美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump Warns Summit With North Korea May Not Happen On Schedule

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

President Trump¹ is meeting today at the White House with South Korea's president Moon Jae-in. The two men are partners in an effort to strip North Korea of its nuclear weapons. But at times this has really been an uneasy partnership². Not so long ago, Trump was criticizing South Korea over trade policies and what Trump saw as a free-loading reliance on the U.S. military. Here's NPR's Scott Horsley.

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE³: During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump often complained, as he did here on CNN, that the U.S. was getting a raw deal for military and economic partners around the world.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You look at what the world is doing to us at every level. Whether it's militarily, or in trade or in so many other levels, the world is taking advantage of the United States.

HORSLEY: South Korea was one of Trump's top targets. As president, he's argued South Korea should be paying more for the 28,000 U.S. troops stationed there. Seoul did pick up most of the $11 billion cost to expand the U.S. military base, but during a visit to South Korea last fall, Trump said that wasn't good enough.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRUMP: That money was spent, for the most part, to protect South Korea, not to protect the United States. But some of that money was spent by us. That being said, that was long before my time, and I'm sure I could have built it for a lot less.

HORSLEY: Trump also complained about the U.S. trade deficit⁴ with South Korea, which was more than $10 billion last year despite an Obama-era trade agreement.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRUMP: A deal that, frankly⁵, has been quite unsuccessful and not very good for the United States.

HORSLEY: Two months ago, the administration struck a new trade deal with South Korea that limits steel imports from that country and extends a tariff⁶ on imported pickup⁷ trucks. While Trump was complaining about South Korea, Seoul had worries of its own, including Trump's own bellicose⁸ rhetoric⁹ towards North Korea. Here's the president speaking at the U.N. last September.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRUMP: The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.

VICTOR CHA: Whenever that discussion moved to talk of possible military action, I think that's where the South Korean government was not on board.

HORSLEY: Victor Cha is a Korea expert who was considered but ultimately passed over as Trump's ambassador to Seoul. He says, despite its apprehension¹⁰ about military action, South Korea went along with tough economic sanctions against the North, and South Korean officials have regularly flattered Trump for his diplomatic prowess. When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued his surprise invitation for a summit meeting with Trump, South Korea's National Security Director Chung Eui-yong was careful to give the U.S. president most of the credit.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CHUNG EUI-YONG: His leadership and his maximum-pressure policy, together with international solidarity¹¹, brought us to this juncture¹².

HORSLEY: That summit meeting next month between Trump and Kim is now in some doubt after North Korea suggested it might not be ready to give up its nuclear weapons. Even if the meeting takes place, the U.S. and South Korea are potentially divided over what should happen next. The Trump administration insists North Korea must completely dismantle¹³ its nuclear program before getting any relief from economic sanctions. South Korea, on the other hand, might go along with a more phased approach. Brookings analyst¹⁴ Jonathan Pollack says that's one of the questions Trump and Moon will have to address.

JONATHAN POLLACK: Moon is a resourceful politician. He's played his cards very well. But there's just so much that could go off the rails here when and if Trump does in fact go to Singapore.

HORSLEY: Trump is eager for a diplomatic victory with North Korea, but Victor Cha, who served in the George W. Bush White House, says it's likely to be a bumpy¹⁵ road.

CHA: You don't get fairy tale endings with North Korea. It tends to be much more difficult and rocky and dirty and suspense-filled.

HORSLEY: That will again test the strength of the decades-old alliance between Washington and Seoul. Scott Horsley, NPR News.

1 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。

2 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

3 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。

4 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

5 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

6 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

7 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

8 bellicose   

adj.好战的；好争吵的

参考例句：

• He expressed alarm about the government's increasingly bellicose statements.他对政府越来越具挑衅性的声明表示担忧。
• Some irresponsible politicians made a bellicose remarks.一些不负责任的政客说出一些好战的话语。

9 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

10 apprehension   

n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑

参考例句：

• There were still areas of doubt and her apprehension grew.有些地方仍然存疑，于是她越来越担心。
• She is a girl of weak apprehension.她是一个理解力很差的女孩。

11 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

12 juncture   

n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头

参考例句：

• The project is situated at the juncture of the new and old urban districts.该项目位于新老城区交界处。
• It is very difficult at this juncture to predict the company's future.此时很难预料公司的前景。

13 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

14 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

15 bumpy   

adj.颠簸不平的，崎岖的

参考例句：

• I think we've a bumpy road ahead of us.我觉得我们将要面临一段困难时期。
• The wide paved road degenerated into a narrow bumpy track.铺好的宽阔道路渐渐变窄，成了一条崎岖不平的小径。