美国国家公共电台 NPR For A North Korean Defector Turned Journalist, Warming Ties Are Cause For Worry

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

The leaders of North and South Korea met three times in 2018. That was unprecedented¹. But during all of this diplomacy², people who have actually lived under the North Korean regime, defectors, have urged some caution. From Seoul, NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports on one of those people.

ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE³: Kim Myong Song remembers rushing to cover a high-level meeting of North and South Korean officials early one morning in October. Kim is a reporter for one of the country's biggest daily newspapers, The Chosun Ilbo. He also happens to be a defector from North Korea. On the way to the meeting, Kim says, South Korea's unification ministry⁴, which is in charge of inter-Korean relations, called and barred him from covering the event.

KIM MYONG SONG: (Through interpreter) I felt so betrayed and angry. I could understand it if I was an inexperienced newcomer, but I've been covering the ministry for six years.

KUHN: The ministry never really explained why they barred Kim. Its actions come at a time when the leaders of the two Koreas seem intent on taking unprecedented steps towards improving relations. Speaking at a cafe near the ministry, Kim says officials were apparently⁵ concerned that having a defector in the room could offend the North Korean officials and derail the talks.

KIM: (Through interpreter) North Korea considers defectors as traitors⁶ to the country and the people, and they harshly criticize their activities in South Korea.

KUHN: Other journalists, defectors and human rights activists⁷ sprang to Kim's defense⁸ and slammed the ministry's action. Among them was defector Choi Kyong Hui, president of a civic⁹ group called South and North Development. She points out that Kim was going to cover talks in South Korea, not North Korea.

CHOI KYONG HUI: (Through interpreter) In a democratic society, no individual or official has the right to restrict journalists working for the people's right to know.

KUHN: The ministry later met with defector groups, but they never apologized to Kim. Kim left North Korea in the 1990s after listening to South Korean radio broadcasts. He was amazed to learn from them that North Korea's poverty and famine were largely the result of its own policies.

KIM: (Through interpreter) Once I found the truth, I grew to hate the North Korean regime. I didn't want to sit and watch the North Korean television jabber¹⁰ every day. I felt a strong urge to experience life in the outside world.

KUHN: After years on the run in China, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, Kim finally made it to South Korea in 2002. Now, Kim says he fears that amid the diplomatic courtship between the two Koreas, defectors are being silenced, and South Korea may be falling into a trap.

KIM: (Through interpreter) Our government is betting everything on peace negotiation¹¹ with the North. I'm concerned that they're leaning too far to one side. The nature of the North Korean regime hasn't changed.

KUHN: President Moon Jae-in is himself a veteran human rights lawyer, and he's spoken up for press freedoms. But Moon Chung-in, a special adviser¹² to the president on foreign affairs and national security, says that this administration wants to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue first.

MOON CHUNG-IN: North Korean defectors might not enjoy the same benefit as they enjoyed during the previous, you know, two conservative governments, but that's a reality. Face it.

KUHN: Such talk makes Kim Myong Song apprehensive¹³ about his future as a journalist. He says before the government banned him from covering the inter-Korean meeting, the peace process had actually given him hope that someday he could report from Pyongyang as a South Korean correspondent. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Seoul.

(SOUNDBITE OF SOULAR ORDER'S "COMING HOME")

1 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

2 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 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。

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 traitors   

卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人

参考例句：

• Traitors are held in infamy. 叛徒为人所不齿。
• Traitors have always been treated with contempt. 叛徒永被人们唾弃。

7 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

9 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。

10 jabber   

v.快而不清楚地说；n.吱吱喳喳

参考例句：

• Listen to the jabber of those monkeys.听那些猴子在吱吱喳喳地叫。
• He began to protes,to jabber of his right of entry.他开始抗议，唠叨不休地说他有进来的权力。

11 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

12 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

13 apprehensive   

adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的

参考例句：

• She was deeply apprehensive about her future.她对未来感到非常担心。
• He was rather apprehensive of failure.他相当害怕失败。