纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英美士兵越境被扣留70天后离开朝鲜经由中国返美

Pvt. Travis T. King, the American soldier who crossed into North Korea on July 18, was released into U.S. custody on Wednesday after weeks of diplomacy mediated by the Swedish government, American officials said.

美国官员表示，经过瑞典政府数周的外交斡旋，7月18日越境进入朝鲜的美国士兵特拉维斯·金于周三获释，交由美方羁押。

Private King was to be reunited with his family in the United States and given physical and mental health support after being held by the North Koreans for 70 days.

被朝鲜扣留70天后，陆军二等兵金将与美国的家人团聚，并接受身心健康方面的支持。

“U.S. officials have secured the return of Pvt. Travis King from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said in a statement.

“美国官员已确保特拉维斯·金从朝鲜民主主义人民共和国回国，”国家安全顾问沙利文在声明中说。

Private King’s first stop after leaving North Korea was China, where U.S. officials were waiting for him, according to senior administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the transfer.

据要求匿名的美国政府高级官员说，金离开朝鲜后的第一站是中国，美国官员在那里等候他。

Private King was then put on a plane and flown to a U.S. military facility in South Korea, an American official said.

一名美国官员说，金随后被送上飞机，飞往美国在韩国的一处军事设施。

The official said Private King would be immediately transferred to a military plane for a flight to a U.S. medical facility in San Antonio, where he would undergo examinations. Private King is expected to arrive in Texas late Wednesday or early Thursday.

该官员表示，金将立即被转移到一架军用飞机上，飞往圣安东尼奥的美国医疗机构，在那里接受检查。预计金将于周三晚些时候或周四早些时候抵达得克萨斯州。

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss flight details, said that the Swedish authorities had determined that Private King was healthy enough to be flown directly back to the United States without a medical examination at U.S. military facilities in South Korea or Japan.

这名要求匿名讨论飞行细节的官员表示，瑞典当局已经确定，金的健康状况足够好，可以直接飞回美国，无需在美国驻韩国和日本的军事设施接受体检。

His release came after North Korean officials decided to expel him, saying that they had found him guilty of “illegally intruding” into their territory, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency. The state news agency said that Private King had confessed to illegally entering North Korea because, it said, he “harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army and was disillusioned about the unequal U.S. society.”

据朝鲜官方的朝中社报道，在获释之前，朝鲜官员决定驱逐他，称他们认定他犯有“非法侵入”朝鲜领土罪。朝中社说，金承认非法进入朝鲜，是因为他“对美军内部的不人道虐待和种族歧视怀有怨恨，对美国社会的不平等感到失望”。

A senior administration official said President Biden, who had been briefed on the efforts to secure Private King’s release, made no concessions to North Korea.

一名高级政府官员说，拜登总统听取了确保金获释的工作汇报，但没有向朝鲜做出任何让步。

“The answer is simple,” the official said. “There were none. Full stop.”

“答案很简单，”这位官员说。“没有让步。就这样。”

Private King, 23, had been assigned to South Korea as a member of the First Brigade Combat Team, First Armored Division. After being released in July from a South Korean detention center, where he had spent time on assault charges, he was escorted by U.S. military personnel to Incheon International Airport outside Seoul to board a plane to the United States, where he was expected to face additional disciplinary action.

23岁的金作为第一装甲师第一旅战斗队的一员被派往韩国。他因攻击指控被关入韩国的一个拘留中心，于今年7月获释，并在美国军事人员的护送下前往首尔郊外的仁川国际机场，登上飞往美国的飞机，预计他将在美国面临更多纪律处分。

He never boarded the plane. Instead, he fled to the North through the Demilitarized Zone, which separates North and South Korea, by taking a bus the next day to the border village of Panmunjom, which lies inside the DMZ and allows tourists to visit.

他没有登机，而是在第二天乘坐一辆大巴前往位于分隔朝韩的非军事区内允许游客参观的边境村庄板门店，逃往朝鲜。

The soldier “willfully and without authorization crossed the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Col. Isaac Taylor, the public affairs officer for U.S. Forces Korea, said at the time.

驻韩美军公共事务官员艾萨克·泰勒上校当时表示，这名士兵“未经授权，故意越过军事分界线进入朝鲜民主主义人民共和国”。

American officials offered few details of what they said was a “truly complex operation” to retrieve Private King from one of the world’s most isolated countries. They said the key was Sweden’s government, which serves as the so-called protecting power, or diplomatic go-between, for the United States in North Korea.

