With a new president, South Korea will shift to a more conservative administration

With a new president, South Korea will shift to a more conservative administration

Transcript¹

South Korean voters chose a politically inexperienced conservative as president, in the nation's tightest race ever. He has promised a tougher line on North Korea, and a closer alliance with the U.S.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

South Korea elected a new president on Wednesday. It was the country's closest election ever. In May, the country will transition to a new, more conservative president who promises a tough approach to North Korea and a closer alliance with the United States. NPR's Anthony Kuhn is in Seoul. He's been following all this. Hey there, Anthony.

ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE²: Hey, Steve.

INSKEEP: For those of us who don't follow South Korean politics daily, who's the new leader?

KUHN: His name is Yoon Suk-yeol. He's 61, and he's a former chief prosecutor³ who actually helped to impeach⁴ the last conservative president five years ago. This man has no previous political experience, and he won by a razor-thin margin⁵ of less than 1%. Neither of the candidates in this election was seen as particularly charismatic or likable. A lot of people voted just because either they wanted a change of administration or they voted for a candidate who they felt was the lesser⁶ of evils. One of the biggest gripes voters had was astronomic⁷ housing prices, especially here in Seoul, and Yoon promised to build more housing and lower real estate taxes. And he did especially well in places where real estate prices were high.

INSKEEP: It's interesting that of all the issues in the world, that home prices would be key. Something to think about as we think about politics in America, as a matter of fact. But you said that he's promising⁸ - or we said that he's promising to get tough with North Korea. How would he do that?

KUHN: Well, here's what he told reporters at a briefing this morning.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

YOON SUK-YEOL: (Speaking Korean).

KUHN: So he's saying here, "I will make a principled, determined⁹ response to North Korea's illegal and unreasonable¹⁰ actions, but I will always keep the door open to inter-Korean dialogue."

Now, the Moon administration that's going out offered concessions¹¹ as a way of trying to get Pyongyang back to the negotiating table. Yoon says that North Korea's got to denuclearize first. And so he's emphasizing military deterrence¹², including the possibility of conducting preemptive strikes on North Korea if they detect an imminent¹³ attack. And all this could make engagement with Pyongyang more difficult, at least in the short term. Remember that North Korea has already conducted nine missile tests this year.

INSKEEP: Now, let's talk about South Korea's gigantic near neighbor, China, which is in an increasingly big rivalry¹⁴ with South Korea's most important ally, the United States. How does he plan to navigate¹⁵ that?

KUHN: Well, he's accused the outgoing Moon administration of being too close to Beijing in - despite anti-China sentiment among the Chinese - the South Korean public. And he's talked about deploying¹⁶ more U.S. missile defenses in South Korea, which Beijing really doesn't like. But Beijing, despite all this, remains¹⁷ a very close neighbor and a trade partner and also an indispensable player in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.

INSKEEP: Anthony, one other thing. What does this very close election say about South Korean democracy?

KUHN: Well, the election showed very deep divisions among regions and ideologies¹⁸, but also among generations and genders¹⁹. Some conservatives charge that South Korea was persecuting²⁰ its critics and that democracy in South Korea was backsliding. But voter turnout was very good at 77%. And the loser conceded defeat very quickly, and we appear to be on track for another peaceful handover of power between administrations. In other words, democracy seems to be working.

INSKEEP: Anthony, I always appreciate your insights. Thanks for calling in.

KUHN: Thank you, Steve.

INSKEEP: That's NPR's Anthony Kuhn joining us from Seoul.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE ALBUM LEAF'S "BACK TO THE START")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

4 impeach   

v.弹劾；检举

参考例句：

• We must impeach the judge for taking bribes.我们一定要检举法官收受贿赂。
• The committee decided to impeach the President.委员会决定弹劾总统。

5 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

6 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

7 astronomic   

天文学的，星学的

参考例句：

• The environmental impact of this population increase is bound to be astronomic. 这个人口增长对环境的影响必然是天文数字。
• Eclipse is a very intriguing astronomic phenomenon. 日食是非常引人入胜的天文现象。

8 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

9 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

10 unreasonable   

adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的

参考例句：

• I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
• They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。

11 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

12 deterrence   

威慑，制止； 制止物，制止因素； 挽留的事物； 核威慑

参考例句：

• An extreme school of "disarmers" pronounced stable deterrence was a dangerous deception. “裁军论者”中的极端派声称，稳定的威摄是一种危险的骗局。
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。

13 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

14 rivalry   

n.竞争，竞赛，对抗

参考例句：

• The quarrel originated in rivalry between the two families.这次争吵是两家不和引起的。
• He had a lot of rivalry with his brothers and sisters.他和兄弟姐妹间经常较劲。

15 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

16 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

17 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

18 ideologies   

n.思想（体系）( ideology的名词复数 )；思想意识；意识形态；观念形态

参考例句：

• There is no fundamental diversity between the two ideologies. 这两种思想意识之间并没有根本的分歧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Radical ideologies require to contrast to their own goodness the wickedness of some other system. 凡是过激的意识形态，都需要有另外一个丑恶的制度作对比，才能衬托出自己的善良。 来自辞典例句

19 genders   

n.性某些语言的（阳性、阴性和中性，不同的性有不同的词尾等）( gender的名词复数 )；性别；某些语言的（名词、代词和形容词）性的区分

参考例句：

• There are three genders in German: masculine, feminine and neuter. 德语中有叁性：阳性、阴性和中性。 来自辞典例句
• Japan was fourth among the genders of foreign students. 日本在二十个留美学生输送地中列第四位。 来自互联网

20 persecuting   

（尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的现在分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人

参考例句：

• This endurance made old Earnshaw furious, when he discovered his son persecuting the poor, fatherless child, as he called him. 当老恩萧发现他的儿子这样虐待他所谓的可怜的孤儿时，这种逆来顺受使老恩萧冒火了。
• He is possessed with the idea that someone is persecuting him. 他老是觉得有人要害他。