US, N.Korea Meet, But No Agreement Reached on Six-Party Talk

 

By Benjamin Sand

North Korean and U.S. officials met this week to discuss the nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula. It appears they came no closer to resuming multilateral talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs.

North Korea says meetings between its top U.N. representative and U.S. officials took place in New York on Tuesday and Friday.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry¹ Saturday said the meetings only reinforced its determination not to rejoin multiparty nuclear disarmament talks until Washington drops what Pyongyang calls a "hostile policy."

A spokesman for the ministry said North Korea would wait until President Bush's second-term administration is fully² formed before considering further meetings with U.S. officials.

Since last year there have been three rounds of largely inconclusive talks involving the United States, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China. Pyongyang boycotted³ a fourth round scheduled for last September. The talks are aimed at dismantling⁴ North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said this week that Washington is guardedly optimistic a new round of talks is still possible.

"Our whole emphasis is to get talks started again maybe, maybe some time in December, certainly in January," he said. "But the answer to that question doesn't lie in Washington, it lies in Pyongyang."

In the past week there has been a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at resuming the talks. A senior Chinese envoy⁵ went to Pyongyang to discuss the standoff with North Korean officials.

And China's Vice⁶ Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo reviewed the nuclear crisis with outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell Thursday, the same day South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck flew to Washington for meetings.

Both North Korea and the United States are under pressure to back away from their positions but neither side appears willing to make the first concession⁷.

Pyongyang wants Washington to provide aid and security guarantees in exchange for a nuclear freeze. But Washington insists North Korea must dismantle⁸ its nuclear facilities before economic aid or security pledges can be discussed.

Richard Bush, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute for Northeast Asian Policy Studies, says President Bush's options are now fairly limited.

He says the president could change course, and increase bilateral⁹ contact with Pyongyang as part of the six-nation talks, and offer explicit¹⁰ benefits to North Korea in exchange for disarmament.

"One of the advantages of doing that is that it enhances our relations with the other parties involved," Mr. Bush said. " think China and South Korea have signaled they would like more flexibility¹¹ on our part, and presenting a comprehensive proposal would be a good demonstration¹² of our seriousness to the parties that matter."

Another option would be to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea. But Mr. Bush says that can not work unless China and South Korea, which supply a great deal of North Korea's imported fuel, food and other aid, are convinced the United States has exhausted¹³ other avenues.

Benjamin Sand, VOA News, Hong Kong.
注释：
resuming 再继续
multilateral 多国的
reinforce 加强
disarmament 裁军
hostile 敌对的
inconclusive 非决定的
boycott 联合抵制
guardedly 被保护着地
optimistic 乐观的
concession 让步
pledge 保证
exhaust 用尽

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 boycotted   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Athletes from several countries boycotted the Olympic Games. 有好几国的运动员抵制奥林匹克运动会。
• The opposition party earlier boycotted the Diet agenda, demanding Miyaji's resignation. 反对党曾杯葛国会议程，要宫路下台。

4 dismantling   

（枪支）分解

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。
• The dismantling of a nuclear reprocessing plant caused a leak of radioactivity yesterday. 昨天拆除核后处理工厂引起了放射物泄漏。

5 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 concession   

n.让步，妥协；特许(权)

参考例句：

• We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
• That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。

8 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

9 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

10 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

11 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

12 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

13 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。