朝鮮舉行大規模炮火演習，美國核潛艇抵韓

2017年4月26日 作者:紐約時報(By GERRY MULLANY and CHOE SANG-HUN)

周二，韓國港口城市釜山，美國密歇根號核潛艇在當地的一個海軍基地。The U.S.S. Michigan, a submarine, at a naval base in Busan, a port city in South Korea, on Tuesday. Its presence reflected heightened military readiness on both sides of the Korean Peninsula.

香港——為慶祝朝鮮人民軍建軍85周年，朝鮮周二舉行了大規模實彈演習。同時，有跡象表明平壤正在準備進行核試驗，中國因而加強了為自己減緩緊張局勢所做的努力。

據韓國軍方說，朝鮮的遠程實彈炮火演習是在其東海岸的萬山附近進行的。實彈演習與美國及其盟國的軍事演習在同一時間進行，同時搭載著戰斧巡航導彈的美國密歇根號核潛艇抵達了韓國港口城市釜山。

美國海軍將潛艇的到來描述為「常規」，但潛艇的出現反映了朝鮮半島雙方都在加強軍事準備。

除了在黃海舉行聯合海軍演習外，美韓兩國還在首爾東北部的抱川舉行了軍事演習，展示了一些他們的最新武器。朝鮮官方報紙《勞動新聞》上周曾說，美韓聯合軍演將半島緊張局勢帶到了「爆炸的邊緣」。

朝鮮經常利用重要的國家紀念日、比如周二的建軍節來展示自己的軍事力量。在4月15日紀念朝鮮開國領袖金日成105歲誕辰時，朝鮮舉行了大型閱兵式，炫耀了被分析人士描述為可能是新的洲際彈道導彈的東西。閱兵式的第二天上午，朝鮮發射了一枚彈道導彈，但導彈在起飛後不久就失敗了。

截至周二下午，朝鮮還沒有進行核試驗或遠程導彈試驗，這引起人們猜測，朝鮮領導人金正恩已決定用展示常規武器的方式來慶祝建軍節。

韓國軍方在一份聲明中說：「我們正在密切注視著朝鮮軍隊在萬山附近的活動，同時保持著穩固的備戰狀態。」

韓國通訊社韓聯社援引一名未披露姓名的政府方面人士的話說，有300-400門遠程火炮參與了這次實彈演習，火炮類型與部署在首爾以北邊境地區的那些相同。首爾是一座有1000萬人口的城市，位於朝鮮火炮的射程範圍之內，如果戰爭爆發，首爾可能會遭受災難性的破壞。

韓聯社稱這次演習是朝鮮進行的最大實彈演習之一。

韓國周一表示，已開發出一種新雷達，它比目前使用的雷達能更快、更準確地偵測發射來的炮火。韓國國防採購項目管理局發言人裴賢佑（Bae Hyun-woo，音）說，該技術將在2018年投入使用，雖然它不能讓韓國攔截火箭，而能讓軍方確定火箭的來源，從而打擊發射台。

周二，中國派武大偉前往東京，與日本外務省官員進行會談，希望防止軍事衝突。武大偉是長期處理朝鮮半島緊張局勢的外交官。

中國作為朝鮮的盟國，對朝鮮的行為已越來越不耐煩。中國一直試圖在朝鮮問題上進行斡旋，國家主席習近平周一再次與特朗普總統通了電話，呼籲克制。問題是，北京是否有足夠的影響力來防止朝鮮在豐溪里核試驗場再次引爆裝置，分析人士說，為爆炸進行的準備工作似乎已在最近恢復。

在武大偉前往日本的同時，中國官方新聞媒體為北京處理最近緊張局勢的做法作辯護。有很多讀者的小報《全球時報》讚揚了中國與特朗普政府進行協調的做法，但表示，緩解緊張局勢的關鍵在於美國而不是中國。

「中國對整個局勢的影響非常有限，」該報周二發表的一篇社評說。「美國希望中國像變魔術一樣管住平壤的核導活動，平壤則希望北京把施壓的方向對準美韓的戰爭威脅。到頭來中國不可能做到讓雙方的任何一方完全滿意。」

韓國一些新聞媒體周二表示憂慮，因為特朗普總統周一決定與習近平和日本首相安倍晉三通電話，而沒有與韓國代總統黃京安通話。媒體認為，這個遺漏是前總統朴槿惠被彈劾的外交後果，她的被迫離任讓韓國在下個月選舉下任總統之前，沒有民選的領導人。

黃京安在周二的內閣會議上強調，韓國並沒有被排除在外。他說，他曾三次作為代總統與特朗普通電話，並與最近先後到訪首爾的副總統麥克·彭斯、國務卿雷克斯·W·蒂勒森，以及國防部長吉姆·馬蒂斯會面。

