NORTH KOREA can be as confusing as it is alarming. It is a hereditary Marxist monarchy. It has the world’s youngest supreme leader and also its oldest. The reigning tyrant, Kim Jong Un, is in his 30s; and his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, is the “eternal president” despite having died in 1994. To celebrate grandpa Kim’s birthday on April 15th, his grandson ordered warplanes to fly past in a formation spelling out his age: 105. He also ordered a gigantic parade, with goose-stepping soldiers and missiles on trucks. A male-voice choir belted out “Peace is guaranteed by our arms”, even as the regime threatens to rain nuclear destruction on its enemies and is building a missile designed to reach the continental United States.
* hereditary monarchy : 세습 군주(국)
ex) That country is a hereditary monarchy. 그 나라는 세습군주를 채택하고 있다.
* supreme leader : 최고 지도자
* reigning : 군림하는, 세도를 부리는
* tyrant: 폭군, 독재자
ex. The country was ruled by a succession of tyrants. 그 나라는 세습 폭군들에 의해 다스려졌다.
* warplane: 전투기
* fly past : (비행기) 분열식을 하다, (중요 의식 때의) 공중분열식
* goose-step:무릅을 굽히지 않고 발을 높이 들어 행진하는 보조. 영어의 goose step 은 이를 경멸적으로 부르는 말이고, 독재라는 뉘앙스를 담고 있다.
* choir: 합창단
* belt out: 큰 소리로 노래하다
* rain: (비처럼) 쏟아지다 [쏟아 붓다]
Dealing with the bellicose junior god-king will be one of Donald Trump’s trickiest tasks. It will also be the first big test of how he handles relations with China, which are shifting as the rising superpower challenges the Pax Americana in Asia (see our special report). There are no good options, but arriving at the least-bad ones will require understanding both the regime and the Asian geopolitical jigsaw into which it fits. It will also require patience. Ominously, Mr Trump says he has little when it comes to North Korea, and his vice-president, Mike Pence, says that “all options” are on the table.
* bellicose: 호전적인, 싸이기 좋아하는
* god-king: 신격화된 왕
* superpower: 초강대국
* Pax Americana : 미국의 지배(힘)에 의한 평화 = 미국이 주도하는 세계 평화
- China has constantly criticized the U.S. for pursuing Pax Americana.
* geopolitical: 지정학적인
* jigsaw: 조각그림; 조각그림 맞추기 (퍼즐)
- to do a jigsaw: 조각그림 맞추기를 하다
* ominously: 불길하게도
Wanting to do something quickly is emotionally appealing. North Korea is a vile, blood-drenched dictatorship where any hint of disloyalty is punishable by gulag or death. Mr Kim has children imprisoned for their parents’ thought-crimes and his own relatives murdered on a whim. The prospect of such a man threatening Los Angeles is harrowing. Yet a pre-emptive strike on North Korea would be reckless beyond belief (see article). Its nuclear devices are hidden, possibly deep underground. Its missiles are dispersed on mobile launchers. Tokyo is just across the Sea of Japan. Seoul, the capital of peaceful, capitalist South Korea, is only a few miles from the border. Northern artillery and conventional missiles could devastate it; a conflict could rapidly turn nuclear and kill millions.
* vile: (비격식) 극도로 불쾌한[나쁜]
* blood-drenched : 피에 흠뻑 젖은
* gulag: 수용소
* imprisoned: [흔히 수동태로] 투옥하다, 감금하다
* thought-crime: 반사회적인 [범죄적인] 생각
* on a whim: 충동적으로
* harrowing: 끔찍한, 참혹한
* pre-emptive: 선제공격
* reckless: 무모한, 신중하지 못한
* beyond belief: 믿을 수 없을 정도로
- It's beyond belief: 그것은 내 믿음을 넘어섰군. 믿을 수가 없군.
* disperse: (이리저리) 붙어지다, (넓은 지역에) 흩어지다
* mobile launcher: 이동식 발사장치
* artillery: 대포, Artillery consists of large, powerful guns which are transported on wheels and used by an army.
- The town is under heavy artillery fire. 그 소도시는 엄청난 포격을 받고 있다.
* conventional missiles : 구식 스타일의 미사일
* devastate: (한 장소나 지역을) 완전히 파괴하다
- The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 그 폭탄은 그 도시의 구시가지 대부분을 완전 폐허로 만들어 놓았다.
Mr Trump cannot possibly want to start a war. His military actions in Syria and Afghanistan suggest that he is more cautious than his bluster makes him sound. But even creating the impression that he might strike first is dangerous. If Mr Kim were to believe that an American attack is imminent, he might order his own pre-emptive nuclear attack, with disastrous consequences. So Mr Trump should cool his rhetoric immediately.
* bluster : 고함치다, 엄포를 놓다
* imminent: [특히 불쾌한 일이] 금방이라도 닥칠 듯한, 목전의, 임박한
* rhetoric: 수사적인 표현, 미사여구
Dealmaker, meet deal-breaker
For all his eccentricities, Mr Kim is behaving rationally. He watched Muammar Qadaffi of Libya give up his nuclear programme in return for better relations with the West—and end up dead. He sees his nuclear arsenal as a guarantee that his regime, and he, will survive. (Though it would be suicidal for him to use it.) Mr Trump can do little to change his mind. Economic sanctions that harm his people will not spoil his lunch. Cyber-attacks, which may account for the failure of some recent missile launches, can slow but not stop him. America can solve the Korean conundrum only with China’s help.
