The North tested its first nuclear weapon in 2006, an event some say was made easier by the relatively uncritical transfers of billion of dollars worth of aid and investment from the South.

President Lee - a conservative former corporate chairman - says the South will continue help the North, but only if Pyongyang cooperates on getting rid of its nuclear weapons. He says South Korea will persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear programs through ongoing six-nation diplomacy, and that the North must come to realize the ending its nuclear programs will be beneficial.

North Korea is now nearly five months overdue in providing a declaration of its nuclear activities that it promised to produce by the end of last year.

A recent US - North Korea meeting in Singapore has fostered hope a breakthrough may be near. South Korean Foreign Minister Myung-hwan says he hopes the negotiations can get back to a brisk pace.

He says South Korea believes the multinational nuclear diplomacy needs to resume by next month, and that the six nations should ideally sign a new phase of a disarmament agreement by August.


【词汇复习】
conservative    / kEn5sE:vEtiv /   adj.保守的, 守旧的 n.保守派
beneficial    / beni5fiFEl /   adj.有益的,得利的,[律]有使用权的
brisk    / brisk /   adj.敏锐的, 凛冽的, 轻快的, 活泼的 vt.使活泼 vi.活跃起来
phase    / feiz /   n.阶段, 状态, 相, 相位 v.定相
disarmament    / dis5B:mEmEnt /   n.裁军
armament    / 5B:mEmEnt /   n.军备, 武器

posted on 2008-04-19 15:47 viviensyin 阅读(18) 评论(0)  编辑  收藏 所属分类: 〓〖VOA－ST〗〓 网摘收藏