VOA常速英语2007-US Sending Team to North Korea to Oversee Reacto

By David Gollust
State Department
03 October 2007

The Bush administration says U.S. experts will go to North Korea next week to oversee¹ the disabling of that country's reactor² complex under the six-party nuclear agreement announced by China Wednesday. Pyongyang agreed to disable its weapons facilities and disclose all its nuclear holdings in exchange for energy aid and diplomatic benefits. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

North Korea shut down the Yongbyon reactor complex in July in return for the first installment³ of energy aid. But officials here say the commitment to disable, and eventually dismantle⁴ it, marks the biggest advance yet in years of nuclear diplomacy⁵ with Pyongyang.

In a telephone conference call from New York with reporters, the chief U.S. delegate to the six-party talks said U.S. experts will be heavily involved in the disabling process and that an American advance team will go there early next week.

Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill says while various nuclear facilities are covered in the agreement, the U.S. focus is on the Yongbyon reactor, where it is believed that North Korea has produced 50 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium over the past several years.

"That's where the weapons-grade plutonium is produced. And you've got to keep your eye on the ball here. And the ball here is the plutonium, to get that shut down and disabled so our 50-kilo plutonium problem doesn't become a 100-kilo plutonium problem. That's why we have really focused on Yongbyon. That's where we think we can help keep Americans safer," said Hill.

In addition to disabling nuclear facilities by year's end, Wednesday's agreement also commits North Korea to provide a "complete and correct" declaration of all its nuclear programs.

Assistant Secretary Hill says while it is not specified⁶ in the statement, North Korea will have to account for the uranium enrichment effort U.S. officials believe it secretly began several years ago, and which led to the collapse⁷ of the Clinton administration's 1994 nuclear freeze accord with Pyongyang.

North Korea is getting, in return for its cooperation, one million tons of heavy fuel oil or equivalent aid and various diplomatic benefits including steps toward normalized relations with both the United States and Japan.

Wednesday's Beijing statement says the United States will fulfill⁸ commitments made to North Korea for action to remove that country from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation that made Pyongyang the target of severe economic sanctions.

Assistant Secretary Hill gave no time frame for getting North Korea off the list, but said the Bush administration would begin consultations¹⁰ with Congress on the issue this week.

"This is important because it's in our interest to get countries off the terrorism list, because by definition countries that are on the terrorism list pose a threat. So when you take them off, it's because you believe you've diminished this threat. So we think it's in our interest to do this," he said.

U.S. officials do not believe North Korea has been involved in acts of international terrorism since the 1980s.

Hill said U.S. action on the issue will be in close consultation⁹ with Japan, which is still seeking a full explanation from North Korea of its admitted abduction of several Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s.

Implementing¹¹ the steps in the new agreement would clear the way for action next year on the final stage of the six-party process, which would include dismantlement¹² of North Korea's nuclear sites and regional security arrangements.

Hill says it is too early to say if denuclearization means an end to North Korea's international isolation¹³ or broader changes for that government, but he said it is an essential first step.

"This does not mean to say that our concerns about this country will be over, or frankly¹⁴ this country's problems will be over," he said. "But I do believe if we can get North Korea to understand that it has a better future without nuclear weapons, I think that puts us in a better position to work with North Korea on other issues and to try to bring it into the family of nations." 

The Beijing statement calls for an early ministerial level meeting of the six parties, which would be the first of its kind, and include a first-ever meeting between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Nam-Sun.

Begun in 2003, the six-party process includes North and South Korea, Russia, Japan, the United Sates along with host China.

1 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

2 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。

3 installment   

n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期

参考例句：

• I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
• He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。

4 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。

5 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

6 specified   

adj.特定的

参考例句：

• The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。

7 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

8 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

9 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。

10 consultations   

n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找

参考例句：

• Consultations can be arranged at other times by appointment. 磋商可以通过预约安排在其他时间。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Consultations are under way. 正在进行磋商。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

12 dismantlement   

拆卸，拆除的行动或状态

参考例句：

• All construction, dismantlement and reinstatement works shall be completed before May2006. 所有建造、卸及修复工程均须在二零零六年五月前完成。
• The law stipulates modes for company merger, dismantlement, bankruptcy, dissolution and liquidation. 该法规定了公司合并、分立、破产、解散和清算的方式。

13 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

14 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。