Japanese, South Korean Leaders Hold Talks

 

By Steve Herman

The leaders of Japan and South Korea say they will continue working together to revive stalled talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.

Japan and South Korea on Friday called for North Korea to quickly return to stalled six-way talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programs.

The call came in a joint¹ declaration after talks between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun at a resort in Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture.

Mr. Koizumi says the two governments will closely cooperate with each other and the United States to resolve the nuclear crisis and other issues concerning North Korea.

Three rounds of talks in China have made little progress. In September, North Korea refused to join South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the United States in a fourth round.

Officials say that at Friday's meeting, Prime Minister Koizumi sought Mr. Roh's support for Japan's efforts to resolve the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea decades ago.

Japan says it assumes eight Japanese who were abducted² by North Korean agents during the Cold War are still alive. The Stalinist state says all of them have died. Five others were allowed to return to Japan two years ago.

The issue is an emotional one for Japan. Public anger toward North Korea is high after Japanese officials recently said that tests on remains³ Pyongyang handed over to Tokyo were not those of two abductees, as Pyongyang had claimed.

Some Japanese politicians, and many voters, favor imposing⁴ economic sanctions on North Korea if the issue is not resolved. Prime Minister Koizumi, however, has said sanctions would be a last resort.

South Korea has been pursuing reconciliation⁵ with the communist North and opposes sanctions.

President Roh says he appreciates Mr. Koizumi's calm and cautious attitude so far toward sanctions. He says South Korea will do what it can to help resolve the abduction issue.

On Saturday, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura is to meet with his South Korean counterpart Ban Ki Moon at the same heavily guarded resort where their bosses met on Friday.

The summit is part of a regular series of meetings between officials from South Korea and Japan over the past few years. After decades of estrangement⁶, because of South Korean anger over Japan's harsh colonial rule early in the last century, the two countries have seen relations warm considerably⁷ in recent years.

Steve Herman, VOA News, Tokyo

注释：
stall 停止
Kagoshima 鹿儿岛，日本九州岛南部一城市
Pyongyang 平壤
reconciliation 和解，调和
cautious 谨慎的
estrangement 疏远

1 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

2 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

5 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

6 estrangement   

n.疏远，失和，不和

参考例句：

• a period of estrangement from his wife 他与妻子分居期间
• The quarrel led to a complete estrangement between her and her family. 这一争吵使她同家人完全疏远了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。