VOA标准英语2010年-Author Says Race, Not Socialism, Is Ke

When it comes to North Korea, the world has come up with a lot of labels, including "the last bastion of Stalinist Communism."  But the author of a new book says North Korea can best be understood through the lens of its racial views.  VOA Seoul correspondent Kurt Achin spoke¹ to Brian Myers, author of The Cleanest Race.

Myers specializes in North Korean propaganda at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea.  He says much of the world is mistaken in how it views North Korea's politics.

"The common notion of North Korea as a hard-line communist state is wrong... what I refer to it as is race-based paranoid nationalism," he said.

In his new book, Myers describes North Korea's core race beliefs as a legacy² of Japanese colonial rule in the early 20th century.

"After an initial period in which they brutally³ tried to stamp out all Korean feelings of pride in their nation, the Japanese decided⁴ to co-opt it.  They did this by saying 'you Koreans, and we Japanese, we are all part of a uniquely pure race, a uniquely ancient race, that goes back thousands and thousands of years, to the same divine progenitor," he explained.

The Japanese left when Tokyo was defeated in World War II, says Myers, but North Korea kept key pillars of their ideology⁵.

"The Korean people, because they are so racially pure, because they are so homogeneous, are morally superior to all other peoples, not tainted⁶ by outside influences which, according to the North Korean world view, are inherently evil," he said.

A distinguishing feature of the North's ideology, says Myers, is its extreme distrust of the outside world.

"Where the Japanese people believed that their racial purity and their virtue⁷ had always protected them from outside invasion, think of the kamikaze, for example, the 'divine winds,' the Koreans believed that their virtue had made them uniquely vulnerable to attack from outside," he said.

Racism⁸, in Myers's analysis, has helped North Korean leader Kim Jong Il enjoy a relatively⁹ strong degree of political legitimacy¹⁰, despite decades of famine and economic scarcity¹¹.

Myers says efforts by the United States and other countries to reconcile North Korea through nuclear disarmament talks are useless.  He says depriving the North of its hostile posture¹² toward outside enemies would rob Pyongyang of its only legitimacy, as well as its reason for existing as a separate state from South Korea.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

3 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

6 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

8 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

9 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

10 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

11 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。

12 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。