VOA标准英语2008年-Politics Complicate Possibility of South Korean

By Kurt Achin
Seoul
28 May 2008
 

Various international agencies and advocacy groups say North Korea is close to its worst food crisis in a decade.    However, political changes on the Korean peninsula have complicated South Korea's ability to come to the North's assistance.  VOA Seoul Correspondent Kurt Achin has more.

These are the images nobody wants to see replayed.  Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans are estimated to have died of starvation in the mid¹ 1990s as a result of Pyongyang's self-imposed economic isolation² and mismanagement.  Now, in 2008, North Koreans again face the prospect³ of famine following widespread agricultural damage caused by last year's heavy flooding.  

North Korea is welcoming Washington's plan to send 500,000 tons of emergency food via the United Nations World Food Program.  Nevertheless, the WFP is warning another humanitarian⁴ disaster in the North looms⁵ closer by the day.

In past years, South Korea's Unification Ministry⁶ would have been first in line to announce massive, no-strings-attached transfers of food and fertilizer across the heavily armed North-South border.

But now Unification Ministry Spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun says the policy has changed, "The government sees Pyongyang's current situation as not yet urgent enough to receive the South Korean government's aid.  However, if North Korea makes a formal request, we will begin offering food."

Since he was inaugurated in February, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak vowed⁷ to end the unconditional⁸ humanitarian aid of past governments -- saying future aid would be conditioned on the North's cooperation in getting rid of its nuclear weapons and other issues.

Pyongyang responded by calling Mr. Lee a traitor⁹, and threatening to reduce the South Korean capital to "ash."

Kim Yong-hyun is a North Korea specialist at Seoul's Dongkuk University.  He says Pyongyang is very unlikely to go asking for South Korean handouts¹⁰, "Food aid has sometimes turned into a strength contest between the North and South.  They are very concerned that asking for the South's help would be like bowing their heads in deference¹¹ to the South," he said.

For the past 10 years, South Korea has sent billions of dollars worth of food, fertilizer and infrastructure¹² investment North.  None of that prevented Pyongyang from testing a nuclear weapon in 2006.

Jeong Kwang-min, a researcher at Seoul's Institute for National Security Strategy, says South Koreans demand more of a two-way dialogue with the North, "South Korea has received countless¹³ military threats and slander¹⁴ from the North at the same time as Seoul has offered humanitarian aid. Now, even though North Korea is known to be having severe difficulties, it is not asking the South Korean government for help, because it does not want to lose the political initiative in the inter-Korean relationship," Kwang-min explained.

South Korea's Lee administration now finds itself caught in something of a policy dilemma¹⁵.  Officials want to remain consistent with their firm stand on the North, but also do not wish to be seen as doing nothing in the face of a mounting hunger catastrophe¹⁶.

So South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said recently the South wants direct talks with the North on the food issue.  He has also indicated South Korea's policy of insisting the North formally request aid could eventually soften¹⁷.

"If North Korea's food condition gets very serious or there is a natural disaster, South Korea can provide food. The North will not have to ask," Myung-hwan said.

Even if South Korean aid resumed tomorrow-- experts say crucial fertilizing¹⁸ deadlines have been missed-- meaning the North may be in for another poor harvest next year.

1 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

2 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。

3 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

4 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

5 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

8 unconditional   

adj.无条件的，无限制的，绝对的

参考例句：

• The victorious army demanded unconditional surrender.胜方要求敌人无条件投降。
• My love for all my children is unconditional.我对自己所有孩子的爱都是无条件的。

9 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。

10 handouts   

救济品( handout的名词复数 )； 施舍物； 印刷品； 讲义

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts. 士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Even after losing his job, he was too proud to accept handouts. 甚至在失去工作后，他仍然很骄傲，不愿接受施舍。

11 deference   

n.尊重，顺从；敬意

参考例句：

• Do you treat your parents and teachers with deference?你对父母师长尊敬吗？
• The major defect of their work was deference to authority.他们的主要缺陷是趋从权威。

12 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

13 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

14 slander   

n./v.诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• The article is a slander on ordinary working people.那篇文章是对普通劳动大众的诋毁。
• He threatened to go public with the slander.他威胁要把丑闻宣扬出去。

15 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

16 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

17 soften   

v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和

参考例句：

• Plastics will soften when exposed to heat.塑料适当加热就可以软化。
• This special cream will help to soften up our skin.这种特殊的护肤霜有助于使皮肤变得柔软。

18 fertilizing   

v.施肥( fertilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Sometimes the preliminary step must be taken of reducing weed population before fertilizing. 有时候，在施肥之前，必须采取减少杂草密度的预备性步骤。 来自辞典例句
• The self fertilizing garden can also be planted in raised beds. 自我施肥的菜园也可以在苗圃床中种植。 来自互联网