy evacuated from fukushima after the nuclear accident. The teacher addressed him using a word that can mean germ. Translator the inappropriate word that the home room teacher used made it difficult for the student to attend classes. We take the incident seriously and deeply apologize to the student and to his parents. The Officials Say the teacher claims he was using a meaningless syllable he sometimes adds to students names. He told the officials he wasnt using the world for germ. But the boy had told the teacher he was being bullied by classmates who called him a germ. The boy has been absent from school since the incident more than a week ago. In a similar case, a boy who moved from fukushima to yokohama said his classmates added the word germ to his name and he considered committing suicide. A japanese Cosmetics Firm says data on more than 420,000 customers may have been hacked by a shopping website run by a subsidiary. A thirdparty probe last month found that personal information of registered customers and those who paid online may have been compromised. The data could include names, occupations, home and email addresses. The company says the leak may have also included 56,000 credit card numbers. Ipsa has already informed customers and terminated sales on its website. They said they will give their full support to all customers involved in the leak. Many religions throughout history have been persecuted. It was no different when christianity was banned and believers were forced to go underground. Over the years the practices of the so called hidden christians transformed into a faith and a community. But as nhk world reports, the 400yearold religious minority is gradually disappearing. Reporter every year people attend a mass held in the district in the city of nagasaki. Many of the gatherers are the descendants of hidden christians. Until about four centuries ago, christianity was strictly prohibited and unacceptable to the feudal government. Violators faced torture and even death. Even after the persecution ended, some lived in fear of possible retaliation and ultimately did not return to the catholic church. Sotome is home to 4,000 people, there are around 60 hidden christians in this area. This 67yearold can trace his faith back seven generations. Hes the leader of the Biggest Group of hidden christians in the district. He begins each day by offering prayers. Translator this is how buddhists do it. But hidden Christians Cross themselves like this. If you cover your chest this way, no one can tell. Reporter the graveyards were also disguised. His ancestors would arrange stones into a cross while praying and then scatter them so the grave will not be recognized as christian. Followers had to register as buddhists to conceal their faith and pray to this female figure. To hidden christians, she represented the virgin mary. Translator for two and a half centuries during feudal times, the hidden christians endured and survived such strict persecutions. We have a lot to learn from the pure hearted dedication to their faith. Reporter this is a reminder why his faith is so strong. Seven generations of the clan are buried here, including his father. When his father died ten years ago, he found himself unable to recite the prayers correctly. Translator i was so frustrated with myself at that time. I came here every day for three years and memorized all of the prayers. Ive changed. Im glad to have chosen to be a hidden christian. Reporter today he fears that hidden christians could disappear. He is calling on all of the Group Leaders to join forces to protect their beliefs and strengthen the community. Reporter he makes every effort to document his faith. Hes been recording his sacred prayers and rituals. He hopes to pass them on to his successor but he has not found one yet. The annual mass begins at a sacred location. The attendees are christian and catholic and buddhist and all have come to help. Translator everybody here was a hidden christian back then. Translator weve been working together to maintain the tradition. Reporter the ancient prayers commence. This is the moment the locals reflect on a time when their ancestors were united as hidden christians. Translator our faith didnt end underground. Its surviving even today. We still exist. Thats why i must carry on. That is my mission. Artificial intelligence or ai has been gaining more and more attention. Its used in a number of technologies and made headlines when it beat pro players in the complicated asian board game go. Our story shows its now being used for something quite surprising. Reporter these students are attending a counseling session about love, but they are skeptical about the results because the advice isnt coming from a person. Instead, from a machine. Called oshiero. Translator im doubtful about ai providing any counseling. Translator im not sure ai can understand human feelings. Reporter this woman had a quarrel with the man she loves and wants to fix things. So she types in a question and it responds in a matter of seconds. Translator why dont you go ahead and say you are sorry. This will create an atmosphere that makes it easier for him to express his gut feelings. Nothing will change as long as both of you remain disengaged. Translator i can easily accept that advice since its very straightforward. It made me realize i really have to apologize. Reporter as a personal relationship advisor, oshiero is highly praised. Compared to answers from humans, users chose its responses as the best ones. Translator i didnt know ai could give humanlike answers. It really touches my heart. Reporter the head of the Development Team says achieving that was a challenge. Translator its fairly difficult to make long sentences. Reporter the team sent the ai system over 30 million questions and answers from advice columns, categorizing them into topics like compassion and encouragement. It then picks out key words and analyzes the context before responding but the system is far from perfect. If a user puts in too many key words oshiero simply says it cant answer. Right now its able to respond about half the time. But developers are hopeful it will learn. Translator well continue to strive so that ai can respond in a way that is instantly related to. Reporter experts are giving their own advice, reminder users to be careful about ai answers and to talk to real people. Next, heres a threeday outlook on the worlds weather. And thats all for now on this edition of nhk newsline. Im raja pradhan and from all of us here on nhk world, thanks for joining us. Rnvx this week, global 3000 focuses on Global Warming as Climate Change threatens our planet. At novembers u. N. Conference in marrakech, participants must now decide how best to implement climate protection efforts. We head to the conferences host country, morocco, one region that is suffering the effects of drought. People there are finding inventive ways to cope. And we go to hurricanestruck haiti. A country whose very fate could be decided by Climate Change. It has been nearly a year since the signing of the historic paris agreement. For the first time ever, leaders