49. A Special report on THE KOREAS

Special report THE KOREAS

49a-1-207 〈The odd couple〉
Sep 25th 2008 From The Economist print edition

Koreans want their international standing to match the south's economic success. They may have to wait until the peninsula is unified, says Dominic Ziegler (interviewed here)

AT THE heart of North-East Asia sits a failed state with the worst human-rights record on Earth. The regime maintains its grip by putting one in 20 of its population in military uniform. One in 40 has spent time in the gulag. Mobile phones and the internet are forbidden, except for the elite, and radio and television sets are made to tune only to government stations. Unauthorised travel within the country is banned, at least in principle. Food shortages are chronic, and a decade ago the regime's malign neglect created a famine that killed between 600,000 and 1m people. The famine still casts a long shadow, and not just through malnutrition and stunted growthrecent studies of refugees have pieced together a picture of a population that, in wide swathes, remains traumatisedand there are fears that famine conditions might be returning.
Now fresh uncertainties have arisen with reports that North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong Il, may be seriously ill. That has underlined how little the outside world knows about North Korea. What to do about this failed state, which happens also to possess the material for nuclear bombs, is likely to be the region's single biggest challenge over the coming years.
Slap next to all this sits the epitome of globalisation's success, whose men on average are three inches (7cm) taller than their poorer neighbours. Half a century ago South Korea's economy was on a par with Upper Volta's. Today its citizens have an average income per person of $20,000. They enjoy the highest penetration of broadband internet on Earth, along with a popular culture of television shows and music that has become a highly bankable Asian export known as the 'Korean wave'.

A. 어휘
odd 이상한 standing 지위. match ...과 대등하다, ...에 어울리다.
peninsula 半島(반도). unify 통일하다. failed state 실패한 국가. regime 政權(정권).
grip 掌握(장악), 통제. one in 20 스무 명 중에서 한 명. military uniform 軍服(군복).
gulag 강제 수용소. tune ...에 맞추다. government stations 정부 방송국.
unauthorised 인가 받지 않은. ban 금지하다. food shortage 식량부족.
chronic 慢性的(만성적)인. malign 惡意的(악의적)인, 有害(유해)한.
neglect 무시, 태만함. famine 기근, 飢餓(기아). malnutrition 영양실조.
stunted 성장을 멈춘, 矮小(왜소)한. refugee 피난민. piece together 이어 맞추다.
swathe=swath [큰 낫이나 풀 베는 기계의] 한 번 제는 폭, 깍은 자리, 넓이.
in wide swathes 넓은 범위로 보면. traumatize 外傷(외상)을 입다.
uncertainty 불안정, 불확실. underline 명시하다. slap 바로, 직접(directly)
slap next to 바로 옆에. epitome 化身(화신), 축도, 요약. par 동등.
Upper Volta 남아프리카 서부의 공화국. penetration 침투, 貫通(관통).
bankable 수익이 높은, 은행에서 받을 수 있는.

49a-2-208
South Korea's success is often called the 'miracle on the Han', after the river that runs through the 23m-strong capital, Seoul. Yet a more obvious explanation is the sweat and the tears of a people with a passion for work and self-improvement, coupled with generally enlightened economic policies since the 1960soften in the face of what is now known as the 'Washington consensus'. As well as a modern economy, this impassioned people has also fashioned a constitutional democracy out of a military dictatorship, again with sweat and tears and not a little blood.
The regime in the north tries hard to keep its citizens in the dark about the south's success, and in South Korea six decades of separation have done much to weaken the blood ties which, in both states' official rhetoric, are supposedly unbreakable. Reunification of the peninsula remains a hallowed goal on either side. Yet for most people in the south, North Korea is not just another country but another planet. Some 10,000 North Korean defectors now live in the south, but despite efforts by the government and others they live mostly on the fringes, despised by many South Koreans and ill-qualified for decent jobs. 'The Crossing', a film with a star cast released in Seoul this summer, authentically recreates everyday life in the north and explores why its citizens are driven to leave their homeland. Yet it was quickly eased out at the box office. South Korea is ill-prepared, psychologically, politically and economically, for the unification presumed to follow the eventual collapse of the north.

A. 어휘
miracle 기적. strong ...의. 23m-strong capital, Seoul. 인구 2,300 만 명의 수도 서울.
obvious 명백한. passion 熱情(열정). couple 결합하다, 결혼하다.
enlightened 계발된, 문명화된. consensus 의견일치, 합의. impassioned 열정적인.
constitutional democracy 立憲(입헌) 민주국가. decade 10년. separation 分斷(분단).
official 공식적인. rhetoric 修辭學(수사학), 美辭麗句(미사여구).
supposedly 아마도. reunification 재통일. hallowed 神聖化(신성화)된.
defector 탈당자, 변절자, 탈북자. despite ...에도 불구하고. fringe 변두리, 가장자리.
despised 멸시받으면서. ill-qualified 자질이 부족한. authentically 믿을만하게.
explore 탐험하다. ease out 辭職(사직)시키다, 추방하다. box office 매표소.
ill-prepared 준비가 되어있지 않다. presumed 추정하다, 생각하다.
eventual 최종적인, 궁극적인. collapse 崩壞(붕괴).

B. 구문
- coupled with . . . economic policies.
cf. coupled= which has been coupled.
[(그 열정은) 대체로 합리적인 정책과 결합되어서.
- in the face of . . . consensus
[ “미국과의 합의”로 알려진 것에 직면해서]
- a film with a . . . this summer
[금년 여름 서울에서 放映(방영)된 名優(명우)가 출연한 영화.