* eccentricity: 기이한 [별난] 행동, 기이함, 별남, [주로 복수로] 기벽
* arsenal: (집합적) 무기, an arsenal is a large collection of weapons and military equipment held by a country, group, or person
* conundrum: 난문제
China has leverage over Mr Kim. It accounts for 85% of North Korea’s foreign trade and could shut off its oil supply. But its interests are not the same as America’s. North Korea is its ally. China’s leaders do not like the Kim regime, but they do not wish to see it collapse and North Korea reunite, German-style, with the democratic South. That, China fears, would mean the loss of a valuable buffer. There are 28,500 American troops stationed in the South; China does not want them on its border.
* leverage: 영향력, leverage is the ability to influence situations or people so that you can control what happens
- exercise political leverage: 정치적 영향력을 행사하다
- diplomatic leverage: 외교적 영향력
* shut off: 멈추다[서다]
* ally: 동맹국
To contain North Korea—and to conduct a successful foreign policy more broadly—Mr Trump has to learn how to talk to China. His instinct is to do deals. Last week he tweeted that he told Xi Jinping, China’s president, that “a trade deal with the US will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!” Later he explained that his decision not to label China a currency manipulator, as he had threatened, was a quid pro quo for China helping out over North Korea. Dropping the currency threat was the right policy, but Mr Trump’s transactional approach to diplomacy is exactly the wrong one.
* contain: if you contain something, you control it and prevent it from spreading or increasing. (좋지 않은 일을) 방지하다 [억제하다]
- More than a hundred firemen are still trying to contain the fire at the plant.
- to contain an epidemic 유행병을 방지하다
- Government forces have failed to contain the rebellion 정부군이 반란을 진압하지 못했다.
* manipulator: 조종자
* quid pro quo : ~ 에 대한 보상으로 주는 것
* transactional : 업무[거래]의, 업무적인
- transactional approach : 거래적 관계
China would love to carve up the world bilaterally into spheres of influence, with the great powers dominating their regions and trading favours elsewhere. America has long been the guardian of something different: a rules-based order that applies to every country, big or small, and which has underpinned the relative peace and remarkable growth of the world since 1945. That Mr Trump appears to scorn this rules-based global order is worrying. The world would become a more dangerous place if America started letting China break the rules (for example, in the South China Sea) in exchange for help to resolve whichever issue happens to be in the news. A better response to China’s rise would be for America to strengthen the rules-based order and invite China to join it more actively. Alas, Mr Trump is unlikely to do this.
* spheres of influence: 세력 범위
* guardian: 수호자
* rules-based order: 규칙에 기반한 질서
* underpin: 뒷받침하다
- The report is underpinned by extensive research. 그 보고서는 광범위한 실태 조사로 뒷받침되어 있다.
* scorn: 경멸, 무시
* Alas: 유감스럽지만
So the best hope is that he or his diplomats persuade China that it is in its own interest to curb North Korea. And the way to do this is to talk about North Korea itself, not the yuan or American steel jobs.
* in someone's (own) interest(s): 자기의 이익으로서; 자기자신에 득이 되는 것; 자기에게 있어 이익으로서
- The company takes stocks in its own interest. 회사는 회사만의 이익을 위해 주식을 산다.
* curb: 억제하다
Three generations of Kims are enough
China does not gain if North Korea destabilises East Asia, or starts a regional arms race that leads Japan and South Korea to build their own nuclear weapons. Mr Trump should reassure his allies in Tokyo and Seoul that they remain under Uncle Sam’s protection. But he should also deal with China’s concerns. To that end, he could make it clear that freezing and then rolling back the North’s nuclear programme is his goal rather than regime change. He could also guarantee that, were the North to collapse into the arms of the South, America would keep its troops south of the current north-south boundary. China hates to admit that the Kim dynasty might not last, but it is rash not to plan for that possibility.
* destabilize: (체제, 국가, 정부 등을) 불안정하게 만들다
- Terrorist attacks were threatening to destabilize the government 테러범들의 공격이 그 정보의 안정을 위협하고 있었다.
* arms race: 군비 경쟁
* reassure: 안심시키다
* Uncle Sam: 미국 정부
* To that end: 그 목적을 달성하기 위해서
* freezing : 동결하다
* roll something back: ~을 뒤로 [더 멀리] 밀어붙이다 [물리치다]
* rash: 경솔한, if someone is rash or does rash things, they act without thinking carefully first, and therefore make mistakes or behave foolishly.
- It would be rash to rely on such evidence.
The crucial message for Mr Kim as for his predecessors is that, if the North were to use its nukes, the regime would be obliterated. In the long run, reunification is inevitable and desirable. Meanwhile, the junior god-king can be deterred.
* predecessor: 전임자
- The new president reversed many of the policies of his predecessor. 새 대통령은 전임 대통령의 정책들 중 많은 것들을 뒤집었다.
* obliterate: (흔히 수동태로) (흔적을) 없애다[지우다]
- The building was completely obliterated by the bomb. 그 건물을 톡판에 완전히 흔적도 없이 날아가 버렸다.
* in the long run: (앞으로 길게 보았을 때) 결국에는
- This measure inevitably means higher taxes in the long run. 이 조치가 결국에는 불가피하게 세금 인상으로 이어질 것이다.
* deterred: 단념시키다, 그만두게 하다
- I told him I wasn't interested, but he wasn't deterred. 내가 그에게 관심 없다고 했지만 그는 단념하지 않았다.
