2007年VOA标准英语-Talks Between North Korea, Japan Sputter to Une

By Kurt Achin
Seoul
06 September 2007

Two days of talks between North Korea and Japan have drawn¹ to a close in Mongolia with an agreement to meet again, but little else. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul the two sides had hoped to draw closer to normal diplomatic relations, but historical issues continue to block those efforts.

Song Il Ho, center, holds talks with Japanese counterpart Yoshiki Mine in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, 05 Sep 2007

Talks ended between Japan and North Korea in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaator, with unfinished business from the 20th century continuing to put a chill on current-day diplomacy².

The past two days were the second set of rare bi-lateral talks the two countries have held this year, as part of a broader multi-national effort to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.

Japan's ambassador to Mongolia, Yoshiki Mine, sought to put a positive spin on events.

He said the fact that the two countries could have such thorough discussions was itself a certain kind of progress.

North Korean delegate Kim Chol Ho described relations with Japan as being at their "lowest level." But he held out some hope for the future.

He says the two countries have different perspectives on the issue, and will keep talking as a means to close the gap.

Japan ruled North Korea harshly as a colony for 35 years in the early 20th century. The current talks, which aim to normalize ties, could bring North Korea hundreds of millions of dollars in Japanese aid as an indirect form of compensation for that era.

But Japan says North Korea must provide more concrete information about citizens abducted³ by North Korean agents in the 1970s and '80s. North Korea has admitted kidnapping 13 Japanese nationals, of which five have returned to Japan. Pyongyang says the other eight are dead, and considers the case closed.

Asian Studies Professor Jeffrey Kingston of Tokyo's Temple University says Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is under strong political pressure to demand North Korean action on the abduction issue.

"This is the issue that catapulted him into the premiership. He became famous because of his hard line on North Korea," he said. "However, now Japan has backed itself into a corner."

Kingston believes a resolution to the abduction issue will probably only be possible when Japan has a new prime minister, who can show more flexibility⁴ on the issue. He says Tokyo's intense focus on the issue is weakening its role in multi-national nuclear-weapons talks.

"The hard-line position of Abe has really sidelined Japan from the six-party talks. It has been very difficult to make any distinct sort of progress," he said.

Japan is expected to join the two Koreas, China, Russia, and the United States at those six-nation talks this month in Beijing. Japan and North Korea says they will hold more bilateral⁵ talks, but have not announced a date.

1 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

2 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

3 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。

4 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

5 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。