2006年VOA标准英语-US, S. Korea Withdraw Team from N. Korean

By Kurt Achin
Seoul
09 January 2006
 

Light Water Reactor¹ Project by the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) at Kumho in North Korea's northeastern coastal² area (File photo)   
  
The long, slow process of killing³ a 12-year-old agreement to provide North Korea with a nuclear reactor has taken another step forward. The United States and South Korea have withdrawn⁴ their personnel from the project's location in the North. The project's partners still have to decide what to do with its equipment and how to pay the final costs of closing it down.

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After a short boat trip from North Korea, 56 South Koreans and one American stepped ashore⁵ in South Korea Sunday.

They are the last of the workers who had spent the past three years maintaining a partially⁶ built nuclear reactor owned by the Korean Energy Development Organization, or KEDO. The United States formed KEDO along with South Korea, Japan and the European Union as part of a 1994 agreement to freeze North Korea's nuclear weapons programs in exchange for building two light-water nuclear reactors⁷.

Light-water reactors do not produce material that can be easily used for nuclear weapons, unlike other types of reactors.

KEDO suspended work in 2003, soon after U.S. officials said North Korea admitted it was pursuing a secret uranium-based nuclear weapons program. The executive board agreed in principle in November to terminate the project. North Korea reacted angrily to that decision and demanded the foreign workers leave the country.

Ahn Hong-jun, a senior South Korean executive who was overseeing the KEDO project, says he left with regrets. Mr. Ahn says his team feels a strong sense of attachment⁸ to the project, and feels sad to see it end this way. He says he believes North Korean officials probably feel the same way.

Yang Chang-seok, a spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry⁹, says Pyongyang did not permit the KEDO partners to take about $45 million worth of equipment from the facility.

Yang says Seoul will continue to consult with North Korea on returning the equipment left behind, because it is KEDO's property.

KEDO itself is now all but dead. However the members have not yet agreed on the formalities of dissolving its work.

The legal and financial steps of formally ending KEDO are expected to cost several hundred million dollars - mostly to compensate¹⁰ construction companies for having defaulted on contracts. South Korea, which has put up most of the one and a half billion dollars invested in the project, says the costs should be shared equally. The United States and Japan have not yet agreed to that.

North Korea has never publicly admitted to having a uranium weapons program. However, it says it has nuclear weapons and plans to build more. Pyongyang says the United States is still obligated to either build the reactors promised in 1994, or pay compensation. However, the communist country has said recently it will build its own light-water reactors, without outside help.

The dispute could be an obstacle to scheduling a new round of multinational¹¹ talks aimed at persuading North Korea to eliminate its nuclear weapons programs.

1 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

2 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

5 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

6 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

7 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。

8 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

9 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。

10 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

11 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。