朝鲜:无军事威胁自然不需要核武器

North Korea Says No Need for Nuclear Program if Military Threats Disappear

A South Korean official says North Korea has suggested there was no need to keep its nuclear program if military threats against the country are removed.

He added that North Korea expressed a willingness to hold talks with the United States.

South Korea's top security advisor¹, Chung Eui-yong, made the comments to reporters in Seoul Tuesday. Chung heads the National Security Office and is the government’s special representative to North Korea.

He spoke² after a South Korean delegation³ returned from a two-day trip to the North. Chung met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during the visit.

The South Korean official said the two sides agreed on plans for a summit between the leaders of North and South Korea in late April. The meeting would be the first face-to-face talks between their leaders in more than 10 years. Chung added that North Korea said it was open to discussing denuclearization and normalizing relations with the U.S. government.

Reaction to the Pyongyang talks

Commenting on the recent developments involving North Korea, President Donald Trump⁴ on Tuesday tweeted, ‘We will see what happens.”

Trump later added, “The World is watching and waiting! May be false hope, but the U.S. is ready to go hard in either direction!”

Last week, Trump reacted to a North Korean idea for talks with the U.S, by saying that will happen only “under the right conditions.”

Earlier Tuesday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed hope that improving relations with North Korean can lead to denuclearization talks between the North and the U.S.

He also spoke about Monday’s meeting in Pyongyang between Chung, his special representative to North Korea and Kim Jong Un. Moon described those talks as the beginning of a larger diplomatic process.

After meeting with Moon, Chung planned to travel to Washington for talks with U.S. officials.

North Korea’s official news agency KCNA described Monday’s meeting in positive terms. It said Kim voiced his “firm will to vigorously advance" ties relations between the two Koreas. The news agency added that the two sides discussed “easing the acute military tensions on the Korean Peninsula” and that they “made a satisfactory agreement.”

An official in Seoul’s presidential Blue House said the “agreement” meant plans for a leaders’ summit, and not talks with the U.S.

Military exercises

South Korea is in a race against time to advance talks between North Korea and the U.S. before tensions likely increase again in April. That is when South Korea and the U.S. are expected to hold joint⁵ military exercises.

In recent weeks, North Korea has acted with restraint by suspending missile and nuclear tests, and expressing a willingness to ease tensions with South Korea. The North also sent a delegation to South Korea for the recent winter Olympics.

Observers say the Kim government’s sudden support of cooperation was also likely part of a plan to split the U.S.-South Korea alliance. They also believe he hoped to weaken international support for sanctions against the North.

The U.S. also showed support for the reduced tensions during the Olympics by agreeing to postpone⁶ joint military exercises.

But the Olympic truce⁷ could come to an end in April when the joint exercises are planned. The North Korean government has warned it will react to the exercises, which it claims are evidence of plans for invasion.

Some observers believe the military exercises could be delayed or reduced in scope. The South Korean National Defense⁸ Ministry⁹ refused to say whether plans for the exercises could be changed as part of a diplomatic deal.

I'm Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

denuclearization – n. removal of nuclear arms from an area

positive – adj. Hopeful; good or useful

advance – v. to move forward

sanction – n. a measure or action that results from failure to obey a rule or law

scope – n. space for action or thought; extent of treatment or activity

1 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

4 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。

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 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

7 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

8 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。

9 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。