VOA标准英语10月-South Korea Says North's Nuclear Compromise May B

South Korean officials are suggesting a compromise aimed at reviving efforts to get rid of North Korea's nuclear weapons may not be far off. The United States and North Korea have been negotiating intensively on a means of confirming the accuracy of the nuclear declaration Pyongyang made earlier this year. As VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul, the potential breakthrough comes at a moment of brinksmanship by the North.
　

South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan

South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told reporters in Seoul Friday the United States will probably announce soon whether it intends to remove North Korea from a State Department list of nations suspected of sponsoring terrorism.

Washington promised last year to take the North off that list, as part of a broader international deal that committed Pyongyang to declare and disable its main nuclear programs.

President Bush delayed the scheduled removal in August, because North Korea refused to agree on steps for verifying the declaration it submitted earlier in the year was accurate. The North responded by ejecting international inspectors¹ from the reprocessing facility at its main nuclear plant in Yongbyon. The United Nations said Friday Pyongyang had informed inspectors they will now be denied access to any part of the Yongbyon complex. North Korea threatened earlier this month to resume deriving² material useable for weapons from spent nuclear fuel.

The South's Minister Yu says diplomacy³ may produce some movement on the stalemate soon.

He says the US government is expected to make a decision on the terrorism list in the near future, and that discussions on a verification protocol⁴ are still under way.

Yu pointed⁵ out that even though international inspectors have been denied access to Yongbyon, they are still being housed in North Korean dormitories near the complex and not expelled from the country. He says a compromise deal would focus narrowly on the North's plutonium-related nuclear activities.

He says other issues, particularly that of a suspected North Korean uranium enrichment program, will be handled later on, as it is impossible to deal with every issue at once.

Washington's chief envoy⁶ on the nuclear issue, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, met with senior North Korean officials last week in Pyongyang and is still conferring with his superiors in Washington. The Bush adminstration has not made any substantial details of the latest negotiations⁷ public.

Dan Pinkston, a Seoul-based analyst⁸ with the International Crisis Group, speculates Washington and Pyongyang may soon reach a verification compromise.

"And that gets very technical and very detailed⁹ as far as environmental samples, and when and where they can take those samples, access to individual scientists and engineers for interviews, and records, and which kind of sites are available," Pinkston said. "And the technical people will have to work that out, and I'm sure there's been some lengthy¹⁰ discussions about that."

Pinkston believes it makes sense to delay issues unrelated to North Korea's plutonium programs like the one at Yongbyon. He says other matters can be handled after next month's U.S. presidential election.

"Wrapping up this second phase, disablement, would be a positive step - and we could move toward the dismantlement¹¹ phase with the new administration in the U.S.," he said.

North Korea conducted a nuclear test explosion in 2006. Several international media reports have reported possible suspicious activity at the site of that test, suggesting Pyongyang may be planning a followup.

1 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 deriving   

v.得到( derive的现在分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• I anticipate deriving much instruction from the lecture. 我期望从这演讲中获得很多教益。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He anticipated his deriving much instruction from the lecture. 他期望从这次演讲中得到很多教益。 来自辞典例句

3 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。

4 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 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。

7 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

8 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

9 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

10 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

11 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。