美國老兵出書講述在朝鮮被押經歷

BEIJING — In his 36th-floor hotel room overlooking Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, Merrill Newman developed a routine. He woke at 7:15, ate breakfast at 8 — eggs, toast and two cups of coffee — and then he waited.

北京——在可以俯瞰朝鮮首都平壤的酒店36層的房間裏，梅里爾·紐曼(Merrill Newman)養成了自己的生活習慣。他7點15分醒來，8點吃早飯——雞蛋、烤麪包和兩杯咖啡——然後開始等待。

A nurse and a doctor visited four times a day to take the temperature and blood pressure of the 85-year-old Californian. The interrogator, who sometimes shouted at him, called him a liar and told him to stop acting like a 3-year-old, came less frequently.

護士和醫生每天來四次，爲來自加利福尼亞州的他測量體溫和血壓。那名審訊員來的則沒這麼頻繁。審訊員有時會朝他大喊大叫，說他是騙子，讓85歲的他不要再表現得像個三歲的孩子。

A year after he was released by North Korea, Mr. Newman, a Korean War veteran who ran afoul of the North Korean authorities on a trip there last year, has finally told the story of his detention in an e-book, “The Last P.O.W.” by Mike Chinoy, released this week.

去年，身爲朝鮮戰爭老兵的紐曼去朝鮮後，與該國當局發生衝突。被朝鮮釋放一年後，他終於在一本名爲《最後的戰俘》(The Last P.O.W.)的電子書中，講述了自己被扣押的故事。該書由邁克·奇諾伊(Mike Chinoy)撰寫，已於本週發佈。

A former United States Army intelligence officer who fought in the Korean War, Mr. Newman was detained by North Korea for more than a month and accused of war crimes.

參加朝鮮戰爭期間，紐曼是美國陸軍的一名情報人員。他被朝鮮被關押了一個多月，並被控犯有戰爭罪。

The narrative, based on interviews by Mr. Chinoy, a journalist, portrays the event as the unfortunate result of a collision between a naive 85-year-old and a paranoid state, worried that an elderly, ailing war veteran might be part of some American plot to reignite a 60-year-old conflict.

故事以記者奇諾伊對紐曼進行的採訪爲基礎，稱該事件是一名天真的85歲老人與一個多疑的國家之間發生衝突而造成的。朝鮮擔心，這位老人可能是美國某種陰謀的一部分，以重新點燃60年前已經結束的那場戰爭。

Mr. Newman acknowledges in the book that his war service and his desire to meet relatives of the anti-Communist guerrillas he had helped train were his undoing.

紐曼在書中承認，他被扣留的原因是參加過那場戰爭，並且想與當初他曾幫助訓練的反共遊擊隊員的親屬會面。

Two tour guides who escorted Mr. Newman and an American friend on their sightseeing reported that desire to their superiors, he says in the book.

他在書中說，陪同他和一名美國友人觀光的兩名導遊，向上級彙報了他的願望。

“It was clearly my error to indicate I’d like to make contact with any North Korean survivors” from the war, Mr. Chinoy quotes him saying.

奇諾伊援引紐曼的話說，“顯然是我的錯，我不該表示想和”那場戰爭中“倖存下來的任何朝鮮人接觸”。

The North Koreans detained him at the last moment, escorting him off the plane he had boarded for the flight home. They took him to the Yanggakdo Hotel, a 1,000-room tower on a small island in the center of the capital, where he was held in a guarded suite.

朝鮮在最後一刻扣留了他，將他從回家的航班上帶走了。他們把他帶去了羊角島國際酒店(Yanggakdo Hotel)。那棟高樓位於首都中心地區的一座小島上，內有1000間客房。在那裏，他被關在一間有人把守的套房裏。

The interrogations began the next day, Mr. Chinoy writes.

奇諾伊寫道，審訊是第二天開始的。

The most explicit piece of evidence against Mr. Newman, in the interrogator’s view, was an e-mail Mr. Newman had sent to some of the veterans of the guerrilla brigade who now live in South Korea.

