VOA常速英语2008年-South Korea Calls on North to Tone Down Rhetori

By Kurt Achin
Seoul
02 April 2008

South Korean officials have issued their first formal response to recent moves by North Korea, labeling some of the North's recent statements "inappropriate." The exchange comes as high-level American and South Korean envoys² warn time is running out in diplomacy³ to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programs. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from the South Korean capital.

South Korean Major-General Kwon Oh-sung has sent a radio message to his North Korean counterpart, reassuring⁴ Pyongyang the South remains⁵ committed to a key non-aggression agreement between the two sides.

However, the message rebukes⁶ the North for what it describes as recent "deliberate slander⁷ and fostering of tensions" which the South finds deeply regretful.

The message comes a day after North Korea's main official newspaper lashed⁸ out at South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, calling him a "traitor⁹" and accusing him of disrupting North-South relations.

North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950. The two sides never formally ended the resulting war, which was halted by an armistice¹⁰ in 1953. Recent events have reminded the world how tense this peninsula remains.

Several days ago, North Korea warned it may turn the South into a "sea of ashes." That was a response to testimony¹¹ by South Korea's joint¹² chiefs of staff chairman that Seoul has contingency¹³ plans to preemptively strike North Korean nuclear weapons sites.

Earlier last month, North Korea expelled South Korean managers from a joint industrial park in the Northern city, Kaesong. South Korean media reports quote military officials who say South Korea has scrambled¹⁴ jets at least ten times since President Lee's February inauguration¹⁵, to respond to North Korean warplanes approaching the North-South border.

Mr. Lee is much firmer on the issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons than his predecessors¹⁶. He says future North-South cooperation is dependent on Pyongyang fulfilling its promises to end those weapons programs.

The chief American envoy¹ to the multinational¹⁷ nuclear talks, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, is in Seoul to discuss the North's four-month delay in providing a nuclear declaration it said would be ready by the end of last year.

Hill warns the diplomatic process is "running out of time," and that North Korea, known formally as the DPRK (Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea), must make a commitment.

"I think the problem is the DPRK needs to make this fundamental decision," he said. "Again, I think we have made progress on the declaration but, until we complete the declaration, we won't have succeeded."

Hill dismisses recent North Korean rhetoric¹⁸ against the South as "entirely¹⁹ propagandistic" and directed "entirely at domestic audiences." He says the comments will have little impact on the multinational nuclear diplomacy.

1 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

2 envoys   

使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份

参考例句：

• the routine tit for tat when countries expel each other's envoys 国家相互驱逐对方使节这种惯常的报复行动
• Marco Polo's travelogue mentions that Kublai Khan sent envoys to Malgache. 马可波罗游记中提到忽必烈曾派使节到马尔加什。

3 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

4 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 rebukes   

责难或指责( rebuke的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• His industry rebukes me. 他的勤劳使我感到惭傀。
• The manager's rebukes in loud voice and stern expression have made the clerks gathered in the out office start with alarm. 老板声色俱厉的责备把聚集在办公室外的职员们吓坏了。

7 slander   

n./v.诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• The article is a slander on ordinary working people.那篇文章是对普通劳动大众的诋毁。
• He threatened to go public with the slander.他威胁要把丑闻宣扬出去。

8 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。

10 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。

11 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

12 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。

13 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

14 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

16 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

18 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。

19 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。