VOA标准英语2008年-North Korean Silence Creates Gaps in Tourist Ki

South Korean investigators² have released what they call "interim³ findings" in a probe of this month's shooting of a South Korean tourist by North Korea's military. However, amid the North's total refusal to cooperate in an investigation⁴, serious information gaps remain. As VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul, South Korea's anger over the North's intransigence⁵ may be rising.

South Korean investigators are still having trouble verifying fundamental details in the shooting death of South Korean tourist Park Wang-ja.

The 53-year-old Park was shot twice by North Korea's military two weeks ago during her visit to the North's Kumgang mountain resort. The area is managed by South Korea as a long-term project to improve inter-Korean relations.

North Korea shared some information about the shooting with Hyundai Asan, the South Korean corporation that runs the resort but refuses any cooperation whatsoever⁶ with the South Korean government's probe.

Hwang Boo-gi, an investigator¹ for the South's Unification Ministry⁷, says there is a discrepancy⁸ in accounts over the killing⁹.

He says the South estimates the shooting location to be about 200 meters away from fences marking a restricted no-access area. That differs, he says by the North's claim of a 300 meter distance.

North Korea says Park crossed into the restricted area during a morning walk and ran away when confronted by North Korean soldiers. She was shot in the back. Pyongyang says South Korea is to blame for the incident and has demanded an apology.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has called the shooting "intolerable," and has suspended the tourism project completely until North Korea cooperates in the probe. Although Seoul is still permitting some travel to the North by private civic¹⁰ groups, it is urging some of the groups to cancel their upcoming visits.

With the Kumgang resort closed, North Korea is losing revenues by the day and so is the Hyundai Asan corporation. The company's president Yoon Man-jun has apologized for the incident.

He calls the shooting the most tragic¹¹ incident to happen since the tours began, and says he feels personally sorry.

Senior South Korean officials are now telling journalists the South may stiffen¹² its policy toward the North even further soon, if North Korea continues to stonewall the investigation.

They have not specified¹³ their possible course of action, which they say they will take at "an appropriate time." However, officials have hinted a separate tour program at the North Korean city of Kaesong may also be suspended. A North-South joint¹⁴ industrial park near Kaesong is seen, for now, as safe from the dispute over the shooting probe.

 

 

1 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

2 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 intransigence   

n.妥协的态度；强硬

参考例句：

• He often appeared angry and frustrated by the intransigence of both sides.他似乎常常为双方各不相让而生气沮丧。
• Yet for North Korea,intransigence is the norm.不过对朝鲜来说，决不妥协是其一贯作风。

6 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

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 discrepancy   

n.不同；不符；差异；矛盾

参考例句：

• The discrepancy in their ages seemed not to matter.他们之间年龄的差异似乎没有多大关系。
• There was a discrepancy in the two reports of the accident.关于那次事故的两则报道有不一致之处。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

11 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

12 stiffen   

v.(使)硬，(使)变挺，(使)变僵硬

参考例句：

• The blood supply to the skin is reduced when muscles stiffen.当肌肉变得僵硬时，皮肤的供血量就减少了。
• I was breathing hard,and my legs were beginning to stiffen.这时我却气吁喘喘地开始感到脚有点僵硬。

13 specified   

adj.特定的

参考例句：

• The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。

14 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。