韩国正在加紧筹备美朝峰会

Top US officials have hailed a planned summit with Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader as a victory for President Donald Trump, as South Korea begins a race against time to prepare for the potentially historic meeting.

美国高官把计划中与朝鲜领导人金正恩(Kim Jong Un)举行的峰会吹嘘为唐纳德?特朗普(Donald Trump)总统的胜利。与此同时，韩国开始争分夺秒地为这场潜在的历史性会晤做准备。

Despite being slated for late April, the proposed summit does not yet have a venue or a basic outline of what issues can be negotiated or what concessions could be made.

虽然预定4月下旬举行，但这场拟议的首脑峰会尚未确定地点，也没有一个关于哪些问题可以谈判、哪些让步可以做出的基本大纲。

On Sunday, Mr Trump’s administration — some members of which appeared taken aback by the announcement last week — sought to depict the planned meeting as sign of the success of US-led sanctions against Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes.

周日，特朗普政府——部分成员似乎对上周的宣布大吃一惊——试图将计划中的这次会晤描绘为美国领导的对朝鲜核武和导弹计划实施制裁成功的标志。

“We’ve done more sanctions this year than the entire last ten years,” Steven Mnuchin, US Treasury Secretary, told NBC. “There’s no question these sanctions are working and that’s what brought him to the table.”

“我们今年实施的制裁比过去整整10年都多，”美国财政部长史蒂文?姆努钦(Steven Mnuchin)对美国全国广播公司(NBC)表示，“毫无疑问，这些制裁正在起作用，是让他坐到谈判桌前的原因。”

Mike Pompeo, CIA director, added on Fox News: “President Trump isn’t doing this for theatre?.?.?.?He’s going to solve a problem.”

中央情报局(CIA)局长麦克?庞贝(Mike Pompeo)在福克斯新闻(Fox News)上补充说：“特朗普总统这样做不是为了作秀……他正在解决问题。”

But, amid mixed messages from Washington and no public statement about the summit from Pyongyang, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in is seeking to keep both sides on track for a meeting that many people thought would never happen.

但是，在华盛顿传出混乱信号、而平壤尚未就峰会发出公开声明之际，韩国总统文在寅(Moon Jae-in)正试图让双方朝着一场很多人以为永远不会举行的会晤前进。

“Getting the US and North Korea to sit down together has been his goal since taking office,” said Ben Forney, a research associate at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. “He can't let this opportunity go to waste, and by publicly leading the push for the summit, Moon is making it harder for either side to back out.”

“让美国和北韩坐下来谈判是他上任以来的目标，”韩国峨山政策研究院(Asan Institute for Policy Studies)助理研究员Ben Forney表示，“他不能让这个机会白白浪费，通过公开带头推进这次峰会，文在寅正在使双方都更加难以退出。”

Mr Moon’s administration said on Sunday it was dispatching Chung Eui-yong, South Korea’s national security adviser, to Beijing and Moscow to brief top officials, while Suh Hoon, another top envoy, will travel to Tokyo.

文在寅政府周日表示，将派遣韩国国家安全室室长郑义溶(Chung Eui-yong)前往北京和莫斯科，向两国高层官员做简报，而另一名高级特使徐薰(Suh Hoon)将赶赴东京。

The flurry of activity underlines how much work may be needed for a successful summit — the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.

这一连串的活动突显出，要成功举行一场峰会——在任美国总统与朝鲜领导人之间的首次会晤——有多少工作需要做。

Mr Chung himself announced the talks late on Thursday after meeting Mr Trump. Days earlier the South Korean national security adviser had been hosted by Mr Kim in Pyongyang.

郑义溶是在与特朗普会晤之后于周四晚宣布这场峰会的。几天前，这位韩国国家安全室室长在平壤见到了金正恩。

According to Mr Chung, the North Korean leader said he would halt his ballistic missile testing programme and meet Mr Trump to discuss abandoning nuclear weapons — an invitation the US leader quickly accepted.

郑义溶表示，朝鲜领导人称，将停止弹道导弹试射计划，并与特朗普会面商讨放弃核武器——美国领导人很快接受了这一邀请。

US officials then scrambled to get on message.

美国官员们随后匆忙统一口径。

Initially Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said North Korea had to take “concrete actions” towards de-nuclearisation before the meeting — remarks that appeared to suggest that unless Pyongyang took such steps Mr Trump might not attend.

白宫新闻秘书萨拉?哈克比?桑德斯(Sarah Huckabee Sanders)最初表示，朝鲜必须在会晤前采取走向无核化的“具体行动”——此番言论似乎表明，除非平壤采取相应举措，否则特朗普可能不会赴约。

In comments on Twitter on Saturday, Mr Trump gave no indication that he was conditioning his attendance on North Korea scaling back its nuclear programme beforehand. But he noted of Pyongyang’s reported promise not to carry out any further missile tests ahead of the summit: “I believe they will honour that commitment.”

上周六，特朗普在Twitter上发表的言论中，没有说他与金正恩会晤将以朝鲜首先缩减核武计划为条件。但他提到有报道称平壤方面承诺在峰会前不会再试射导弹：“我相信他们会信守这一承诺。”

To date, North Korea’s language has been markedly combative, as state-controlled media has kept to its usual fiery rhetoric and made no official acknowledgment of the planned summit. The state-run Workers’ newspaper attacked US sanctions over the weekend as “very dangerous acts that may bring a war.”

到目前为止朝鲜方面的言论一直极具好战性，官方媒体仍保持了寻常的激烈言辞，而且也没有正式承认这场计划中的峰会。朝鲜劳动党机关报《劳动新闻》(Workers’ Newspaper)周末抨击美国的制裁是可能引发战争的非常危险的行为。

Bong Youngshik, a North Korea expert at Yonsei university, argues that Mr Moon will need to work to achieve a “clear commitment” from North Korea that de-nuclearisation means abandoning its nuclear weapons and not — as Pyongyang sometimes demands — the de-nuclearisation of the entire peninsula and removal of US forces from South Korea.

延世大学(Yonsei University)朝鲜问题专家奉英植(Bong Young-shik)认为，文在寅需要努力让朝鲜作出“明确承诺”，即无核化意味着放弃其核武器，而不是像平壤有时要求的那样，意味着整个半岛无核化以及美军撤出韩国。

Concerns are also simmering about Washington’s lack of negotiating expertise following the recent departure of Joseph Yun, the state department’s point man on North Korea, and others.

也有人担心华盛顿缺乏谈判专长，此前美国国务院对朝政策特别代表尹汝尚(Joseph Yun)等人近期离职。

“The Trump team needs to decide who is going to be involved in the talks and what the parameters will be. Despite Kim’s insinuation that de-nuclearisation will be on the table, things will not just suddenly fall into place,” said Mr Forney.

Forney说：“特朗普团队需要决定谁将参与谈判，谈判参数是什么。尽管金正恩暗示无核化将摆到桌面上，但事情不会一下子顺利摆平。”

Prof Bong adds that Pyongyang was probably surprised by Mr Trump’s quick acceptance of the offer for talks and was now frantically preparing. “It will be all hands on deck.”

奉英植教??授补充说，平壤很可能会对特朗普迅速接受会谈提议感到惊讶，现在正紧张地准备着。“肯定是全力以赴的局面。”