英字新聞

April 11, 2014
EDITORIAL: North Korea's Kim should focus on economic reconstruction
（社説）金正恩体制　経済再建に専念せよ

North Korea can never hope to rebuild the dilapidated nation without abandoning its nuclear and missile programs. Can’t it face up to this reality?
　核とミサイルを放棄することしか国家再建の道はない。その現実を直視できないのか。

Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s supreme leader, doesn’t appear to have any serious intention to improve the disastrous state of the country.
　北朝鮮の最高指導者、金正恩（キムジョンウン）氏には、破滅的な国の現状を本気で改める覚悟はないようだ。

The Supreme People’s Assembly, the country’s parliament, was convened on April 9 in Pyongyang. As the assembly’s members were newly chosen in March in the first parliamentary election since Kim became leader, observers paid close attention to the session, expecting it to offer signals about the direction in which the new regime intends to lead the nation.
　国会にあたる最高人民会議が平壌で開かれた。金正恩体制で先月初めて選ばれたメンバーによる会議で、新体制の方向性をうらなうと注目された。

As it turned out, however, the assembly session left little doubt that the country’s leadership has decided to maintain mostly the status quo. Especially notable about the reported results of the session is the regime’s strong will to pursue both the development of nuclear weapons and economic reconstruction at the same time.
　結論は、ほぼ現状の維持にすぎなかった。伝えられる会議の結果で目立つのは、核開発と経済の立て直しを両方とも進めるという、強い意志の表れだ。

Jang Song Thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was widely viewed as the leading champion of economic reform, was purged and executed last December. There were speculations that the removal of Jang could affect the regime’s stance toward reform.
　経済改革の主導役とみられていた正恩氏の義理の叔父張成沢（チャンソンテク）氏が昨年粛清された。それが改革の流れに影響を与えるのでは、との観測もあった。

Given that Premier Pak Pong Ju, another presumably pro-reform figure within the leadership, was reappointed, however, North Korea’s secluded regime apparently intends to maintain its policy of putting a high priority on the improvement of people’s living standards.
　だが、やはり経済改革派と目される朴奉珠（パクポンジュ）首相が再任されたことをみると、「人民生活の向上」を訴えてきた政権の姿勢に変化はないとみていいだろう。

Observers also pointed out the possibility that 86-year-old Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the second most powerful man in the country, could retire due to his advanced age. But he has also retained his post.
　高齢のため引退の可能性がささやかれたナンバー２の金永南（キムヨンナム）・最高人民会議常任委員長は留任した。

Some close aides to Kim Jong Un, including Choe Ryong Hae, director of the General Political Bureau of the military, were promoted to senior posts in the National Defense Commission.
崔竜海（チェリョンヘ）・軍総政治局長ら側近グループは国防委員会の要職に引き上げられた。

All these personnel decisions indicate that the North Korean leadership has no intention to change the nation’s power structure in any drastic way. These moves as a whole probably represent the regime’s attempt to prevent the purge of Jang from provoking unrest in the nation.
　こうした人事は、権力システムを急変させるつもりはない姿勢を示している。張氏の粛清を受けた国内の動揺を抑えるための判断だったとみられる。

What is troubling is the creation of the Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry. The new ministry is reportedly an upgrade of North Korea’s General Department of Atomic Energy. The move has made clear Pyongyang’s will to keep developing nuclear arms.
　問題なのは原子力工業省を新設したことだ。これまであった原子力総局を省に格上げしたとされ、今後も核開発を推し進める意思を鮮明にした。

On March 26, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles that are believed to have been mid-range Rodong projectiles into the Sea of Japan.
　北朝鮮は先月、中距離の「ノドン」とみられる弾道ミサイルを日本海に向けて発射した。

After the U.N. Security Council issued a statement to the media condemning the missile launch, Pyongyang reacted with a threat to conduct what it called a new form of nuclear test.
　国連安全保障理事会が発射を非難する「報道機関向け談話」を出したことを受け、北朝鮮側は反発し、「新たな形態の核実験」の実施を示唆した。

Speculation is rife that this new type of nuclear test may involve the use of highly enriched uranium.
　「新たな形態」については、高濃縮ウランを使うのではないかとの臆測が飛び交っている。

North Korea may be threatening to demonstrate anew its nuclear capabilities by showing off what it has achieved in the uranium enrichment program it has been secretly pursuing instead of using plutonium extracted from an experimental nuclear reactor.
　実験用原子炉から取り出したプルトニウムではなく、長らく秘密裏に続けていたウラン濃縮で改めて核の能力を示そうという脅しなのかもしれない。

There are not yet any concrete signs that North Korea is about to conduct a nuclear test, but the North Korean regime should be aware that it would cause its own collapse should it proceed with such a test.
　具体的な兆候はまだないが、もし強行すれば、自壊への道筋をたどることを自覚すべきだ。

The international community is already severely critical of the regime of Kim Jong Un. China, the largest supplier of aid to North Korea, is no exception. Pyongyang would be well-advised to avoid committing any more acts that would only deepen its international isolation.
　正恩体制への国際社会の視線はすでに冷たい。最大の支援国である中国も例外ではない。これ以上、孤立を深める愚行を犯すべきではない。

What the young leader should do is to wean the nation from the diplomatic brinkmanship to which his father, the late Kim Jong Il, resorted all too often. The impoverished nation cannot afford to pursue a dual-track policy of military buildup and economic rehabilitation.
　正恩氏に必要なのは、父の故金正日（キムジョンイル）氏が繰り返した瀬戸際政策からの決別である。軍事と経済の二兎（にと）を追う余裕などない。

The young Kim should focus his efforts on leading the nation out of its international isolation and putting its economy on a path toward regeneration.
孤立から脱し、経済を再生する努力にこそ集中すべきだ。

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 11