周三，蒂勒森和馬蒂斯被安排在白宮向美國參議院全體議員介紹有關朝鮮的情況。白宮新聞秘書長肖恩·斯派塞(Sean Spicer)說，參加這次情況介紹的還有國家情報總監丹·科茨(Dan Coats)和參謀長聯席會議主席小約瑟夫·F·鄧福德(Joseph F. Dunford Jr.)。

雖然行政部門的官員經常在國會大廈向立法者發表講話，但參議院全體議員被召到白宮的事情很罕見。

Gerry Mullany自香港、Choe-Sang-hun自韓國首爾報道。儲百亮自北京、Su-Hyun Lee自首爾隊本文有報道貢獻。

翻譯：Cindy Hao

North Korea Stages Long-Range Artillery Drills

HONG KONG —North Koreastaged huge artillery drills on Tuesday to mark the 85th anniversary of the founding of the nation』s military, as China pressed its efforts to tamp down tensions over signs that Pyongyang was preparing for a nuclear test.

The long-range artillery drills were conducted near Wonsan, along North Korea』s east coast, according to the South Korean military. They coincided with military maneuvers by the United States and its allies as well as the arrival of the U.S.S. Michigan, a submarine armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, in the port city of Busan in South Korea.

The United States Navy described the arrival of the submarine as 「routine,」 but its presence reflected the heightened military readiness on both sides of the Korean Peninsula.

In addition to holding joint naval exercises in the Yellow Sea, the United States and South Korea have been staging military maneuvers in Pocheon, northeast of Seoul, demonstrating some of their latest weapons. A North Korean state newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said last week that the joint maneuvers were taking the tense situation on the peninsula to the 「verge of explosion.」

North Korea often uses important national holidays, like the anniversary on Tuesday, to display its military might. On April 15 — the 105th birthday of Kim Il-sung, the country』s founder — the North staged a large military parade, flaunting what analysts said could be new intercontinental ballistic missiles. The next morning, it launched a ballistic missile thatfailed after liftoff.

The lack of a nuclear or long-range missile test as of Tuesday afternoon led to speculation that Kim Jong-un, the leader of the country, had instead decided to celebrate the anniversary with a large demonstration of conventional weapons.

「We are closely watching the North Korean military』s movements around Wonsan while maintaining a firm preparedness,」 the South Korean military said in a statement.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap, citing an unidentified government source, said the exercise involved 300 to 400 pieces of long-range artillery, of the same type deployed along the border north of Seoul. Seoul, a city of 10 million, lies in range of the North Korean artillery and could experience catastrophic damage should war break out.

Yonhap called the drill one of the largest live-fire exercises conducted by the North.

South Korea said on Monday that it had developed radar that can detect incoming artillery faster and more accurately than the radar it currently uses. Col. Bae Hyun-woo, a spokesman for the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, said the technology, to be deployed by 2018, would not enable the South to intercept the rockets, but would allow the military to identify their source and strike the launchpads.

On Tuesday, China dispatched Wu Dawei, a longtime diplomat handling tensions on the Korean Peninsula, to Tokyo for talks with Japanese Foreign Ministry officials, in hopes of warding off military confrontation.

China, an ally of North Korea that has become increasingly impatient with its behavior, has tried to play a mediating role; its president, Xi Jinping, speaking by phone with President Trump on Monday, hascautioned restraint. The question is whether Beijing has enough leverage to avert a detonation at the North』s atomic test site in Punggye-ri, where, analysts say,preparations for a blastappear to have recently resumed.

As Mr. Wu traveled to Japan, the Chinese state news media defended how Beijing had handled the latest tensions. The Global Times, a widely read tabloid,praised Chinese coordinationwith the Trump administration, but said the key to defusing the tensions was in the hands of the United States, not China.

「China』s influence over the entire situation is very limited,」 an editorial in the paper said on Tuesday. 「The United States hopes that China can be like a magician managing Pyongyang』s nuclear activities, while Pyongyang hopes that Beijing will apply its pressure against the threat of war from the United States and South Korea. In the end, China can』t make either side entirely happy.」

Some South Korean news outlets raised concerns Tuesday about the decision by President Trump to speak with Mr. Xi and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan on Monday but not with the acting president of South Korea, Hwang Kyo-ahn. They characterized the omission as diplomatic fallout from the impeachment and ouster of former President Park Geun-hye, which has left the country without an elected leader until voters choose a successor next month.

In a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Mr. Ahn stressed that South Korea was not being left out. As acting president, he said, he had spoken with Mr. Trump on the phone three times, as well as met with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis during their recent visits to Seoul.

On Wednesday, Mr. Tillerson and Mr. Mattis are scheduled to brief the entire United States Senate at the White House on North Korea. The briefing will also include Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, and Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary.

While administration officials often go to the Capitol to address lawmakers, it is rare for the full Senate to be summoned to the White House.

Gerry Mullany reported from Hong Kong and Choe-Sang-hun from Seoul, South Korea. Chris Buckley contributed reporting from Beijing and Su-Hyun Lee from Seoul.