VOA标准英语2013--North Korea Offers Direct Talks with US

 

North Korea Offers Direct Talks with US

North Korea says it is offering direct talks to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula. The United States says North Korea must first meet its international obligations to end its nuclear program.

"North Korea must engage in authentic¹ and credible² negotiations⁴ that produce concrete denuclearization actions. So is it different than that? No. We haven't seen evidence of that, and that is what we are waiting for," said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

North Korea says there should be no conditions. While it is willing to discuss disarmament, Pyongyang says there also should be talk of broader denuclearization, including in South Korea.

South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae says the move shows North Korea is eager to open talks with Washington.

"I think North Korea needed the word denuclearization to make the United States come to the negotiation³ table. I think the North was saying it has been their stance for a long time," he said.

American Enterprise Institute analyst⁵ Michael Auslin says denuclearization talks are a waste of time.

"Let's recognize North Korea as a nuclear power. They are a nuclear power. They are not going backwards⁶. They are only going to get better," he said. "One day they are going to have more weapons. They are going to be more sophisticated about it. And what do we do now? We are defying reality if we pretend that they are something they are not."

Given the differences, South Korea's Unification Minister doubts there will be talks.

"I think it is almost impossible to have talks between North Korea and the United States. South Korea and the U.S. are closely exchanging views," he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama is hoping that Chinese President Xi Jinping can help bring North Korea back to talks. Asia analyst Auslin says if Beijing wanted to help, it already would have.

"If it believed that its best interests were served by putting pressure on this regime [in North Korea], changing its behavior in ways that we believe it can, it would have done so. So I think we should actually take that off the table. I think we should forget about China," said Auslin.

Talks between North and South Korea broke down last week. This week, North Korean and Chinese officials are to meet in Beijing while U.S., Japanese and South Korean officials meet in Washington. 

1 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

2 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

3 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

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 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。

6 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。