美国国家公共电台 NPR Chemical Weapon Found On Body Of North Korean Leader's Half-Brother

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And the mystery surrounding the airport killing¹ of the North Korean leader's half brother is getting even more bizarre and even more grim now. Malaysia has announced initial lab results that show a chemical weapon was used in the fatal poisoning. NPR's Elise Hu has been covering this story. She's on the line from Seoul.

Good morning, Elise.

ELISE HU, BYLINE²: Good morning, David.

GREENE: So what is the latest here? This sounds really bizarre.

HU: Yes. The big headline this morning is that Malaysian authorities are saying Kim Jong Nam - that's the older half brother of the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un - Kim Jong Nam was killed by VX. VX is an odorless nerve agent that can kill within minutes if it's passed through the skin. It's a chemical weapon, an estimated 10 times more toxic⁴ than Sarin.

Early last week while Kim Jong Nam was traveling through the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, two women approached him, appeared to touch his face and then they held a cloth over it. Kim soon fell ill and then he died before he even made it to the hospital. The women are from Southeast Asian countries. They're now in custody⁵, but Malaysian authorities are trying to track down seven more suspects. They are all North Korean.

GREENE: OK. Does that suggest that the theory is true that the North Korean regime was somehow behind this?

HU: Well, that VX nerve agent, which is something the U.N. considers a weapon of mass destruction, is responsible for this death would strengthen that case. VX is man-made. Apparently⁶, it's not that difficult to produce, but it does tend to be used by state actors. For example, Saddam Hussein is believed to have used VX on the Kurds in the 1980s. South Korea, for its part, has already accused North Korea of putting out the order to kill this Kim brother. It has called this assassination⁷ a terrorist act.

North Korean officials in Malaysia - they've been trying to stop the autopsy⁸ on this body, going so far as to say it would reject any results even before the results came out. And David, to add to all this drama, someone this week apparently tried to break into the morgue where Kim's body is being held. That is under investigation⁹ as a separate incident.

GREENE: My goodness. It's just one development after another here. Well, just remind us, Elise, if you can, why this brother is important, why the regime might have wanted to kill him.

HU: Well, many North Korean watchers say that Kim Jong Nam was actually seen as a dynastic successor to his father, Kim Jong Il, but fell out of favor because of his love of leisure. But there's actually very little evidence that this Kim brother was a threat to the regime lately. The Chinese were believed to be protecting him, as he lived in Macau. And there is one theory that China saw him as someone who could step in if the North Korean regime collapsed¹⁰.

And of course, we can't forget the current leader, Kim Jong Un, does have a track record of purging¹¹ his potential rivals. Just a few years ago, he had his uncle, who was high up there in North Korean leadership - he was abruptly¹² executed.

GREENE: All right, Elise. We've got a morgue broken into. We've got a weapon of mass destruction potentially used here. What is next?

HU: Well, Malaysia is still holding this body waiting for identification by next of kin³. So far, no one in the family has shown up. But the Malaysian police inspector¹³ general has been talking to press this week, and he said that this investigation could actually last years.

GREENE: OK. NPR's Elise Hu in Seoul.

Thanks, Elise.

HU: You bet.

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 kin   

n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的

参考例句：

• He comes of good kin.他出身好。
• She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。

4 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

5 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

6 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

7 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

8 autopsy   

n.尸体解剖；尸检

参考例句：

• They're carrying out an autopsy on the victim.他们正在给受害者验尸。
• A hemorrhagic gut was the predominant lesion at autopsy.尸检的主要发现是肠出血。

9 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

10 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

11 purging   

清洗； 清除； 净化； 洗炉

参考例句：

• You learned the dry-mouthed, fear-purged, purging ecstasy of battle. 你体会到战斗中那种使人嘴巴发干的，战胜了恐惧并排除其他杂念的狂喜。
• Purging databases, configuring, and making other exceptional requests might fall into this category. 比如清空数据库、配置，以及其他特别的请求等都属于这个类别。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

12 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

13 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。