VOA标准英语2008年-Japan Plans Partial Lift Of North Korea Sanctio

By Kurt Achin
Seoul
13 June 2008

Japan says it is lifting some of the sanctions it imposed on North Korea following Pyongyang's nuclear test about two years ago. The announcement comes amid apparent progress in talks on the North's abduction of Japanese citizens, and as talks to end the North's nuclear weapons programs get set to resume. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul.

Officials in Tokyo say they will loosen some restrictions¹ on charter flights and other travel between Japan and North Korea. Japan imposed the limitations soon after North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test explosion in October 2006.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura says North Korea is being more cooperative on the issue of Japanese nationals abducted² during the 1970s and 80s.

He says, North Korea has promised to re-investigate the abduction cases, in order to take concrete action on the issue. He describes that as a shift in North Korea's stance, and a sign of "certain progress."

North Korea has admitted the North's agents kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens. Pyongyang returned five of them, and said the others were dead. Tokyo accuses the North of other abductions, mainly for the purpose of training spies in Japanese language and customs.

The abduction issue has been a sticking point in multinational³ talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programs. Japan has refused to join its partners in providing energy or financial aid to the North until the issue is resolved. Here in Seoul, a South Korean delegate to the talks suggested this week the process might be slowed significantly if energy aid was not sufficiently⁴ guaranteed.

The nuclear talks are expected to resume within weeks in Beijing. Negotiators say they hope the process will eventually lead to full diplomatic normalization⁵ between North Korea and Japan - which could translate into billions of dollars worth of aid from Tokyo to the impoverished⁶ North.

1 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

2 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

3 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。

4 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

5 normalization   

n.（normalisation）正常化，标准化

参考例句：

• The visit signalled the normalization of relations between the two countries.这次访问显示两国关系已经正常化。
• He was pleased to the normalization of relationship between the police and the people.他很高兴警方和人民之间关系的正常化。

6 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》