NHK英字ニュース（S.Korea, EU urge N.Korea to cancel rocket launch）

今日は、「北朝鮮のロケット発射問題」です。

S.Korea, EU urge N.Korea to cancel rocket launch


The European Union and South Korea have urged North Korea to call off its planned rocket launch.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso met South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul on Wednesday. The EU leaders were in Seoul to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, which ended on Tuesday.

At a joint news conference after the meeting, Van Rompuy said they shared grave concern over North Korea's rocket launch plan.

He said the launch would be a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and undermine stability of the Korean Peninsula.

The EU and South Korea urged the North to resolve its food shortages before promoting missile and nuclear development.

The South Korean government estimates the entire cost of the planned rocket launch at about 800 million dollars, including the construction of a new launch site. It says the sum could buy more than one million tons of Chinese rice.

The South says if the money had been spent on food imports, North Korea's shortages could have been eased to a certain degree.


【単語】
call off ；取りやめる
grave concern；遺憾
undermine；ひそかに傷つける


【一言】
北朝鮮は、一体何を考えているんでしょう？
本当に恐ろしい国だと思います。