VOA常速英语2007年-Korean Military Talks Get Physical in Dispute O

By Kurt Achin
Seoul
13 December 2007

North and South Korean generals scuffled briefly¹ on the second day of high-level military talks at the two countries' border. Tension at the talks is fueled by a decades-old dispute over an international demarcation of the sea border. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul.

Thursday's inter-Korean military meeting moved from words to physical contact when the North Korean side tried to show reporters a map detailing Pyongyang's proposal for a shared maritime² zone.

A South Korean naval³ officer jumped up from his seat and prevented the North Korean official from showing the information, which the South deems sensitive. A brief physical scuffle and sharp verbal exchange ensued.

One of the key challenges for the military negotiators is working out how to implement⁴ agreements made by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun at their October summit.

For example, the leaders agreed to form a joint⁵ fishing and economic zone in disputed waters west of the Korean peninsula.

But the two Koreas have fought several deadly naval clashes in the area. North Korea has never accepted a United Nations-declared sea border in the area commonly known as the Northern Limit Line, or NLL.

Choi Jung-chul, a professor at South Korea's National Defense⁶ University in Seoul, says the tone of Thursday's talks shows the NLL issue still generates conflict.

Choi says he is not surprised the talks got physical. He says this is one of the most tense security issues confronting the two Koreas.

North Korean officials want the joint zone to be situated⁷ South of the NLL, in what is now recognized as fully⁸ South Korean sovereign maritime territory.

South Korea is proposing the zone straddle the NLL, encompassing⁹ waters belonging to both Koreas.

Officers from the North want details of their proposal made fully public to the media, and accuse their South Korean partners of unfairly controlling the flow of information.

Professor Choi says Pyongyang has its reasons for that.

He says North Korea is hoping to seize the initiative in the talks by demanding the South allow details of its proposals to be revealed to the public.

Those demands are a rare reversal of North Korea's usual policies, which tolerate no free speech within the country and strictly¹⁰ control access to its officials by international reporters.

Technically¹¹, North and South Korea remain at war, 57 years after the North's 1950 invasion of the South. This week's high-level military talks are being held in Panmunjom, the border-straddling village where a 1953 armistice¹² halted fighting but never formally ended the war.

1 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

2 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

3 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

4 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

5 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

6 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。

7 situated   

adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的

参考例句：

• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。
• She is awkwardly situated.她的处境困难。

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 encompassing   

v.围绕( encompass的现在分词 )；包围；包含；包括

参考例句：

• Being too large and all-encompassing is a common defect among state-owned enterprises. 过分追求大而全，是国企的一大通病。 来自互联网
• Our services are: all-encompassing, love justice and high quality. 我们的服务目标是：全方位、真情义、高质量。 来自互联网

10 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

11 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

12 armistice   

n.休战，停战协定

参考例句：

• The two nations signed an armistice.两国签署了停火协议。
• The Italian armistice is nothing but a clumsy trap.意大利的停战不过是一个笨拙的陷阱。