白宮放棄提名韓裔美國人車維德爲駐韓大使
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”.
美國白宮放棄了提名車維德（Victor Cha，文首圖左一）爲美國駐韓國大使的計劃。此前，這位朝鮮半島問題專家曾對美國用軍事打擊把朝鮮打得“鼻子流血”的計劃表示擔憂。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.
兩名知情人士表示，白宮已經不再回覆車維德的來電。在去年12月一次有關通過小範圍軍事打擊警告朝鮮的計劃的會議上，曾任布什(Bush)政府官員、現於喬治城大學(Georgetown University)執教的車維德表示了擔憂。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.
白宮上週末通知車維德，他的已走了數月的提名程序將不會再走下去。上述兩名知情人士表示，車維德已獲得了參與機密的許可，並已獲得韓國政府的批准——如果白宮在對他的審查期間發現任何問題，這一程序都無法繼續進行下去。車維德的朋友和同事越來越搞不懂，爲何車維德的提名還未送至參議院。
“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.
“國家首屈一指的朝鮮半島問題專家在眼下這個半島的敏感時刻被撤消提名，這令人擔憂，”曾在布什政府時期與車維德在國家安全委員會(National Security Council)共事、現任戰略與國際研究中心(Center for Strategic and International Studies)亞洲問題專家的邁克爾?格林(Michael Green)說。
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，五角大樓(Pentagon)正爲特朗普(Trump)可能下達的、對朝發起軍事行動的命令做準備，這一行動旨在讓朝鮮獨裁者金正恩(Kim Jong Un)明白應該放棄核武計劃。撤銷提名之舉還使得美國在特朗普上臺並把朝鮮作爲其外交政策重中之重後，在一年多的時間裏沒有駐韓大使。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.
上述兩名知情人士表示，國家安全委員會的官員問過車維德，是否做好了幫助處理美國公民從韓國撤離的準備，即所謂的非戰鬥撤離行動——幾乎可以肯定，該行動將在發動任何軍事打擊前實施。這兩人表示，被視爲對朝鷹派的車維德對軍事打擊朝鮮的計劃表達了保留意見。
