VOA标准英语10月-US Says North Korea Reverses Steps to Restart Rea

The United States confirmed Friday North Korea has reversed the steps it took in recent weeks to restart its Yongbyon nuclear reactor¹. The action by Pyongyang is in line with an agreement reached late last week to salvage² the six-party accord under which North Korea is to scrap³ its nuclear program. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.
　

A satellite image provided by Space Imaging Asia of the Yongbyon Nuclear Center, located north of Pyongyang, North Korea (Aug 2002 file photo)

The State Department is confirming that North Korea has completely reversed the series of steps it took toward restarting the reactor that produced the plutonium for its small arsenal⁴ of nuclear weapons.

North Korea in August said it was moving to revive the Yongbyon reactor to back demands that it be removed from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Pyongyong maintained it should have been removed from the list in late June when it issued a declaration of its nuclear holdings under the 2007 agreement by North Korea to end its nuclear program in return for aid and diplomatic benefits.

The United States however said de-listing was dependent on North Korea providing a plan to verify the declaration. The deadlock⁵ was broken late last week when the two countries agreed on a verification regime and Pyongyang was dropped from the terrorism blacklist.

Following the agreement, U.S. and international inspectors⁶ were allowed back into the Yongbyon complex. State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday the monitors have confirmed that disablement of the reactor is again back on track.

"The North Koreans have in their efforts, have reversed all their reversals in the reactor," he said. "All the seals are back on. The surveillance equipment is back, reinstalled, and the equipment that had been removed is back where is had been. In addition to that, they have removed more rods from the reactor. So on the reactor, they have actually gone beyond where they were prior to their reversing the disablement steps."

McCormack said that the situation at the fuel reprocessing and fabrication facilities at Yongbyon had not yet returned to the status quo before the dispute, but that progress is being made there as well.

The spokesman said heads of delegation⁷ of all six parties to the talks will convene⁸ soon to approve the U.S.-North Korean verification deal. He said announcement of a specific date will be made by China, chair of the negotiations⁹.

The other parties to the talks are South Korea, Russia and Japan.

North Korea shut down the Yongbyon complex and is to permanently¹⁰ disable it in return for energy aid from the other parties in the first phase of the accord.

The verification plan is to open the way to the next phase. Under it North Korea is to scrap its nuclear program, including weapons, altogether and get - among other things - the lifting of sanctions and normalized relations with the United States and Japan.

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 salvage   

v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救

参考例句：

• All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.抢救失事船只的一切努力都失败了。
• The salvage was piled upon the pier.抢救出的财产被堆放在码头上。

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 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。

5 deadlock   

n.僵局，僵持

参考例句：

• The negotiations reached a deadlock after two hours.两小时后，谈判陷入了僵局。
• The employers and strikers are at a deadlock over the wage.雇主和罢工者在工资问题上相持不下。

6 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》

7 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

8 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。

9 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。

10 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。