美国官员称，从世界上最孤立的国家之一营救金是一场“确实很复杂的行动”，但几乎没有透露任何细节。他们说，关键在于瑞典政府，它在朝鲜充当着美国所谓的委托保护国，或外交中间人角色。

Officials said the United States had learned from Sweden several weeks ago that the North Koreans had decided to expel Private King in the near future. That kicked off a period of indirect but intense negotiations between the United States and North Korea, and direct discussions with China.

官员们表示，数周前，美国从瑞典获悉，朝鲜决定在不久的将来驱逐金。这开启了美朝之间一段间接但紧张的谈判，以及与中国的直接讨论。

The effort to recover Private King was part of the discussion that Mr. Sullivan had with Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China during two days of high-level discussions in Malta this month, according to a senior administration official.

据一名高级政府官员称，本月，沙利文与中国外交部长王毅在马耳他为期两天的高层讨论期间，谈到了接回金的事情。

The result of the negotiations and discussions was the operation on Wednesday, in which Swedish officials entered North Korea, took custody of Private King and brought him into China. He was then flown to the U.S. military facility.

谈判和讨论的结果导致了周三的行动，瑞典官员进入朝鲜，接手二等兵金，并将他带到中国。随后，他被飞机送往美国的军事设施。

U.S. officials praised the Chinese government for its assistance in facilitating Private King’s departure from the country, but insisted that China did not participate in mediating the talks with North Korea in the past several weeks.

美国官员赞扬中国政府协助金离开朝鲜，但也强调，中国在过去几周没有参与同朝鲜的谈判调解。

The U.S. officials declined to say why they believed North Korea decided to release Private King after a relatively short time.

美国官员拒绝透露他们认为朝鲜在相对较短的时间内决定释放金的原因。

North Korea said last month that​ Private King had wanted to seek refuge there or in a third country. In its announcement on Wednesday, it did not elaborate on why it had decided not to grant his wish.

朝鲜上月表示，金曾想在朝鲜或第三国寻求庇护。在周三的声明中，它没有详细说明为何决定不满足他的愿望。

The U.S. officials declined to say what disciplinary action, if any, would be taken after Private King returned to the United States.

美国官员拒绝透露金返回美国后会受到什么样的纪律处分（如果有的话）。

His mother, Claudine Gates, was grateful to the United States and those who worked for her son’s release “for a job well done,” said her spokesman, Jonathan Franks.

他的母亲克劳丁·盖茨的代表乔纳森·弗兰克斯说，她感谢美国和那些为她儿子获释而努力的人，他们“工作出色”。

Private King was the first known American held in North Korean custody since​ Bruce Byron Lowrance​ was detained for a month after illegally entering the country from China in 2018.​

自2018年布鲁斯·拜伦·劳伦斯从中国非法进入朝鲜后被关押一个月以来，金是已知的第一位被朝鲜扣留的美国人。

American civilians accused of illegal entry have been prosecuted and sentenced to hard labor, or sometimes released and expelled. In the cases of some civilians accused of illegal entry, North Korea has used them as bargaining chips in negotiations with Washington, with which it has no formal diplomatic ties.

被控非法入境的美国平民被起诉并被判处苦役，有时则被释放并驱逐出境。在一些平民被控非法入境的案件中，朝鲜把他们作为与华盛顿谈判的筹码。朝鲜与华盛顿没有正式外交关系。

The death in 2017 of Otto F. Warmbier, a University of Virginia honors student who spent 17 months in captivity in North Korea, received widespread attention.

2017年，在朝鲜被囚禁了17个月的弗吉尼亚大学的优等生奥托·瓦姆比尔之死引起了广泛关注。

Mr. Warmbier was detained at the Pyongyang airport in early January 2016, charged with a “hostile act” against the country’s authoritarian government and convicted less than two months later of trying to steal a propaganda poster, after he delivered a tearful, televised confession. His trial lasted one hour.

2016年1月初，瓦姆比尔在平壤机场被拘留，被控对朝鲜威权政府采取“敌对行为”，不到两个月后，他在电视上含泪认罪，罪行是试图窃取一张宣传海报。对他的审判持续了一个小时。

He was evacuated from North Korea after spending more than a year in a coma and died soon after.

他在昏迷一年多后被送出朝鲜，不久就去世了。