12-11-06

中國：六方會談12月18日恢復 (China: North Korea Talks to Resume December 18th)

中國證實，旨在結束北韓核項目的國際會談將於12月18號在北京恢復舉行。

中國外交部星期一宣佈，參加會談的六國代表一致同意下星期在中國首都舉行會談。

過去13個月以來，北韓一直抵制會談，抗議美國的經濟制裁。

平壤今年10月進行了核爆炸試驗後同意重返談判。

南韓星期一表示歡迎這項宣佈。南韓外交通商部說，希望新一輪會談會在解決北韓核問題上取得實質性進展。

參加六方會談的國家有南北韓、美國、中國、日本和俄羅斯。

China has confirmed that international talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program will resume in Beijing on December 18th.

China's Foreign Ministry said today (Monday) representatives of the six nations involved in the talks have all agreed to meet in the Chinese capital next week.

North Korea had been boycotting the talks for the past 13 months to protest U.S. financial sanctions.

Pyongyang agreed to return to negotiations after test-firing a nuclear device in October.

South Korea welcomed the announcement today (Monday). The Foreign Ministry in Seoul said it hopes substantial progress will be made in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue in the next round of discussions.

The talks involve North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

南韓報告家禽飼養場又爆禽流感疫情 (South Korea Reports Another Outbreak of Bird Flu at Poultry Farm)

南韓報告了第三起禽流感疫情，地點在首都首爾以南的一個鵪鶉飼養場。

南韓農業部星期一說，這家農場過去4天裏有大約一千隻鵪鶉死亡。

農業部發言人說， 有關方面正試圖確定這些家禽是否是因感染致命的H5N1型病毒而死亡的。

南韓官員11月證實兩個鄰近的家禽農場發生了具有高度傳染性的H5N1型禽流感疫情。他們表示，計劃宰殺50多萬隻家禽以防止病毒傳播。

這是南韓已知的，三年來首批爆發的禽流感。在2003年禽流感爆發期間，南韓宰殺了五百多萬隻家禽。

South Korea has reported a third outbreak of bird flu at a quail farm south of the capital, Seoul.

The Agriculture Ministry said today (Monday) about one thousand quail had died at the farm over the past four days.

A ministry spokesman said officials are trying to determine whether it is the deadly H5N1strain of avian influenza.

Last month, the officials in Seoul confirmed two outbreaks of the same highly infectious strain at two poultry farms close to each other. They said they planned to cull more than half a million poultry to try to prevent the spread of the virus.

These were the first known outbreaks of bird flu in South Korea in three years. South Korea culled more than five million birds during the 2003 outbreak.