박근혜 대통령은 취임 1주년을 맞은 지난 25일 대통령 직속으로 통일준비위원회를 발족하겠다고 밝혔다. 지난 달 기자 회견에서 “통일은 대박”이라며 통일을 경제적 관점으로 접근했던 대통령이 거듭 통일을 강조하면서 적극적으로  이를 위한 준비에 나서고 있다. 

Seoul to set up body to prepare unification


[1] President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday unveiled a plan to launch a preparatory committee for reunification to build public consensus and create a blueprint for the unified peninsula.

Launch: start, establish
preparatory: 준비를 위한
Public consensus: 사회적 합의 (consensus: agreement)
Blueprint: 청사진, 큰 계획, 밑그림


[2] Park recently referred to reunification as an “economic bonanza” for South Korea and neighboring countries with a renewed commitment to laying the groundwork for it.

refer to: 표현하다, 언급하다
bonanza: 대박, 수지 맞는 일 (jackpot)
commitment: 헌신
lay the groundwork: 초석을 다지다, 기반을 마련하다


[3] “We’d like to seek a systematic, constructive direction for reunification by launching the committee,” she said during a nationally televised news conference announcing her three-year economic innovation plan.


[4] “At it, we will embrace public opinions by inviting civilian experts and civic groups covering diplomacy, security, economy, society and culture, and map out a blueprint for the unified Korea.”

embrace: 포괄하다, 아우르다
civilian: 민간
civic group: civil groups
cover: ~를 다루는
map out: 준비하다, 계획하다


[5] Park, in particular, stressed the need for reunification while mentioning the agonies of the families separated across the border since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The same day, hundreds of Koreans bade a tearful farewell to their kin during the second round of the reunions at the Mount Geumgangsan resort.

agony: 고통, 슬픔
separated: 떨어진
bade a tearful farewell: bid a farewell.
kin: 친척


[6] “For too long, we have suffered the pangs of separation. As we have witnessed through these reunions, separation has given excruciating pain to these families who met one another but had to be separated again.”

witness:목격하다
excruciating: 몹시 고통스러운, 극심한


[7] “For genuine peace and for Korea to take another great leap forward, we need to prepare to open a new era of reunification.”

leap: jump


[8] After the three-day reunions ended at the mountain resort, hundreds of elderly Koreans wept, knowing that it would be their last chance to meet unless Korea reunified.


[9] “You should live long, live long, my father,” Nam Gungbongja, 61, told her 87-year-old father Gung-ryol of the North.


[10] “They will send you here again. We will meet again,” her father said in return.


[11] During the second round of the gatherings, 357 South Koreans met 88 North Korean relatives, while in the first round, 80 South Koreans, accompanied by 56 family members, were reunited with 174 North Korean relatives.

first, second round: ~회차 (session)
accompanied by: ~를 동반한


[12] The emotional scenes of the first reunions in more than three years, underscored the pressing need to normalize the cross-border gatherings, institute a system to ascertain whether relatives on each side are still alive and allow the families to exchange letters.

underscore: 강조하다 (highlight)
pressing: 긴급한, 절실한


[13] Many argue that holding reunions for the elderly people should be isolated from politics and viewed as a humanitarian concern.


[14] During the latest reunions, most of the participants were older than 80. Some of them were taken to a hospital and returned home in the middle of the gatherings due to fatigue, emotional distress, dementia and other age-related illnesses.

dementia: 치매


[15] According to government data, 129,264 people have been registered as having relatives in the North. Nearly 45 percent of them have passed away with an average of 4,000 people dying each year since 2004.


[16] Despite the urgent need for regularizing the reunions, experts remain skeptical given that Pyongyang may believe that the cross-border family gatherings could potentially pose a challenge to its hold on the dynastic ruling system.

skeptical:  의심많은, 회의적인
given that: ~를 고려하면
pose a challenge: 도전하다
hold on:~를 꼭 붙잡고 있는
dynastic: 왕조의



기사전문: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20140225001235

팟캐스트: https://itunes.apple.com/kr/podcast/koliaheleoldeu-paskaeseuteu/id686406253?mt=2

팟빵: http://www.podbbang.com/ch/6638