VOA标准英语2009-North, South Korea to Discuss Troubled Joint

North and South Korea have arranged a meeting next week to discuss operations at a troubled joint¹ industrial zone. South Korea is expected to use the meeting to press for the release of a South Korean manager of the zone who has been detained by the North since March.

South Korean Unification Ministry² spokesman Chun Hae-sung says North Korea is ready to talk about the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

He says North Korea offered to hold working-level discussions next Thursday. That appointment is in response to offers the South has made for talks since last month.
　
North Korean female workers toil³ at a South Korean-run plant in the inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong (File)

The Kaesong complex is an experiment in North-South cooperation which opened for business in 2004 just inside North Korea's border with the South. South Korean businesses hire nearly 40,000 inexpensive North Korean workers to manufacture simple items like clothing and cosmetics⁴.

However, the zone has run into a series of serious complications amid worsening relations between North and South. Since last year's inauguration⁵ of conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak - who North Korea calls a "traitor⁶" - North Korea has restricted access to the zone, detained a South Korean executive for more than two months without trial, and cancelled all of the contracts governing rent and wages.

The detained executive, known by his surname Yu, is believed to have made inflammatory comments about North Korea's political leaders. He may also have encouraged a North Korean female worker to defect to the South.

For South Korean officials, his detention⁷ without visiting rights or legal counsel is a key concern, because it reflects upon the overall safety of several hundred corporate⁸ managers in the zone.

Unification Ministry deputy spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo says North Korea has not yet insisted that Yu will be treated according to North Korea's domestic laws. She says South Korea is insisting his case be handled according to previous North-South agreements - not North Korean law

Yu's case is drawing inevitable⁹ comparisons to North Korea's detention of two American female journalists who were captured in March. A trial was scheduled for the two women Thursday in Pyongyang, but the North has kept completely silent so far about the outcome.

1 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。

2 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。

3 toil   

vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事

参考例句：

• The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
• Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。

4 cosmetics   

n.化妆品

参考例句：

• We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
• Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。

5 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。

6 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。

7 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

8 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

9 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。