韓國正在加緊籌備美朝峯會

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.

美國高官把計劃中與朝鮮領導人金正恩(Kim Jong Un)舉行的峯會吹噓爲唐納德?特朗普(Donald Trump)總統的勝利。與此同時，韓國開始爭分奪秒地爲這場潛在的歷史性會晤做準備。

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.

雖然預定4月下旬舉行，但這場擬議的首腦峯會尚未確定地點，也沒有一個關於哪些問題可以談判、哪些讓步可以做出的基本大綱。

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.

週日，特朗普政府——部分成員似乎對上週的宣佈大吃一驚——試圖將計劃中的這次會晤描繪爲美國領導的對朝鮮核武和導彈計劃實施制裁成功的標誌。

“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.”

“我們今年實施的制裁比過去整整10年都多，”美國財政部長史蒂文?姆努欽(Steven Mnuchin)對美國全國廣播公司(NBC)表示，“毫無疑問，這些制裁正在起作用，是讓他坐到談判桌前的原因。”

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

中央情報局(CIA)局長麥克?龐貝(Mike Pompeo)在福克斯新聞(Fox News)上補充說：“特朗普總統這樣做不是爲了作秀……他正在解決問題。”

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，在華盛頓傳出混亂信號、而平壤尚未就峯會發出公開聲明之際，韓國總統文在寅(Moon Jae-in)正試圖讓雙方朝着一場很多人以爲永遠不會舉行的會晤前進。

“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.”

“讓美國和北韓坐下來談判是他上任以來的目標，”韓國峨山政策研究院(Asan Institute for Policy Studies)助理研究員Ben Forney表示，“他不能讓這個機會白白浪費，通過公開帶頭推進這次峯會，文在寅正在使雙方都更加難以退出。”

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.

文在寅政府週日表示，將派遣韓國國家安全室室長鄭義溶(Chung Eui-yong)前往北京和莫斯科，向兩國高層官員做簡報，而另一名高級特使徐薰(Suh Hoon)將趕赴東京。

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.

這一連串的活動突顯出，要成功舉行一場峯會——在任美國總統與朝鮮領導人之間的首次會晤——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.

鄭義溶是在與特朗普會晤之後於週四晚宣佈這場峯會的。幾天前，這位韓國國家安全室室長在平壤見到了金正恩。

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.

鄭義溶表示，朝鮮領導人稱，將停止彈道導彈試射計劃，並與特朗普會面商討放棄核武器——美國領導人很快接受了這一邀請。

US officials then scrambled to get on message.

美國官員們隨後匆忙統一口徑。

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.

白宮新聞祕書薩拉?哈克比?桑德斯(Sarah Huckabee Sanders)最初表示，朝鮮必須在會晤前採取走向無核化的“具體行動”——此番言論似乎表明，除非平壤採取相應舉措，否則特朗普可能不會赴約。

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.”

上週六，特朗普在Twitter上發表的言論中，沒有說他與金正恩會晤將以朝鮮首先縮減核武計劃爲條件。但他提到有報道稱平壤方面承諾在峯會前不會再試射導彈：“我相信他們會信守這一承諾。”

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.”

到目前爲止朝鮮方面的言論一直極具好戰性，官方媒體仍保持了尋常的激烈言辭，而且也沒有正式承認這場計劃中的峯會。朝鮮勞動黨機關報《勞動新聞》(Workers’ Newspaper)週末抨擊美國的制裁是可能引發戰爭的非常危險的行爲。

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.

延世大學(Yonsei University)朝鮮問題專家奉英植(Bong Young-shik)認爲，文在寅需要努力讓朝鮮作出“明確承諾”，即無核化意味着放棄其核武器，而不是像平壤有時要求的那樣，意味着整個半島無核化以及美軍撤出韓國。

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.

也有人擔心華盛頓缺乏談判專長，此前美國國務院對朝政策特別代表尹汝尚(Joseph Yun)等人近期離職。

“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說：“特朗普團隊需要決定誰將參與談判，談判參數是什麼。儘管金正恩暗示無核化將擺到桌面上，但事情不會一下子順利擺平。”

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??授補充說，平壤很可能會對特朗普迅速接受會談提議感到驚訝，現在正緊張地準備着。“肯定是全力以赴的局面。”