VOA标准英语2009年-Warning, Apology Mark Week of Mixed Signal

（单词翻译）

By Kurt Achin
Seoul
15 October 2009

North Korea is accusing the South of sending warships¹ into its waters and says a clash may result. That warning comes during a week of North-South dialogue, in which Pyongyang offered a rare apology to the South for a flooding incident, last month.

The North Korean Central News Agency carried a statement from the country's Naval² command, Thursday, accusing South Korea of sending warships into the North's territorial³ waters at least 10 times this week. The statement describes the South's alleged⁴ actions as "premeditated moves to deliberately⁵ escalate⁶ tension in the waters."

Pyongyang goes on to say what it calls "the reckless military provocations⁷" threaten to prompt a naval clash.

South Korean military officials are bluntly dismissing the accusations⁸, saying they have no truth whatsoever⁹.

North and South Korea remain technically¹⁰ at war, with only a 1953 armistice¹¹ pausing the three-year war that followed North Korea's invasion of the South.

The two sides have fought deadly naval clashes in 1999 and 2002 in the disputed maritime¹² region west of the peninsula, where the North has always rejected a sea border drawn¹³ by the United Nations.

The North's warning comes in the middle of a week of North-South talks, seen by many as a thaw¹⁴ between the two. On Wednesday, North Korea extended a rare apology to the South for a flood it unleashed¹⁵ last month. Six South Koreans were killed when the North opened the gates to a dam near the border, flooding the banks of a river shared by both sides.

Many analysts¹⁷ view the seemingly mixed messages as part of a negotiating pattern by the North.

Kim Tae-woo is a North Korea analyst¹⁶ with the Korea Institute for Defense¹⁸ Analyses here in Seoul.

Kim says North Korea's timing¹⁹ on the warning is part of the North's unique zig-zag strategy.  He says, on the one side, Pyongyang calls for talks; but, on the other side, it will not come to those talks on its knees. Kim says North Korea wants to improve its negotiating hand by saying it will not be coming to talks with its head head low.

North and South Korea have another day of talks scheduled for Friday, at the border-straddling village of Panmunjeom. The two are expected to discuss possible reunions for tens of thousands of families separated by the 1950's fighting.