Banyan

67. Calling Kim Jong Il's bluff
Apr 23rd 2009 From The Economist print edition

Even if North Korea refuses to rejoin six-party talks, they can still have a useful function

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NUCLEAR blackmail is an old trick of Kim Jong Il, North Korea's 68-year-old dictator, learnt at the knee of his father, Kim Il Sung. Since April 5th, and the launching of what North Korea said was a satellite but the rest of the world reckons was a failed missile, he has been at it again. North Korea expelled United Nations inspectors from its ageing reactor complex at Yongbyon and now declares itself no longer bound by the six-party process involving South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States that was meant to lead to abandonment of its nuclear-weapons programmes, in return for aid and respect. After days of wrangling over the launch, the UN Security Council delivered no more than a light knuckle-rapping.
Yet North Korea professes to be insulted. It threatens to rebuild Yongbyon and start making weapons-grade plutonium again. This week, after its first talks with the South in more than a year farcically broke down after just 22 minutes, it accused the South of 'a vicious criminal act': the shifting of a border post. The chances of some sort of armed skirmish have risen.

A. 어휘
bluff 절벽, 허세. call a person's bluff (상대가 허세로 생각하고)남에게 도전하다.
six-party talks 六者會談(6자회담). function 기능. blackmail 공갈, 협박.
dictator 독재자. learn-learnt- learnt. knee 무릎. launching 발사. satellite 衛星(위성).
reckon 간주하다, 평가하다, 계산하다. expel 추방하다, 내 쫓다. inspector 감독관.
ageing reactor complex 老朽(노후)된 핵반응로 공장결집. cf. complex 團地(단지).
declare 선언하다. bind-bound-bound 束縛(속박)하다. abandonment 포기.
nuclear weapon 핵무기. wrangle (격한 어조로) 언쟁하다.
the UN Security Council 유엔 안전보장이사회. deliver 일격을 가하다, 양도하다.
knuckle 손가락 관절. rap 톡톡 두드리다.
knuckle-rapping 손가락마디로 톡톡 치는 것. profess 선언하다. insult 모욕하다.
farcically 笑劇(소극)처럼. accuse...of 비난하다, 고발하다. vicious 악덕의, 비난할만한.
criminal act 범죄행위. border post 국경주둔지. skirmish 소규모 충돌.

B. 구문
- learnt→who was learnt
- Since April 5th, and . . . he has been at it again.
cf. at it (일, 싸움에) 열중하다.
[4월 5일 이후로, 북한은 위성이라고 주장하고 세계의 나머지는 실패한 미사일이라고 평가하는 미사일발사 이후로, 김정일은 다시 싸움에 열을 올리고 있다.]

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So far, so consistent with North Korea’s traditional belligerence. Back in 1994 Bill Clinton promised aid and two light-water civilian reactors in return for closing Yongbyon, yet Mr Kim started new nuclear work. Promising to be less gullible, George Bush listed North Korea in his “axis of evil”. Mr Kim merely redoubled his nuclear efforts, exploding a device inside a mountain in October 2006, despite a 2005 agreement to denuclearise. Mr Bush’s envoys suggested more talks. Having already sold Yongbyon twice, to both Mr Clinton and Mr Bush, Mr Kim presumably intends to sell it a third time, to Barack Obama.
Yet if the aim was to engage Mr Obama on Mr Kim’s terms, it has backfired. That is partly because the launch failed, despite North Korea’s claims that its satellite is beaming back chirpy revolutionary songs. This is its third long-distance missile testall flops. Though North Korea’s short- and medium-range missiles threaten South Korea and Japan, it is far from having a deterrent to any American nuclear attack. Its only nuclear explosion was thought a damp squib. Miniaturising nuclear warheads is hard, and the North has enough plutonium for just ten or so nuclear devices. Reprocessing the remaining spent fuel rods at Yongbyon would give it one more bomb. In this sense only, more nuclear tests would actually help, by using up what plutonium is left.

A. 어휘
consistent 시종일관 된. traditional 전통적인. belligerence 好戰性(호전성).
light-water civilian reactors 民需用(민수용) 輕水爐(경수로).
gullible 속기 쉬운. explode 폭발시키다. device (핵실험)장치. despite ...에도 불구하고.
envoy 特使(특사), 公使(공사). presumably 추측컨대, 아마.
engage 끌어들이다, 고용하다. term 조건. backfire 예상과 어긋난 결과를 초래하다.
beam 무선을 보내다, 방송하다. chirpy 쾌활한, 재잘거리는. flop 실패하다.
far from = never. deterrent (전쟁에 대한) 抑止力(억지력), 단념케 하는 것.
explosion 폭발. damp 습기 찬, 기운이 없는. squib 爆竹(폭죽).
miniaturise 소형화하다. warhead 彈頭(탄두). reprocess 재처리하다.
spent 다 써버린. fuel rods 燃料棒(연료봉).