This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
这里是美国之音慢速英语时事新闻。
Little is known inside or outside North Korea about the young man who could become the next leader. Kim Jong Un studied in Switzerland but even his age is a mystery. He is around twenty-seven, the youngest of the three known sons of Kim Jong Il. The North Korean leader is sixty-eight and believed to be in poor health.
朝鲜内外对将成为下任领导人的金正云（Kim Jong Un，或译为金正银）知之甚少。他曾留学瑞士，但甚至连他的年龄都是个谜。他27岁左右，是朝鲜领导人金正日（Kim Jong Il）三个儿子中最小的。金正日已经68岁，而且据说健康状况也欠佳。
This week, North Korea published the first official photo of Kim Jong Un after a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party. Some observers had expected him to be named as the country's next leader.
本周，朝鲜在劳动党会议之后首次刊登了金正云的官方照片。一些观察家早预计到他会被委任为下一任国家领导人。
But Korea expert Gordon Flake at the Mansfield Foundation in Washington says the process is not that simple.
但是，华盛顿曼斯菲尔德基金会(Mansfield Foundation)朝鲜问题专家戈登·弗莱克(Gordon Flake）称，这个过程不是那么简单。
GORDON FLAKE: "What we're seeing here is not the succession. What we're seeing here is the first public indications of the beginning of the process of potential succession. But Kim Jong Il is still in power. And so this really is not an institutional rule. This is a personal family rule."
弗莱克：“我们现在看到只是接班人过程的开始，而不是真正的接班，金正日仍然掌权。而且这实际上并不是一种公共行政规则，而是他们家族的私人规则。”
Kim Jong Il came to power after his father, North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung, died in nineteen ninety-four.
金正日在其父、朝鲜开国领袖金日成1994年去世后接掌政权。
This week, Kim Jong Un and his aunt, the sister of Kim Jong Il, became four-star generals with little military experience. State media later announced the appointment of Kim Jong Un to the Workers' Party Central Committee.
本周，金正云和他的姑妈成为了毫无军方经历的四星将军。随后，朝鲜中央通讯社宣布了金正云在劳动党中央委员会（Workers' Party Central Committee）的任命。
He was also named to the powerful Central Military Commission. There, he joins Jang Song Taek, who is considered second in power after Kim Jong Il. Jang Song Taek is married to Kim Kyong Hui, the leader's sister.
他还被任命到权力巨大的中央军事委员会。这样他就加入了张成泽（Jang Song Taek）的行列。张成泽是金正日妹妹金敬姬（Kim Kyong Hui）的丈夫，张成泽被认为权力仅次于金正日。
North Korea specialist Andrei Lankov says Kim Jong Il seems to want the couple to help prepare his young son for leadership. Then, in case of Kim Jong Il's sudden death, he says, they will become "sort of prince-regent and princess-regent."
朝鲜问题专家安德列·兰科夫(Andrei Lankov)称，金正日似乎是想让他的妹妹和妹夫辅佐金正云。这样，一旦金正日病逝，他们将会成为“某种意义上的摄政王”。
ANDREI LANKOV: "That is, people who will be running the country and will be making actual decisions."
兰科夫：“也就是说，他们将是实际掌权者。”
Yet some North Korea experts say Jang Song Taek was not always so trusted. In two thousand four, he disappeared from public for a year-and-a-half.
然而，一些朝鲜专家称，张成泽并非一直这样被信任，2004年，他从公众场合消失了一年半。
Much of what experts know or think they know about North Korea comes from North Koreans who fled the country.
关于朝鲜，专家所知道的都来自从这个国家出逃的朝鲜人。
Some experts think this week's political appointments could create tensions with North Korea's aging generals. One theory is that the military could object if the ruling party looks for friendship with South Korea to help save North Korea's economy.
一些专家认为，本周的政治任命可能会造成与朝鲜军方老一辈的对立。有一种推测是，如果执政党寻求韩国帮助以拯救朝鲜经济，军队将会反对。
Another theory is that Kim Jong Un might try to build power by dismissing opponents and inciting South Korea.
另一种推测是，金正云可能会试图依靠打击对手，刺激韩国来稳固政权。
But on Thursday military officials from the two Koreas held their first talks in two years. And on Friday the two countries agreed to hold more reunions of families separated since the Korean War. The last reunions took place a year ago.
但是，周四，朝韩双方军事官员举行了两年内的第一次会谈。周五，两国同意举行更多自朝鲜战争以来就分离的家庭的团聚活动，最后一次团聚活动是一年前举行的。
The talks are the latest signs of improved relations since a South Korean navy ship sank in March. Forty-six sailors died. An international investigation blamed North Korea but it denied any involvement.
该会谈是自三月韩国军舰沉没事件以来两国关系改善的新标志。那次沉没事件有46名船员丧生，国际调查组将该事件归咎于朝鲜，但是朝鲜否认与此事有任何牵连。
In Washington, a Defense Department spokesman, Colonel David Lapan, said leaders in Pyongyang could change, but American objectives remain the same. Those objectives are for North Korea to stop developing nuclear weapons and to look for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.
在华盛顿，国防部长发言人，大卫·拉潘（David Lapan）上校称，不管谁掌管平壤政权，美国的目标都保持不变。美国的目标就是，朝鲜停止开发核武器，寻求朝鲜半岛的和平与稳定。