白宫放弃提名韩裔美国人车维德为驻韩大使

The White House has abandoned plans to nominate Victor Cha as US ambassador to Seoul after the Korea expert raised concerns about US plans to use a military strike to give North Korea a “bloody nose”.

美国白宫放弃了提名车维德（Victor Cha，文首图左一）为美国驻韩国大使的计划。此前，这位朝鲜半岛问题专家曾对美国用军事打击把朝鲜打得“鼻子流血”的计划表示担忧。

Two people familiar with the situation said the White House stopped returned calls from Mr Cha, a former Bush administration official who teaches at Georgetown University, after he expressed concern in a December meeting about a plan to warn Pyongyang with a narrow military strike.

两名知情人士表示，白宫已经不再回复车维德的来电。在去年12月一次有关通过小范围军事打击警告朝鲜的计划的会议上，曾任布什(Bush)政府官员、现于乔治城大学(Georgetown University)执教的车维德表示了担忧。

The White House notified Mr Cha at the weekend that his nomination, which had been in the works for months, would not proceed. The two people said he had received his security clearances and had been approved by the South Korean government, a process that would not have continued if the White House found a problem during his vetting. Friends and colleagues of Mr Cha had increasingly questioned why his nomination had not been sent to the Senate.

白宫上周末通知车维德，他的已走了数月的提名程序将不会再走下去。上述两名知情人士表示，车维德已获得了参与机密的许可，并已获得韩国政府的批准——如果白宫在对他的审查期间发现任何问题，这一程序都无法继续进行下去。车维德的朋友和同事越来越搞不懂，为何车维德的提名还未送至参议院。

“It is worrying that the country’s leading Korea expert was pulled at this sensitive moment on the peninsula,” said Michael Green, an Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who worked with Mr Cha at the National Security Council during the Bush administration.

“国家首屈一指的朝鲜半岛问题专家在眼下这个半岛的敏感时刻被撤消提名，这令人担忧，”曾在布什政府时期与车维德在国家安全委员会(National Security Council)共事、现任战略与国际研究中心(Center for Strategic and International Studies)亚洲问题专家的迈克尔?格林(Michael Green)说。

The move comes as the Pentagon prepares for a possible order from Mr Trump to launch military action against North Korea aimed at convincing North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to abandon his nuclear weapons programme. It also leaves the US with no ambassador in South Korea more than one year after Mr Trump came to office with North Korea as his top foreign policy priority.

目前，五角大楼(Pentagon)正为特朗普(Trump)可能下达的、对朝发起军事行动的命令做准备，这一行动旨在让朝鲜独裁者金正恩(Kim Jong Un)明白应该放弃核武计划。撤销提名之举还使得美国在特朗普上台并把朝鲜作为其外交政策重中之重后，在一年多的时间里没有驻韩大使。

According to the two people, Mr Cha was asked by NSC officials whether he was prepared to help manage the evacuation of American citizens from South Korea — an operation known as non-combatant evacuation operations — that would almost certainly be implemented before any military strike. The people said Mr Cha, who is seen as being on the hawkish side of the spectrum on North Korea, had expressed reservations about a military strike.

上述两名知情人士表示，国家安全委员会的官员问过车维德，是否做好了帮助处理美国公民从韩国撤离的准备，即所谓的非战斗撤离行动——几乎可以肯定，该行动将在发动任何军事打击前实施。这两人表示，被视为对朝鹰派的车维德对军事打击朝鲜的计划表达了保留意见。