美国国家公共电台 NPR Would The U.S. Withdraw Troops From South Korea?

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The potential summit between President Trump¹ and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has put the spotlight² on U.S. service members who are stationed on the Korean Peninsula. American troops have been there for nearly 70 years. More recently, though, they have become something of a political football. North Korea wants them out as part of any nuclear deal. South Korea wants them to stay to help with its defense³. And President Trump has reportedly considered reducing their numbers to save money.

NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman has more about how the American long-term commitment to South Korea's defense seems to be evolving in this administration.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Yelling unintelligibly).

TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE⁴: U.S. and South Korean troops dash along a wooden trail north of Seoul.

(SOUNDBITE OF MACHINE GUNS FIRING)

BOWMAN: Others fire machine guns and launch mortars⁵, trying to push back an imagined attack. It's an annual exercise called Foal Eagle, and thousands of soldiers take part. Retired⁶ Army General Walter Skip Sharp knows something about it. He commanded troops in South Korea for three years, until 2011.

WALTER SHARP: You are trying to coordinate⁷ and synchronize⁸ artillery⁹, maneuver¹⁰, direct fire from tanks and helicopters and all of that being done in a live-fire scenario¹¹. You'll bring targets up in sequence like somebody is attacking.

BOWMAN: That somebody, of course, being North Korean forces streaming across the DMZ. Sharp says North Korea conducts similar live-fire scenarios¹².

SHARP: They have exercises very much like this. They have a winter and a summer training cycle.

BOWMAN: Still, North Korea recently canceled a meeting with South Korea because of the Foal Eagle exercise, charging it was a dress rehearsal¹³ for an attack on the North, and brushing aside U.S. officials who said the exercise is only defensive¹⁴. And the North has also suggested that U.S. troops should be removed as part of any deal to eliminate its nuclear weapons program. The South has said U.S. troops should not be a bargaining chip. Any reduction in the 28,000 American troops should be decided¹⁵ separately between its government and the U.S.

President Trump recently told reporters that U.S. troops were not on the table. But he still complained about the expense. Analysts¹⁷ say South Korea spends about 800 million a year for U.S. forces, about half the cost.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Now, I have to tell you - at some point into the future, I would like to save the money.

BOWMAN: So all this talk about American forces raises the question - why does the U.S. still need troops in South Korea, a country which has created a formidable military that takes part in peacekeeping missions around the world? Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri recently posed this question to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ROY BLUNT: What do you see as the importance of our presence, not only in the Korean Peninsula but also our regional presence?

JAMES MATTIS: The presence of our forces there is a stabilizing¹⁸ presence. The Americans are committed, and this resonates among allies.

BOWMAN: So those American troops in South Korea are not just there to halt an attack from the North but to protect allies like Japan. Victor Cha supports that. He worked in the White House on Asian affairs during the George W. Bush administration.

VICTOR CHA: Whether we like it or not, since the end of World War II, the United States has been a Pacific power in Asia that has maintained its credibility and its commitments to governments in the region by our troop presence there.

BOWMAN: An American troop presence, he says, that also has an economic angle.

CHA: I mean, that has been the nature of the U.S. commitment, to show that we will be there to protect sea lanes to prevent the rise of another hegemon in the region. And that has stabilized¹⁹ not just the politics of the region but also the markets.

BOWMAN: But Doug Bandow, a foreign affairs analyst¹⁶ who worked in the Reagan White House, has another view of U.S. troops in South Korea.

DOUG BANDOW: Well, they're no longer necessary.

BOWMAN: They were back in 1953, he says, when an armistice²⁰ was signed, the South was weak and the war could have reignited. At that time, there were some 327,000 U.S. troops there.

BANDOW: You know, today South Korea has something around 45 times the GDP, about twice the population of the North. So there's no reason why the South cannot build a military sufficient to both deter²¹ and also defeat, if necessary, the North.

BOWMAN: There are plenty of U.S. troops elsewhere in Asia. But the ones in South Korea, he says, just aren't needed.

BANDOW: They don't add much to South Korea's defense. They simply allow South Korea to spend less on their military.

BOWMAN: This isn't the first time a president has suggested removing U.S. troops from South Korea. President Jimmy Carter raised it in the 1970s, partly as a way to save money. His advisers²² strongly opposed it, including an American general in South Korea who was removed for criticizing the plan.

Tom Bowman, NPR News, Washington.

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 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 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。

5 mortars   

n.迫击炮( mortar的名词复数 )；砂浆；房产；研钵

参考例句：

• They could not move their heavy mortars over the swampy ground. 他们无法把重型迫击炮移过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Where the hell are his mortars? 他有迫击炮吗？ 来自教父部分

6 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

7 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。

8 synchronize   

v.使同步 [=synchronise]

参考例句：

• The sound on a film must synchronize with the action. 影片中的声音必须与动作配合一致。
• You must synchronize your Inbox before selecting additional folders. 在选择其他文件夹前，您必须同步您的收件箱。

9 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

10 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。

11 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

12 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

13 rehearsal   

n.排练，排演；练习

参考例句：

• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
• You can sharpen your skills with rehearsal.排练可以让技巧更加纯熟。

14 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 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。

17 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

18 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

19 stabilized   

v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The patient's condition stabilized. 患者的病情稳定下来。
• His blood pressure has stabilized. 他的血压已经稳定下来了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

20 armistice   

n.休战，停战协定

参考例句：

• The two nations signed an armistice.两国签署了停火协议。
• The Italian armistice is nothing but a clumsy trap.意大利的停战不过是一个笨拙的陷阱。

21 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

22 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。