VOA常速英语2007-North Korean Premier Visits Vietnam

By Matt Steinglass
Hanoi
27 October 2007

North Korean Premier¹ Kim Yong Il, the country's second highest-ranking leader after Kim Jong Il, arrived in Vietnam Friday evening on a rare trip abroad.  Matt Steinglass reports from Hanoi the visit is mostly focused on reviving trade between the two countries.

A Vietnamese military band performed a tune² seldom heard in world capitals Saturday morning: the national anthem³ of North Korea.

The occasion was a meeting between Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet and North Korean Premier Kim Yong Il, who arrived in Vietnam for a five-day visit, a rare foreign trip for a North Korean leader.

Kim says the purpose of the trip is to enhance the two countries' traditionally close relationship.

Officials from both nations signed agreements Saturday on agriculture, sports, tourism and cultural exchanges.

Vietnam is one of the few countries that has friendly relations with North Korea, dating from when both were members of the Soviet⁴ bloc⁵. The head of Vietnam's ruling Communist Party, Nong Duc Manh, visited Pyongyang earlier this month.

But Hanoi's friendship with Pyongyang is not what it once was. Duong Chinh Thuc was Vietnam's ambassador to North Korea from 1992 to 1996.  He says the success of Vietnam's free-market reforms and the failure of Pyongyang's state-run economy have weakened relations.

Thuc says trade between the two countries has shrunk to zero. He says many people think North Korea should study the Vietnamese and Chinese models.

Paul French, an Asian market analyst⁶ and North Korea expert, says Vietnam's model may be attractive to Pyongyang, because its reforms have not yet gone as far as those in China.

In an email, French says North Korea will be interested in exploring Vietnam's model if it offers an economic boost without what Pyongyang might see as 'spiritual pollution'.

Much of Premier Kim's trip will be spent studying Vietnam's growing economy. Kim will meet with Vietnam's Ministry⁷ of Planning and Investment, and visit a recently privatized coal mine and an export processing zone in Ho Chi Minh City.

The two countries may also discuss the issue of North Korean asylum-seekers, who sometimes use Vietnam as a gateway⁸ to South Korea.

But former ambassador Thuc says it may be some time before Pyongyang will imitate Vietnam's reforms and open up to the outside world.

Thuc says North Korean officials often argue that Vietnam could open its doors, because it was already unified⁹, while North and South Korea are not. He says they worry that opening up might cause their political system to fall, or their people to flee to the South.

Cambodia and Laos are also on the North Korean Premier's itinerary¹⁰, but first, he will travel on Tuesday to a country even more open than Vietnam: Malaysia.

1 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。

2 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

3 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

4 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

5 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

6 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。

7 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。

8 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

9 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

10 itinerary   

n.行程表，旅行路线；旅行计划

参考例句：

• The two sides have agreed on the itinerary of the visit.双方商定了访问日程。
• The next place on our itinerary was Silistra.我们行程的下一站是锡利斯特拉。