韩国请求美国将联合军演推迟到冬奥会后举行

South Korea has asked the US to delay joint military exercises until after the Winter Olympics, in order to lower the chances that North Korea takes provocative actions during the Pyeongchang Games, which Seoul wants to use to showcase the country’s development.

韩国请求美国将联合军事演习推迟到冬奥会之后举行，以降低朝鲜在平昌冬奥会(Pyeongchang Games)期间采取挑衅行动的可能性。首尔方面希望利用这次冬奥会来展示韩国的发展。

Four people familiar with the situation said Seoul wanted to postpone the start of the annual spring exercises — called Key Resolve/Foal Eagle — until after the Paralympics, which end on March 18. Two of those people said the US was likely to accept the request.

四名知情人士表示，韩国希望将原定春季举行的代号“关键决断”(Key Resolve)和“秃鹫”(Foal Eagle)的韩美年度军事演习推迟到3月18日闭幕的残奥会之后举行。其中两人表示，美国很可能会接受韩方的这一请求。

The move comes as tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen to the point where Seoul and Tokyo are concerned that the Pentagon may be preparing for a strike on North Korea in an effort to convince Kim Jong Un to abandon his weapons programmes.

韩国采取此举之际，朝鲜半岛紧张局势已升级到让韩国和日本担心五角大楼可能正准备对朝进行打击、以便让金正恩(Kim Jong Un)明白应放弃其武器计划的程度。

Bruce Klingner, a Korea expert at the Heritage Foundation, said the move was prudent given the nature of the Kim regime. “Its neighbours are fearful that defensive exercises or a sports event would be used as an excuse for a provocation or deadly attack,” said Mr Klingner.

华盛顿传统基金会(Heritage Foundation)朝鲜半岛问题专家布鲁斯•克林纳(Bruce Klingner)表示，考虑到金正恩政权的本性，韩方此举是慎重的。克林纳说：“(朝鲜的)邻居们担心，防卫演习或体育赛事会被当做挑衅或发动致命攻击的借口。

“The fear is not unfounded since Pyongyang destroyed a civilian airliner in 1987 in an attempt to derail the 1988 Seoul Olympics.”

“这种担心不是没有根据的，平壤方面曾在1987年炸毁一架民航客机，以求扰乱1988年汉城奥运会(Seoul Olympics)。”

Additional reporting by Bryan Harris in Seoul.

布赖恩•哈里斯(Bryan Harris)首尔补充报道