VOA标准英语2008年-Ministerial-Level Korea Nuclear Talks Set for S

The State Department said Friday all six parties to the talks on North Korea's nuclear program will convene¹ at the ministerial level for the first time next week in Singapore. The meeting will bring together Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her North Korean counterpart, Pak Ui Chun. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

The six-party meeting, on the sidelines of an ASEAN foreign ministers dialogue in Singapore, is being described here as an informal gathering². But it will nonetheless be a significant milestone³ in the Chinese-organized nuclear negotiations⁴, which have been underway since 2003.

North Korea agreed in principle in 2005 to give up its nuclear program in exchange for energy aid and diplomatic benefits from the other parties to the talks - the United States, Japan, Russia, South Korea and host China.

A detailed⁵ agreement was completed last year, and the process gained momentum⁶ in late June when North Korea issued a promised declaration of its nuclear activities, and the United States begun the process of lifting sanctions against the reclusive communist state.
　
Sean McCormack

Briefing reporters, State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said the ministerial-level gathering will be a useful follow-on to a heads-of-delegation meeting held earlier this month in Beijing.

McCormack said the ministerial talks would be loosely structured and unlikely to produce any specific outcome. But, he said, the talks would be important in that in the wake of the North Korean declaration, the ministers will begin to chart the final phase of the process yielding a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

"We have made progress up to this point, all the parties," said McCormack. "North Korea has made progress on fulfilling its commitments. We are doing so ourselves, as are the other parties to the six-party talks. And once we complete phase two, we are going to be moving to a crucial phase, phase three, and that phase ends with the de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula. There are no interim⁷ steps, and that means North Korea being completely out of the nuclear business."

McCormack said there was no current plan for Rice to meet separately with her North Korean counterpart but he expects them to interact fully⁸ in the six-way session.

The agreement reached last year anticipates a formal ministerial level conference and McCormack said such a meeting will still be held, and that the Singapore discussion is not a substitute for it.

Rice is scheduled to be in Singapore next Wednesday and Thursday, on a foreign tour that takes her first to Abu Dhabi early next week for informal meetings with Gulf⁹ foreign ministers.

After the ASEAN-related meetings in Singapore, she visits Australia and New Zealand and attends a meeting of Pacific island leaders in Samoa.

 

1 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。

2 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

3 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

4 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。

5 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。

6 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

7 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

8 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

9 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。