South Korea suspends trade with North Korea

Reading time: less than 1 minute

by the CNN Wire Staff

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) — South Korean President Lee Myung-bak [O Presidente sul-coreano Lee Myung-bak] announced [afirmou] Monday his country is suspending trade [comércio (exterior), relações comerciais] with North Korea, closing its waters [fechando seu mar territorial] to the North’s ships [navios; embarcações] and adopting a newly aggressive military posture after the sinking of a South Korean warship [depois de um navio de guerra sul-coreano ter sido afundado].

Cf. Por que se usa “SHE” para navios e carros?
Cf. DIFFERENTS KINDS OF BOATS AND SHIPS

“We have always tolerated North Korea’s brutality, time and again [inúmeras vezes],” Lee said. “We did so [Agimos dessa forma] because we have always had a genuine [legítimo, autêntico] longing [desejo] for peace on the Korean Peninsula. But now things are different.”

“North Korea will pay a price [pagará o preço] corresponding to its provocative acts [suas provocações],” he said, according to an English translation of the speech provided by Lee’s office [gabinete]. “I will continue to take stern measures [medidas austeras, rígidas] to hold the North accountable [para imputar responsabilidade à Coreia do Norte].”

The White House issued a statement [divulgou nota] Monday supporting [em apoio às] South Korea’s measures, saying they were “called for [necessárias; inevitáveis] and entirely [inteiramente, totalmente] appropriate.”

“Specifically, we endorse [apoiamos; endossamos] President Lee’s demand [exigência] that North Korea immediately apologize [desculpar-se] and punish [punir] those responsible for the attack, and, most importantly, stop its belligerent [beligerante, belicoso, bélico, agressivo] and threatening [ameaçador] behavior,” the White House statement [declaração] said.

Cf. Falsas Gêmeas: IT’S x ITS

“U.S. support for South Korea’s defense is unequivocal [inequívoco, manifesto], and the President has directed [instruiu, ordenou] his military commanders [comandantes] to coordinate closely [trabalharem em conjunto; cooperarem diretamente] with their Republic of Korea counterparts [colegas] to ensure [para assegurar] readiness [prontidão] and to deter [impedir] future aggression.”

Cf. Como dizer “comandante” em inglês?

South Korean military officials [autoridades militares, o alto comando] on Thursday announced the results of an official investigation [investigação oficial] into the sinking of the ship, the Cheonan, which concluded that North Korea fired [disparou] a torpedo that cut the vessel in half [cortou a embarcação ao meio].

Cf. Falsos Cognatos: OFFICIAL

North Korea has denied [negou] that it sunk [ter afundado] the warship, which went down [afundou] on March 26, killing [matando] 46 sailors [marinheiros].

In the nationally televised speech [Em discurso transmitido em cadeia nacional de televisão] Monday morning, Lee said his country was adopting a posture of “proactive deterrence [dissuasão proativa]” toward the North, announcing that “combat capabilities will be reinforced drastically” and that he will focus on [ele irá se concentrar] improving national security readiness and military discipline.

Cf. Pronúncia: Foco

“If our territorial waters [mar territorial], airspace or territory are violated [forem invadidos], we will immediately exercise our right [exercer nosso direito] of self-defense [legítima defesa],” Lee said.

Addressing the alleged attack [Ao falar sobre o suposto ataque], Lee said, “Once again [Mais uma vez], North Korea violently shattered [destruiu] our peace. The sinking of the Cheonan constitutes [representa] a military provocation against the Republic of Korea by North Korea.”

Lee also admonished [admoestou, criticou] his own people [seus conterrâneos], saying that until the attack “we had been forgetting the reality [estávamos nos esquecendo de que] that the nation faces [enfrenta] the most belligerent regime in the world.”

South Korea’s leader called on [exigiu] the North to apologize for the alleged attack and to punish those responsible for carrying it out [responsáveis por sua execução].

Lee said the alleged attack violated armistice [armistício, trégua] and nonaggression agreements [acordos de não-agressão] between the two countries. He said he will refer the incident to [levar o incidente ao conhecimento do] the U.N. Security Council “so that the international community can join us [possa nos apoiar] in holding the North accountable [na responsabilização da Coreia do Norte].”

Tensions between the nations have escalated [aumentaram] since the South released its report [depois de a Coreia do Sul ter divulgado seu relatório] on the sinking.

On Friday North Korea threatened [ameaçou] to back out [revogar] of the nonaggression pact with the South after Lee vowed [ter prometido] “resolute countermeasures [contramedidas enérgicas]” against the North [contra o Norte (a Coreia do Norte)].

Cf. Falsos Cognatos: RESOLVE

“Firstly [Em primeiro lugar], from now on [a partir de agora] (North Korea) will regard [irá considerar] the present situation as the phase of a war…” the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said Friday, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

Cf. Falsos Cognatos: AGENCY

Should South Korea take steps to retaliate [Caso a Coreia do Sul decida retaliar], North Korea will “strongly react [reagirá com rigidez] to them with such merciless punishment as [com punições impiedosas como] the total freeze [congelamento] of the inter-Korean relations, the complete abrogation [anulação] of the north-south agreement on nonaggression and a total halt [paralisação completa] to the inter-Korean cooperation undertakings [compromissos],” the committee’s statement said, Yonhap reported.

The United States strongly condemns [condenam] North Korea’s sinking of a South Korean ship and is [estão] consulting with South Korea as it considers its response [resposta; reação], White House Press Secretary [cargo equivalente ao de Porta-Voz da Presidência da República] Robert Gibbs said Thursday.

Cf. Gramática: Estados Unidos
Cf. Falsos Cognatos: SECRETARY

“We’re in consultation with a host of [várias; um grupo de] different entities including the (U.N.) Security Council … and we’re working closely [diretamente; intimamente] with the South Koreans,” Gibbs said.

Lee’s speech Monday brimmed with [recheada de] references to the long history of acrimony [animosidade, acidez (lit.)] between North and South Korea. He spoke from the War Memorial of Korea, the country’s main war history museum, and noted that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the outbreak [início] of the Korean War.

“Permeating [Permeiam] this War Memorial of Korea are the spirits of the soldiers of the Republic of Korea and United Nations who shed blood [derramaram (seu) sangue] on this land [nesta terra],” he said. “Also dedicated here was the monument memorializing [em memória] the 46 fallen warriors [guerreiros mortos] of the corvette [corveta] Cheonan.”