在那名審訊員看來，最明顯的一則對紐曼不利的證據，是他發給現居韓國的一些游擊隊老兵的一封電子郵件。

Mr. Newman had asked them if they knew of any colleagues who had stayed behind in North Korea, and whether he could find them. He had shown the email to his two guides.

紐曼問他們知不知道有哪個戰友留在了朝鮮，以及自己能否找到他們。他讓兩個導遊看了這封郵件。

The interrogator, a short, stocky man his 40s, said the email proved Mr. Newman was a spy and accused him of using the tour as a cover, Mr. Chinoy writes.

奇諾伊寫道，審訊員是一名40多歲的矮壯男子，他說這封郵件證明紐曼是一名間諜，並指責紐曼以旅行作爲掩護。

Two weeks after his arrest, he was given a confession to read, a rambling statement with grammatical errors that recounted how he had been involved in killing civilians and destroying “strategic objects.”

紐曼被捕的兩週後，他被要求宣讀一份認罪書。這份雜亂無章、充滿語法錯誤的聲明裏，描述了他怎樣參與了殺害平民和破壞“戰略目標”的行動。

“You make a confession because you don’t have any choice,” Mr. Newman said in the account.

“認罪是因爲你別無選擇，”紐曼後來說。

The confession was posted online and a week later Mr. Newman was awakened at 6 a.m. and told to get dressed and prepare for his release. His iPad, cellphone and camera were returned. At the airport, he was given a pair of dark glasses to wear to make him less conspicuous.

這份認罪書被髮布在了網上。一週後的一天，有人在清晨6點把紐曼叫醒，並要求他穿好衣服，準備離開。他拿回了自己的iPad、手機和相機。在機場，他被要求戴上一副墨鏡，好不那麼惹人注意。

“People really hate you here,” an interpreter who accompanied him said. “You’d better wear these glasses for the whole trip.”

“這裏的人真的很恨你，”陪同他的一名翻譯說。“你最好一路上都戴着這副墨鏡。”

Mr. Newman failed to understand that for the North Koreans the 1950-53 war against the United States had not finished, Mr. Chinoy writes. An armistice remains in place; a formal peace treaty has not been signed.

奇諾伊寫道，紐曼當時並不明白，對於朝鮮人來說，1950年到1953年的抗美戰爭仍然沒有結束。目前是停戰狀態，正式的和平協議從未簽署。

Further, the former intelligence officer was not aware, he says, of the “visceral hatred” the government felt for the Kuwol regiment guerrillas he had helped train and equip, and who are considered as traitors in North Korea.

此外，他說，這名前情報人員也沒有意識到，政府對他幫助訓練並提供裝備的九月山游擊隊(Kuwol regiment)，以及那些被朝鮮認爲是賣國賊的人，懷有“發自心底的仇恨”。

“It seems really stupid now, even having opened that door,” Mr. Newman says in the book. “But at the time it didn’t seem so.”

“即使說當時的做法打開了一扇門，現在看來也是相當愚蠢的，”紐曼在書中說。“但當時卻沒覺得。”

After his release, the North Korean news agency said Mr. Newman had been freed because of his confession, and his “advanced age and health condition.”

在紐曼被釋放之後，朝鮮的新聞機構稱，紐曼獲釋是因爲他的“高齡和健康狀況”。

Soon after he returned, the United States State Department called. North Korea had submitted a bill for $3,241 to the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang for the cost of his hotel room, meals, a $23 phone call to his wife and $3 for a lost plate.

他回國後不久，美國國務院打來了電話。朝鮮向瑞典駐平壤大使館開了一張3241美元的賬單，包括他酒店房間和餐飲的費用，給他妻子打電話花費的23美元，以及弄丟一個盤子需要賠償的3美元。

Mr. Newman asked if the payment would help free other Americans detained in North Korea. Informed that it would not, Mr. Newman said he declined to pay.

紐曼問，如果自己付了錢，是否有助於解救其他被扣在朝鮮的美國人。在得到否定的答覆後，紐曼表示拒絕付款。