2007年VOA标准英语-US, North Korea Begin Talks on Normalizing Rela

By David Gollust
Washington
05 March 2007

 
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill  
Senior U.S. and North Korean diplomats¹ have begun landmark² talks in New York on normalizing relations as part of the agreement under which Pyongyang has agreed to scrap³ its nuclear program. U.S. officials say they will press for a full disclosure of all North Korean nuclear projects including a disputed uranium-enrichment effort. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

The talks beginning late Monday at the U.S. mission to the United Nations are the highest-level U.S.-North Korean meeting on American soil since 2000, when Pyongyang sent a senior envoy⁴ to Washington near the end of the Clinton administration.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and North Korean Vice⁵ Foreign Minister Kim Kye-Kwan will be setting up a working group intended to open the way to normalization⁶ of relations under the nuclear deal reached last month in Beijing.

The February 13 agreement at the Chinese-sponsored six-party talks obligates North Korea to shut down its main nuclear facility at Yongbyon within 60 days in exchange for 50,000 tons of fuel oil.

Over the long term in the multi-stage accord, North Korea is to declare and irreversibly end all aspects of its nuclear program for a million tons of oil or equivalent aid and other benefits including normal relations with Washington.

North Korea conducted a nuclear test last October with a device intelligence officials believe was made from plutonium harvested from the Yongbyon reactor⁷. But the United States believes North Korea also had a parallel enriched-uranium project and admitted its existence during a visit by a U.S. envoy in 2002.

In a talk with reporters, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack reiterated⁸ a statement by Assistant Secretary Hill on Sunday that North Korea needs to account for, and eliminate, all aspects of its nuclear program including the uranium project:

"I refer you to the intelligence community for their assessment⁹ of the state and nature of that H.E.U. [highly-enriched uranium] program, but none-the-less we believe there is one," he said. "The North Koreans have admitted to one and they, in the process of denuclearization, would need to come clean on that program and eventually dismantle¹⁰ that program, along with their other nuclear programs."

After the October 2002 visit by U.S. envoy James Kelly, North Korea denied having an 
Six-Party Talks participants in Beijing, 13 Feb 2007 
enriched-uranium bomb project, and a senior intelligence official told Congress earlier this month U.S. officials are not highly-confident North Korea ever produced uranium suitable for a bomb.

Assistant Secretary Hill, who was chief U.S. envoy to the six-party talks, says the working group he will set up with his North Korean counterpart will establish an agenda for normalizing relations, including what will be required for removing North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

North Korea has been listed as a terrorism sponsor since 1988 but the State Department said in its most recent annual report on the issue that Pyongyang is not known to have sponsored any terrorist acts since the bombing of a South Korean airliner¹¹ in 1987.

The February 13 six-party accord has come under criticism from U.S. conservatives, notably¹² John Bolton of the American Enterprise Institute, who until late last year was U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

In a Wall Street Journal commentary, Bolton faulted the deal for relying excessively on the International Atomic Energy Agency for verification of North Korean compliance¹³.

He said North Korea's record of what he termed "aggressive mendacity" requires the most intrusive¹⁴ of verification systems and that if the current approach is followed, in his words, an "already bad deal will become a dangerous deal."

1 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

3 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

4 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。

5 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。

6 normalization   

n.（normalisation）正常化，标准化

参考例句：

• The visit signalled the normalization of relations between the two countries.这次访问显示两国关系已经正常化。
• He was pleased to the normalization of relationship between the police and the people.他很高兴警方和人民之间关系的正常化。

7 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。

8 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

9 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

10 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。

11 airliner   

n.客机，班机

参考例句：

• The pilot landed the airliner safely.驾驶员使客机安全着陆。
• The passengers were shepherded across the tarmac to the airliner.旅客们被引导走过跑道去上飞机。

12 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

13 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

14 intrusive   

adj.打搅的；侵扰的

参考例句：

• The cameras were not an intrusive presence.那些摄像机的存在并不令人反感。
• Staffs are courteous but never intrusive.员工谦恭有礼却从不让人感到唐突。