美、韩将缩减2019年军事演习

The U.S. said Wednesday it will scale back military exercises with South Korea next year, so the war games are not a hindrance to diplomacy over ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said the exercises with Seoul, called Foal Eagle, are conducted each spring in South Korea, but will be "reduced in scope" in 2019.

He gave no details of how the exercises will be downsized, but said the reduced scope was an effort by the two allies to encourage further negotiations in the stalled talks between the U.S. and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

"Foal Eagle is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy," Mattis said. North Korea has frequently objected to the U.S.-South Korean exercises, viewing them as a threat to its existence as a nation.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed at a June summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore to end Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. But since then negotiations have slowed over how and when North Korea would dismantle its nuclear arsenal.

The Trump administration has said it hopes North Korea's nuclear weapons program will have been shut down by the end of Trump's first term in the White House in January 2021.

Trump has said that another summit with Kim could take place, but no date or place for such a meeting has been announced.

1 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。

2 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

3 telecommunication   

n.电信，远距离通信

参考例句：

• Telecommunication is an industry of service.电信业是一个服务型的行业。
• I only care about the telecommunication quality and the charge.我只关心通信质量和资费两个方面。