从金正男之死看朝鲜与东南亚商业联系

The apparent assassination of the North Korean leader’s half-brother in Kuala Lumpur, which triggered a fierce diplomatic clash between the two countries, has thrown a spotlight on the growing commercial ties between Pyongyang and Southeast Asia.

朝鲜领导人同父异母的兄长疑似在吉隆坡遭暗杀，引发了朝马两国之间激烈的外交冲突，而平壤和东南亚之间日益增进的商业联系也随之受到了人们的密切关注。

From the expansion across the region of the “Pyongyang” restaurant chain — where North Korean hostesses sing karaoke hits extolling the Kim family as diners tuck into cold noodles and kimchi — to the North Korea-built Angkor Panorama museum near Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple complex, the isolated regime has reached across the region in an attempt to generate hard currency and win friends.

从“平壤”连锁饭店——当客人吃着冷面和朝鲜泡菜时，朝鲜女服务员唱着卡拉OK赞美金氏家族——在整个东南亚地区的扩张，到柬埔寨吴哥窟寺庙群附近由朝鲜建造的吴哥全景博物馆(Angkor Panorama Museum)，这个被孤立的政权已经把触角伸向了整个东南亚地区，目的是赚取硬通货和结交朋友。

Pyongyang has also turned to Southeast Asia in search of ways to evade international sanctions; Singapore-based shipping companies have been accused of facilitating arms shipments to North Korea.

平壤方面还转向东南亚寻找躲避国际制裁的方法；新加坡的船运公司被指协助向朝鲜运输武器。

One of these companies, Chinpo Shipping, was fined S$180,000 (US$127,000) last year after being found guilty in a Singapore court of transferring financial assets or resources that could have been used to contribute to North Korea’s weapons programmes.

去年，新加坡一家法庭判处其中一家公司奇诺船运(Chinpo Shipping)转移金融财产或资源——可能被用于推进朝鲜的武器项目——罪名成立，判处罚金18万新加坡元（合12.7万美元）。

On Monday, Malaysia recalled its top diplomat in Pyongyang and summoned the North Korean ambassador for a reprimand as tension mounted between the two countries over the handling of the inquiry into the murder of Kim Jong Nam.

在如何对金正男(Kim Jong Nam)被杀事件进行调查的问题上，朝鲜与马来西亚之间的关系变得更加紧张，周一马来西亚召回了驻平壤的最高外交官，并召见朝鲜驻马大使进行谴责。

Pyongyang has sought to block an autopsy, and has demanded the release of Kim’s body. Malaysian authorities have insisted on conducting an investigation, and say the body must be handed to Kim’s next-of-kin.

平壤试图阻止尸检，要求马方把金正男的遗体移交朝鲜。马来西亚政府坚持进行调查，称遗体必须交给死者的近亲。

Until now, however, North Korea has enjoyed an increasingly cordial relationship with Malaysia.

然而，在这以前，朝鲜与马来西亚的关系日益亲密。

Malaysia is the only country in the world to enjoy visa-free travel with North Korea. Singapore, which once also had visa-free travel, introduced requirements last year in response to fresh UN sanctions following a North Korean nuclear test.

马来西亚如今是世界上唯一一个与朝鲜实行互免签证的国家。新加坡（也曾对朝鲜实行免签证制度）去年出台了签证新规，以回应朝鲜核试验后联合国实施的新制裁。

As North Korea has turned to tourism to raise revenue and whitewash its image, Pyongyang chose Kuala Lumpur as the venue for an office to promote travel from Southeast Asia and India.

随着朝鲜转向发展旅游业以求增加收入并洗白形象，平壤方面选择在吉隆坡成立了一个负责向东南亚和印度进行旅游推广的办公室。

Malaysia also makes use of North Korean expertise, with 80 of the communist republic’s nationals working in construction and mining in Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the resource-rich island of Borneo.

马来西亚也利用朝鲜的专业人才，目前有80名朝鲜人在沙捞越(Sarawak)从事建筑业和采矿业工作。沙捞越是马来西亚的一个州，位于资源丰富的婆罗洲岛上。

Under a barter arrangement, Malaysia has traded palm oil — widely used for cooking in Asia — with fertiliser from North Korea. There is a growing trade relationship between the countries, although its total value remains modest, at just Rm22.7m ($5m) in 2015

根据一项易货贸易安排，马来西亚用棕榈油（在亚洲广泛用于烹饪）交换朝鲜的化肥。两国之间的贸易关系日益紧密，尽管总贸易额仍然较少，2015年仅为2270万马来西亚林吉特（合500万美元）。

Analysts say Malaysia’s engagement has been driven by commercial opportunities, as well as a tradition of nonaligned diplomacy.

