2006年VOA标准英语-South Africa Urges North Korea to Resume Nuclea

By Delia Robertson
Johannesburg
11 July 2006
 

South African Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad, right, meets with his North Korean counterpart Minister Kim Hyong Jun, left, in Pretoria, July 11, 2006  
  
A senior North Korean official said in Pretoria six-party talks on his country's nuclear disarmament would only resume when the United States lifts sanctions against his country.  South Africa has asked North Korea to stop testing missiles and resume the talks.  

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Vice¹ Foreign Minister Kim Hyong Jun also said in Pretoria that North Korea had test-fired missiles last week in self-defense because of planned joint² U.S.-South Korean-Japanese military exercises on the Korean peninsula.

Kim was speaking to reporters following a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad.  Last week, following a meeting with a senior Japanese diplomat³, also in Pretoria, Pahad said South Africa would use its influence to try and persuade North Korea to end missile tests and resume disarmament talks.

South Africa is the only country to have unilaterally abandoned its nuclear weapons program and destroyed all its nuclear weapons.  The country is a strong proponent⁴ of universal nuclear disarmament and following North Korea's recent missile tests, was urged by both Japan and China to use its influence to persuade North Korea to rethink its current positions.

Tom Wheeler, the chief operations officer at the South African Institute for International Affairs told national radio South Africa's own record makes it a natural choice for such interventions⁵.

"So we come from a position of moral high ground on this issue and we can say to the North Koreans, look at what we did and look at what advantage we got from it.  We have this moral high ground position in the world, when we speak, people listen to what we say because we have been through this and we have done it well," Wheeler said.

South Africa's secret program was launched in 1974 and by 1989 when former President F.W. de Klerk ended the program, South Africa had six nuclear warheads, and a seventh in production. 

In 1991 South Africa signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty and entered into a comprehensive safeguard agreement with the IAEA the same year.   A two-year IAEA review and verification process followed.

In 1993, under pressure from the African National Congress during multi-party democracy talks, President de Klerk publicly revealed, to parliament, the broad details of the weapons program. 

But Wheeler cautions that South Africa does not have an easy task.

"One wonders if anybody is influential⁶ enough to influence the North Koreans.  But you know if you come in friendship and you say we really do not think this is a wise way to go, perhaps you can have some influence that way," he said.

South Africa advocates access for developing countries to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

1 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。

2 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。

3 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

4 proponent   

n.建议者；支持者；adj.建议的

参考例句：

• Stapp became a strong early proponent of automobile seat belts.斯塔普是力主在汽车上采用座椅安全带的早期倡导者。
• Halsey was identified as a leading proponent of the values of progressive education.哈尔西被认为是进步教育价值观的主要支持者。

5 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

6 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。