2006年VOA标准英语-Alleged South Korean Abductee Backs North Korea

By Kurt Achin
Seoul
29 June 2006

 
North Korean Kim Young Nam, right, speaks at press conference as Kim's South Korean sister Kim Young-ja, left, sits during the separated Family Reunion Meeting at Kumgangsan Hotel in Diamond Mountain, North Korea, June 29, 2006
  
A man who disappeared 28 years ago from a South Korean beach, and recently reappeared in North Korea, denies accusations¹ that he was kidnapped by agents of Pyongyang. In a highly unusual news conference held inside North Korea, Kim Young-nam said he was rescued at sea by a North Korean boat, and stayed in the North voluntarily.

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Kim Young-nam says South Korean authorities have it wrong: he was not abducted² at the age of 16 to North Korea.

Rather, Kim says, he was rescued from drowning at sea 28 years ago by a North Korean ship. He says the kindness the North Korean sailors showed him completely changed his impression of the communist country.

He made his comments in an unprecedented³ news conference Thursday at the North Korean resort where the day before, he was reunited with his mother for the first time since his disappearance⁴.

During the news conference, held under strict supervision⁵ by North Korean authorities, Kim also said his Japanese wife, Megumi Yokota, had committed suicide in 1994. He said Yokota, who is among 13 Japanese the North Koreans admit to having abducted during the Cold War, was suffering from mental illness.

Kim disappeared from a beach on the South Korean island of Seonyu, approximately 350 kilometers south of the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.

For decades, South Korean authorities and Kim's family insisted he was one of about 500 South Korean civilians⁶ kidnapped by North Korean agents since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

The North Koreans say any South Koreans in the country are there of their own free will. Kim said Wednesday he has stayed in North Korea voluntarily.

He says because his family in the South was in such a difficult economic situation, he resolved to remain in the North until finishing university. Time went by, he says, and he simply began to build a life in the North.

Kim's statements precisely⁷ echo North Korea's official explanations of his disappearance and Yokota's fate - a fact being received with virtually no surprise here in South Korea. No dissent⁸ from government opinion or statements is tolerated in the rigidly⁹ controlled North, and it is assumed that Kim and his family could face severe punishment if he tried to say otherwise.

While officials in Seoul have not formally responded to Kim's statements, abductee advocacy groups are dismissing them out of hand. In Tokyo, Megumi Yokota's father, Shigeru Yokota, told reporters he did not believe Kim's statements.

Kim's case first drew international attention in April, when Japanese investigators said DNA evidence showed that he and Yokota had had a child together

1 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

2 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

5 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

6 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

7 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

8 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

9 rigidly   

adv.刻板地，僵化地

参考例句：

• Life today is rigidly compartmentalized into work and leisure. 当今的生活被严格划分为工作和休闲两部分。
• The curriculum is rigidly prescribed from an early age. 自儿童时起即已开始有严格的课程设置。