VOA慢速英语2010年-IN THE NEWS - North Korea Clears Way f

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

Little is known inside or outside North Korea about the young man who could become the next leader. Kim Jong Un studied in Switzerland but even his age is a mystery. He is around twenty-seven, the youngest of the three known sons of Kim Jong Il. The North Korean leader is sixty-eight and believed to be in poor health.

This week, North Korea published the first official photo of Kim Jong Un after a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party. Some observers had expected him to be named as the country's next leader.

But Korea expert Gordon Flake¹ at the Mansfield Foundation in Washington says the process is not that simple.

GORDON FLAKE: "What we're seeing here is not the succession. What we're seeing here is the first public indications of the beginning of the process of potential succession. But Kim Jong Il is still in power. And so this really is not an institutional rule. This is a personal family rule."

Kim Jong Il came to power after his father, North Korea's founder² Kim Il Sung, died in nineteen ninety-four.

A worker in Paju, South Korea, looks at a picture of North Korea's Kim Jong Un on a TV news show. Experts say Kim Jong Il could be preparing his third and youngest son for leadership.

This week, Kim Jong Un and his aunt, the sister of Kim Jong Il, became four-star generals with little military experience. State media later announced the appointment of Kim Jong Un to the Workers' Party Central Committee.

He was also named to the powerful Central Military Commission. There, he joins Jang Song Taek, who is considered second in power after Kim Jong Il. Jang Song Taek is married to Kim Kyong Hui, the leader's sister.

North Korea specialist Andrei Lankov says Kim Jong Il seems to want the couple to help prepare his young son for leadership. Then, in case of Kim Jong Il's sudden death, he says, they will become "sort of prince-regent and princess-regent."

ANDREI LANKOV: "That is, people who will be running the country and will be making actual decisions."

Yet some North Korea experts say Jang Song Taek was not always so trusted. In two thousand four, he disappeared from public for a year-and-a-half.

Much of what experts know or think they know about North Korea comes from North Koreans who fled the country.

Some experts think this week's political appointments could create tensions with North Korea's aging generals. One theory is that the military could object if the ruling party looks for friendship with South Korea to help save North Korea’s economy.

Another theory is that Kim Jong Un might try to build power by dismissing opponents and inciting³ South Korea.

But on Thursday military officials from the two Koreas held their first talks in two years. And on Friday the two countries agreed to hold more reunions of families separated since the Korean War. The last reunions took place a year ago.

The talks are the latest signs of improved relations since a South Korean navy ship sank in March. Forty-six sailors died. An international investigation⁴ blamed North Korea but it denied any involvement.

In Washington, a Defense⁵ Department spokesman, Colonel David Lapan, said leaders in Pyongyang could change, but American objectives remain the same. Those objectives are for North Korea to stop developing nuclear weapons and to look for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Doug Johnson.
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Includes reporting by Steve Herman, Jason Strother and Kate Woodsome
 

1 flake   

v.使成薄片；雪片般落下；n.薄片

参考例句：

• Drain the salmon,discard the skin,crush the bones and flake the salmon with a fork.将鲑鱼沥干，去表皮，粉碎鱼骨并用餐叉子将鱼肉切成小薄片状。
• The paint's beginning to flake.油漆开始剥落了。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 inciting   

刺激的，煽动的

参考例句：

• What are you up to inciting mutiny and insubordination? 你们干吗在这里煽动骚动的叛乱呀。
• He was charged with inciting people to rebel. 他被控煽动民众起来叛乱。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。