VOA标准英语2008年-US Envoy Heads Home After Nuclear Talks in Pyon

By David Gollust
Washington
12 June 2008

A senior U.S. diplomat¹ is en route back to Washington after talks with North Korean officials on the stalled six-party nuclear accord. North Korea has agreed to accelerate compliance² with the disarmament deal in return for speeded-up deliveries of energy aid. VOA'S David Gollust reports from the State Department.
　

Sung Kim, director of the Office of Korean Affairs (file photo)

The visit by the State Department's Korean affairs director, Sung Kim, focused on the disablement of North Korea's Yongbyon reactor³ complex, a process the communist state has now promised to accelerate in return for faster shipments of heavy fuel oil.

The Yongbyon reactor, which produced the plutonium for North Korea's small nuclear weapons arsenal⁴, was to have been permanently⁵ disabled by the end of last year.

But the process has lagged, amid North Korean charges that the other parties to the accord are behind schedule on aid deliveries.

A working group of the six parties, North and South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan, discussed the issue Tuesday and Wednesday in meetings in Seoul and the Panmunjom truce⁶ village at the Korean demilitarized zone.

In a talk with reporters, State Department Acting⁷ Spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos confirmed that the meeting yielded an agreement under which both disablement steps, and fuel deliveries to North Korea, are to be speeded up.

"The meetings were good and substantive⁸ and helped the parties make further progress in the six-party process. In line with the principle of action for action, the parties agreed to accelerate the pace of energy assistance to North Korea in exchange for the DPRK agreeing to increase the pace of meeting its nuclear disablement obligations," he said.

North Korea complains it has completed 80 percent of the disablement work at Yongbyon but received only 40 percent of the promised energy aid of one million tons of heavy fuel oil.

Spokesman Gallegos said U.S. diplomat Kim sat in briefly⁹ on the working group talks before going on to Pyongyang to continue the dialogue on disablement.

In comments Thursday in Seoul, the American diplomat said he had a very detailed¹⁰ and substantive discussion in North Korea on issues related to disablement, and that the fuel supply question was one of the topics.

Speaking after a meeting with South Korean nuclear negotiator Hwang Joon-kook, Kim said his Pyongyang mission was not intended to make agreements but rather to "explore various options" for the remaining disablement steps.

U.S. officials had said in advance of the trip that one issue Kim wanted to discuss was the demolition¹¹ of the cooling tower of the Yongbyon reactor.

Kim is expected to brief the chief U.S. delegate to the six-party talks, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, soon after his return to Washington Friday.

1 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

2 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

3 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

4 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。

5 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

6 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。

7 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

8 substantive   

adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体

参考例句：

• They plan to meet again in Rome very soon to begin substantive negotiations.他们计划不久在罗马再次会晤以开始实质性的谈判。
• A president needs substantive advice,but he also requires emotional succor. 一个总统需要实质性的建议，但也需要感情上的支持。

9 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

10 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

11 demolition   

n.破坏,毁坏,毁坏之遗迹

参考例句：

• The church has been threatened with demolition for years. 这座教堂多年来一直面临拆毀的威胁。
• The project required the total demolition of the old bridge. 该项目要求将老桥完全拆毁。