“上海魔女”震动中韩Seoul to investigate ‘Shanghai siren’ scandal

South Korea is sending an emergency commission to China to investigate lurid tales of the “Shanghai siren”, whose mysterious intrigues at South Korea’s consulate in Shanghai could damage Beijing-Seoul relations.

韩国将向中国派遣一个紧急委员会，以调查一起颇为耸人听闻的“上海魔女”事件。该名女子与韩国驻上海领事馆的神秘关系，可能会损害中韩关系。

Photographs of a 33-year-old Chinese woman embracing several South Korean diplomats have been splashed across South Korean newspapers. While fears are subsiding that Deng Xinming is a spy who charmed state secrets out of besotted diplomats, rights groups worry the alleged sex scandal could undermine one of the most sensitive and secret parts of South Korean diplomacy: the smuggling of North Korean defectors through China into Seoul.

韩国报纸近日纷纷刊登了一名33岁的中国女子与数名韩国外交官搂抱的相片。此前有传闻称，这名叫邓新明的女子是通过拜倒在其石榴裙之下的外交官来窃取国家机密的间谍。尽管目前此类担忧有所消退，但人权组织担心，这桩所谓的性丑闻可能暴露了韩国外交中最敏感、最隐秘的内容：借道中国将朝鲜叛逃者运入韩国。

The South Korean foreign ministry declined to comment on the mission and its purpose beyond saying diplomats and judiciary officials would visit China from March 13 to 19.

韩国外交部拒绝谈论该委员会的使命和目的，只是表示，由外交官和法官们组成的委员会将于3月13日至19日访问中国。

Kim Sung-hwan, the foreign minister, has apologised to parliament for what he calls a “scandalous affair”. Still, the nature of the scandal is far from clear.

韩国外长金星焕(Kim Sung-hwan)称此事件为“丑闻事件”，并就此向国会道歉。不过，这桩丑闻的性质仍不甚明了。

Foreign ministry officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told South Korean media that Mrs Deng was a visa broker who used connections with Chinese Communist party officials to ensure the smooth transit of 11 North Korean defectors through the Shanghai consulate. Her main business was getting South Korean visas for Chinese citizens, they said.

要求匿名的几位韩国外交部官员向该国媒体表示，邓新明是一名签证中介，她利用与中共官员的关系，让11名朝鲜叛逃者通过上海领事馆顺利进入韩国。他们表示，她的主要业务是帮助中国公民获得韩国签证。

Even if Mrs Deng were only involved in a tiny fraction of the 3,000 annual defections to the South, the activists said the titillating case would embarrass Chinese officials into tightening controls against North Korean defections.

即便每年进入韩国的3000名朝鲜叛逃者中只有一小部分与邓新明有关，维权人士表示，这个让人浮想联翩的事件也会将让中国官员感到尴尬，从而加强对朝鲜叛逃者的核查。

North Korean defector groups are unhappy that the South Korean officials have been so loose-lipped about what Mrs Deng may have been doing.

对于韩国官员如此口无遮拦地谈论邓新明可能从事的活动，朝鲜叛逃者团体深感不满。

“If what they say is true, then this will negatively impact future repatriations. Secret channels and routes have been revealed and will now be severed,” said Kim Jong-kwan, secretary-general of a non-governmental organisation called Families of those Abducted and Detained in North Korea.

非政府组织“朝鲜被绑架和扣押人家庭”(Families of those Abducted and Detained in North Korea)秘书长金正焕(Kim Jong-kwan)表示：“如果他们说的是真的，那么这对将未来的遣返造成负面影响。秘密渠道和路线已被曝光，如今将会被切断。”

A director at another NGO, the Coalition for Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees, was also unsure whether Mrs Deng really was helping defectors but said South Korean officials had been careless to reveal behind-the-scenes deals with the Chinese to get defectors out. “North Korea will now be likely to put heavy pressure on China not to allow the repatriation of defectors through to the South,” he complained.

另一家非政府组织“被绑架者和朝鲜难民人权联合会”(Coalition for Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees)的一位理事也不确定邓新明是否真的在帮助朝鲜叛逃者，但他表示，韩国官员暴露了中国人帮助叛逃者离境的幕后交易过于轻率。他抱怨称：“朝鲜现在可能会向中国施加重压，要求中国不要让叛逃者借道进入韩国。”

Kim Jung-ki, a former consul general in Shanghai who appears in a photograph with his arm around Mrs Deng, told the Kookmin Ilbo newspaper the scandal could damage the consulate’s ability to deal directly with the Communist party and “could throw cold water on South Korean-Chinese relations”.

前韩国驻上海总领事金正基(Kim Jung-ki)向《国民日报》(Kookmin Ilbo)表示，这宗丑闻可能会削弱韩国领事馆与中共直接打交道的能力，并“可能令中韩关系降温”。在媒体曝光的一张相片上，金正基正搂抱着邓新明。

North Korean defectors often find it hard to integrate into the capitalist South. Still, Seoul is always seeking high-profile defectors, particularly those with knowledge of military intelligence.

朝鲜叛逃者经常发现很难融入资本主义的韩国。此外，韩国政府总是愿意寻找那些知名度较高的叛逃者，尤其是掌握军事情报的朝鲜人。

The scandal appears to have broken because of a marital feud, with Mrs Deng’s South Korean husband supplying photographs of her with the diplomats to newspapers. While the press initially portrayed her as a deadly Mata Hari figure, there is so far little evidence that she had access to any data more secret than politicians’ phone numbers.

这桩丑闻曝光的原因，似乎是夫妻不和——邓新明的韩国丈夫向媒体提供了她与外交官们的合影。尽管媒体最初把她描述为玛塔•哈里(Mata Hari)式的女间谍，但迄今没有什么证据表明，除了政客们的电话号码以外，她获得了更机密的数据。

译者/何黎