美国国家公共电台 NPR--North Korea fires a ballistic missile over Japan

North Korea fires a ballistic missile over Japan

Transcript¹

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile on Tuesday that flew over Japan for the first time in five years, the South Korean government said, triggering alerts across Japan.

Tuesday's North Korean launch put U.S. military bases in Guam within reach. The U.S. government condemned² the launch and National Security Adviser³ Jake Sullivan called his Japanese and South Korean counterparts to coordinate⁴ a response, the White House said.

The launch of the ballistic missile (IRBM ) took place from North Korea's northern Jagang province at around 7:23 a.m. local time, according to South Korea's Joint⁵ Chiefs of Staff. Television alerts warned residents in Tokyo and across northern Japan's Hokkaido and Aomori prefectures to take cover.

The South's joint chiefs said the missile flew approximately 2,796 miles to the east, reaching an altitude of 603 miles and a top speed of Mach 17, before landing in the Pacific Ocean. A body traveling at Mach 1 is traveling at the speed of sound. Mach 2 is twice the speed of sound.

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called Tuesday's launch "outrageous," and said Japan strongly protested the action. South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol promised a resolute⁶ response. Both leaders said they would convene⁷ the National Security Council to discuss the situation.

Tuesday's launch was North Korea's fifth missile launch in just over a week, and the first time a North Korean missile has flown over Japan since 2017. After North Korea last tested an IRBM this past January, state media said authorities had fired it at a high angle, "in consideration of the security of neighboring countries," in other words, to avoid sending the missile over Japan.

Tuesday's missile launch by North Korea was the latest in a series of recent events that have ratcheted up the tension between Pyongyang and the U.S. and its East Asian allies. Last week, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan held their first trilateral anti-submarine drills in five years off the Korean Peninsula's east coast. It followed South Korean and U.S. warships⁸ conducting bilateral⁹ exercises in the area for four days. Both military drills this week involved the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.

Those tensions led to unprecedented¹⁰ summits between then-President Trump¹¹ and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2018 and 2019 over the North's nuclear ambitions. Negotiations¹² between the U.S. and North Korea have since stalled and Pyongyang now says it will not bargain away its nuclear weapons.

In South Korea, a new conservative government that took office in May has emphasized deterrence¹³ over diplomatic engagement, raising concerns over potential cycles of escalation¹⁴ and counter-escalation, including more missile tests from North Korea.

Observers say Kim may use his country's missile and nuclear tests to pressure the U.S. and other countries into lifting international sanctions placed on North Korea.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

3 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

4 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

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 resolute   

adj.坚决的，果敢的

参考例句：

• He was resolute in carrying out his plan.他坚决地实行他的计划。
• The Egyptians offered resolute resistance to the aggressors.埃及人对侵略者作出坚决的反抗。

7 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。

8 warships   

军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只

参考例句：

• The enemy warships were disengaged from the battle after suffering heavy casualties. 在遭受惨重伤亡后，敌舰退出了海战。
• The government fitted out warships and sailors for them. 政府给他们配备了战舰和水手。

9 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。

10 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。

11 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

12 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

13 deterrence   

威慑，制止； 制止物，制止因素； 挽留的事物； 核威慑

参考例句：

• An extreme school of "disarmers" pronounced stable deterrence was a dangerous deception. “裁军论者”中的极端派声称，稳定的威摄是一种危险的骗局。
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。

14 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句