美国国家公共电台 NPR Not All South Koreans Satisfied With Japan's Apology To 'Comfort Women'

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The United States considers Japan and South Korea essential allies, especially when it comes to dealing¹ with the threat from North Korea's missile and nuclear program, but one issue dogs relations which goes all the way back to World War II. That's when Japan forced tens of thousands of Korean women into sexual slavery. They were euphemistically called comfort women. The two countries signed a deal two years ago for reparations, but many Koreans, including the new president, think that deal was unfair. From Seoul, NPR's Lauren Frayer reports.

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE²: A TV blasts Korean soap operas at this nursing home. It's a bright, spacious³ place hidden in green hills east of South Korea's capital, but its residents survived a dark chapter of history.

LEE OK-SEON: (Speaking Korean).

FRAYER: Ninety-year-old Lee Ok-seon was kidnapped by Japanese soldiers in 1942.

LEE: (Through interpreter) I was only 15, running an errand for my parents, when two Japanese men in uniform grabbed me by the arms and dragged me away. That's how I became enslaved.

FRAYER: Enslaved and sent to work in a brothel in a Japanese-occupied area of China. She was there for three years until World War II ended.

LEE: (Through interpreter) We didn't know the war had ended. The owner of the brothel ran away. I was inside with seven girls, and we were starving. A soldier came in and told us to run. The whole city was burning.

FRAYER: Lee didn't return to South Korea until the year 2000. Many of the comfort women were shunned⁴ by their families. She says she just wants Japan to apologize.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Over loudspeaker, speaking Korean).

FRAYER: And so do these protesters at weekly rallies in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul. But Japan says it has apologized in 1993 and then again two years ago.

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PRIME MINISTER SHINZO ABE: (Speaking Japanese).

FRAYER: "We have been expressing our remorse⁵ and apology," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in 2015 when his government gave the surviving comfort women more than $8 million in reparations. He called it a final and irreversible solution. But polls show a majority of Koreans want it reversed.

CHO BYOL: They don't respect Korea. We can't trust them.

FRAYER: Protester Cho Byol took part in street rallies to oust⁶ the conservative Korean president from power earlier this year amid a corruption⁷ scandal. Now, the same activists⁸ are joining rallies against Korea's old colonial ruler, Japan. But there's a danger of emotions obscuring the facts here, says Park Yu-ha, Korean professor of Japanese literature.

PARK YU-HA: (Through interpreter) Nowadays, people think Japan came and raped⁹ and never gave compensation, but that's not totally accurate.

FRAYER: Park wrote a book in which she disputes the numbers of Korean comfort women and says some of them got work contracts as prostitutes. The book won awards in Japan, but parts of it were redacted in Korea. Some of the comfort women sued Park for defamation¹⁰. She's been labeled a Japanese apologist and a traitor¹¹.

PARK: (Through interpreter) I've been a victim of this anti-Japanese sentiment. It's part of a post-Cold War identity shift as nationalism grows.

FRAYER: Now that Korea is a rich prosperous country, it's re-examining its past as a colony of Japan. In one of his first acts in office, the new South Korean President Moon Jae-in spoke¹² by phone with his Japanese counterpart. They discussed the common threat posed by North Korea, but the headlines here were dominated by Moon bringing up the comfort women and a 2015 deal he said the Korean people cannot emotionally accept. Lauren Frayer, NPR News, Seoul.

 

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1 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

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 spacious   

adj.广阔的，宽敞的

参考例句：

• Our yard is spacious enough for a swimming pool.我们的院子很宽敞，足够建一座游泳池。
• The room is bright and spacious.这房间很豁亮。

4 shunned   

v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was shunned by her family when she remarried. 她再婚后家里人都躲着她。
• He was a shy man who shunned all publicity. 他是个怕羞的人，总是避开一切引人注目的活动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 remorse   

n.痛恨，悔恨，自责

参考例句：

• She had no remorse about what she had said.她对所说的话不后悔。
• He has shown no remorse for his actions.他对自己的行为没有任何悔恨之意。

6 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

7 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

8 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

10 defamation   

n.诽谤；中伤

参考例句：

• Character defamation can be either oral or written.人格诽谤既可以是口头的也可以是书面的。
• The company sued for defamation.这个公司因受到诽谤而提起诉讼。

11 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。

12 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。