2007年VOA标准英语-Senior US Diplomat Makes Unannounced N. Korea V

By Kurt Achin
Seoul
21 June 2007

The senior U.S. diplomat¹ in charge of negotiating an end to North Korea's nuclear weapons programs has made an unannounced visit to the North Korean capital.  Just hours after he arrived, however, North Korea appeared to backtrack on its pledge to allow United Nations nuclear inspectors² to visit next week. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul.

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Christopher Hill, left, shakes hands with Ri Gun, vice director of North Korean Foreign Ministry's U.S. Affairs Department, 21 Jun 2007

Before departing Tokyo for Pyongyang Thursday, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said it was important to make up for lost time on the North Korean nuclear issue.

"We have to catch up on some of the timelines, because we really fell behind this spring, and I think we have to do everything we can do to accelerate the timelines," he said.

Hill is Washington's chief delegate to six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.  The talks also include Japan, China, Russia and South Korea.  

Pyongyang agreed in February to shut down its main nuclear facility, a preliminary step toward full nuclear disarmament, by mid-April.  But Pyongyang then delayed taking action for months because of delays in transferring North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank. 

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A man talks on a mobile phone in front of the headquarters of Banco Delta Asia in Macau, 16 March 2007 file photo

The problem appeared to have been resolved early this week, and things began to move again.  The North Koreans invited United Nations nuclear inspectors into the country, and the inspectors have been planning to visit next week to arrange the shutdown. 

However, on Thursday, a North Korean diplomat in Vienna said the date of the visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had not been confirmed.  He said that the money from Macau had not yet been returned to North Korea, and until it was, no date for the IAEA visit would be set.

Hill, who has been on an Asian tour, arrived in the North Korean capital from Tokyo Thursday afternoon.  Jeffrey Hill, a press attache at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo, says the envoy⁵ will spend the night in Pyongyang, and depart North Korea on Friday.

"He's going to stop in both Seoul and Tokyo before returning to Washington," he said.

Tong Kim is a professor at Seoul's Kyungnam University.  In his former job as a high-level interpreter for the U.S. State Department, Kim escorted then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to North Korea in 2000.  He also accompanied Hill's predecessor⁶, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, in 2002, the last time any high-level U.S. government official was in the country.

Kim says he doubts Hill will get the chance to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on this trip, because it is too early in the diplomatic process.  He also says Hill is not senior enough, and the North Korean leader would wait to meet Hill's boss, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"I think Kim Jong Il will certainly meet with [Secretary of State] Rice if she comes over there, but not at this point, because there's so much more Kim Jong Il will have to be sure of before really making the move," he explained.

South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon on Thursday praised Hill's decision to visit the North Korean capital, and says the South can now "move fast" on its promise of 400,000 tons of rice for the impoverished⁷ North.  Seoul has been holding back on the shipment until the North carries out the shutdown as promised.

South Korean officials say both the shutdown, and the rice shipment, may be completed by next month.

1 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

2 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

5 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

6 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

7 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》