分析人士称，商业机会和奉行不结盟外交政策的传统推动了马来西亚与朝鲜的往来。

Lee Jaehyon, an expert on Southeast Asia at the Asan Institute in Seoul, said: “In the 1960s and 1970s, North Korea was close with the communist regimes and nonaligned countries in the region. Malaysia has an eye on the economic benefits if North Korea opens up.”

韩国峨山政策研究院(Asan Institute for Policy Studies)东南亚问题专家李载贤(Lee Jaehyon)表示：“在20世纪60年代和70年代，朝鲜与东南亚的社会主义政权和不结盟国家关系密切。马来西亚在关注着如果朝鲜对外开放会带来的经济利益。”

Apart from Malaysia and Indonesia — which has sought to be a bridge between the two Koreas — other countries have not pushed the relationship with Pyongyang as strongly.

除了马来西亚和印度尼西亚——后者试图成为朝鲜和韩国之间的桥梁——其他东南亚国家并未如此强有力地推动对朝关系。

Cambodia’s late King Sihanouk used North Korean bodyguards, reflecting his good relationship with Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s first leader and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un. Analysts say it was also a sign the monarch did not trust domestically available protection during a time of political turbulence.

柬埔寨已故国王西哈努克(King Sihanouk)使用朝鲜警卫员，反映了他与朝鲜第一代领导人、现任领导人金正恩(Kim Jong Un)的祖父金日成(Kim Il Sung)之间的良好关系。分析人士表示，这也表明在政治动荡时期西哈努克并不信任国内的保卫力量。

“They looked like they had walked off the set of Reservoir Dogs — black suits, white shirts, black ties,” recalls one former resident of Phnom Penh of the bodyguards.

“他们看着就像是从影片《落水狗》(Reservoir Dogs)中走出来的——黑西装、白衬衫和黑领带，”警卫员中一位曾常驻金边(Phnom Penh)的人回忆称。

In Cambodia, North Korea’s Mansudae art studio has built a museum dedicated to Angkor Wat, including a 123-metre wide oil painting depicting Angkor’s history, which was created by dozens of North Korean artists. The studio has built monuments and museums across the world.

在柬埔寨，朝鲜的万寿台创作社美术馆(Mansudae art studio)建造了一座专门陈列吴哥窟(Angkor Wat)主题作品的博物馆，其中有一幅123米宽的描述吴哥历史的油画，是由几十名朝鲜艺术家联合创作的。该美术馆在世界各地设立了不少纪念碑和博物馆。

Media reports have long claimed that Pyongyang provided weapons to the Myanmar junta during its years of international semi-isolation before it formally stepped down in 2011.

媒体在很长时间里一直报道称，在缅甸处于在国际上被半孤立的时期，平壤向该国军政府提供武器，直到后者于2011年正式下台。

US officials have since suggested the alleged links are now restricted to individual Myanmar officers rather than the military high command or civilian-led government.

美国官员后来暗示，这种所谓的联系如今只限于缅甸官员个人，而不是军方最高指挥机构或文官领导的政府。

One reminder of the ties that still bind came in 2015, when Myanmar authorities seized pirated copies of the film The Interview — the Sony Pictures comedy about a plot to assassinate Kim Jong Un — from market stalls after North Korean officials objected to seeing them on sale.

发生在2015年的一件事提醒人们，这种联系至今仍是存在的。当时，缅甸当局从市场摊位上收缴了影片《采访》(The Interview)——索尼影视(Sony Pictures)出品的一部主题为刺杀金正恩的喜剧片——的盗版光盘，此前朝鲜官员反对此片在市面上销售。

Additional reporting by Michael Peel in Bangkok, Buseong Kang in Seoul and Ben Bland in Hong Kong

迈克尔?皮尔(Michael Peel)曼谷、Buseong Kang首尔和本?布兰德(Ben Bland)香港补充报道