Report: N. Korean Leader Signals Possible Return to Nuclear Talks
北韩释放愿重返六方会谈信号
North Korea's leader has apparently told a senior Chinese envoy he is willing to resume talks to resolve the issue of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons.

北韩领导人据报对中国高级特使表示，他愿意返回有关解决北韩核武器计划的会谈。

China's Xinhua news agency says North Korean leader Kim Jong Il promises to work toward making the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons. Mr. Kim also is willing to engage in what the report describes as "bilateral or multilateral talks" to help push that goal forward.

中国官方的新华社说，北韩领导人金正日允诺为实现朝鲜半岛无核化而努力。报道还说，金正日还愿意参加朝这一目标努力的“双边或多边会谈”。

Those comments, if accurate, would be the first explicit sign in months that North Korea is willing to resume diplomacy aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programs. Mr. Kim reportedly made them to senior Chinese envoys visiting Pyongyang.

如果报道属实，这将是数月以来北韩第一次明确表示愿意重新参加旨在终止北韩核计划的外交努力。据报道，金正日向访问平壤的中国特使做出这个表示。

A North Korean state broadcaster says Mr. Kim met with Dai Bingguo, an envoy of Chinese Premier Hu Jintao. They held talks in a "cordial atmosphere" about continuing the North Korea-China friendship.

北韩国家广播电台说，金正日会见了中国总理温家宝的特使戴秉国，在“亲切气氛中”讨论了北韩和中国继续发展友谊的问题。

China's envoy to six-nation nuclear talks, Wu Dawei, also attended the meeting. The often-stalled six-nation talks also involve the United States, South Korea, Japan, and Russia. Earlier this year, North Korea declared the six-party process "useless" and over with. It conducted its second nuclear test in May.

六方会谈的中国代表团团长武大伟也参加了会见。参加有关北韩核计划的六方会谈的还有美国、韩国、日本和俄罗斯。六方会谈经常搁浅。今年早些时候，北韩宣称六方会谈“毫无用处”，将不再参加。北韩5月进行了它的第二次核试验。

South Korean officials caution against interpreting Mr. Kim's reported comments as a signal the North is ready to come back to the talks. The South's foreign minister, Yu Myung-hwan, told business leaders in Seoul Friday that Pyongyang has other ideas.

韩国官员说，不应急于把报道提及的金正日讲话视为北韩将重返六方会谈的信号。韩国外交通商部长柳明桓星期五在首尔对商界领袖说，平壤另有想法。

Yu says now that North Korea possesses nuclear weapons, Pyongyang intends to have U.S.-North Korea arms reduction talks, which the U.S. cannot accept.

柳明桓说，北韩现在已经拥有核武器，打算和美国进行削减军备的谈判，而美国不会接受这个要求。

Washington has ruled out such arms reduction talks, which would implicitly recognize North Korea as a nuclear weapons state. The United States and its regional partners say they will accept nothing less than a complete and verifiable end to North Korea's nuclear arms capabilities.

美国排除了与北韩进行削减军备谈判的任何可能。进行这种谈判将等于明确承认北韩是核国家。美国及其东亚盟友说，必须以可核查的方式全面废止北韩的核武器能力，除此之外不接受任何其它方案。

President Obama's administration has expressed willingness to talk to North Korea one-on-one, but only in a context that is directly connected to the six-party talks.

奥巴马政府表示愿意与北韩进行一对一的谈判，但条件是这种谈判必须直接相关六方会谈。

North Korea analysts here in the South Korean capital find it significant that Mr. Kim's reported comments come during a visit from China. Beijing is the North's only significant ally, and provides a lifeline of food, fuel, and resources to its hobbled economy.

首尔的北韩问题分析人士认为，在中国特使访问北韩之际报道金正日的这个讲话具有重大意义。

Hong Hyun-ik is a North Korea researcher at the Sejong Institute in Seoul.

韩信一是首尔世宗研究所的北韩问题研究员。

He says China felt the need to stop the North's nuclear activities from getting out of hand. He says Beijing also does not want to be isolated from any one-on-one diplomatic arrangement between North Korea and the United States. So, China sent its envoy, says Hong, to remind Kim Jong Il how crucial it is to the North's economic fate.

他说，中国感到有必要制止北韩的核活动，以防事态失控。他说，北京不希望被排斥在北韩和美国任何一对一谈判之外，因此派遣特使提醒金正日，中国对北韩经济具有至关重要的作用。