假装管理朝鲜的44名韩国人

choi

(1) 史蒂文·埃文斯, 记者来鸿： 假装管理朝鲜的44名韩国人. BBC Chinese, Nov 25, 2015
www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/fooc/2 ... ending_to_un_nkorea

, which is translated from

Stephen Evans, The Department Pretending to Run North Korea. BBC, Nov 22, 2015.
www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34863120
(“Under the South Korean constitution, the five provinces of North Korea remain part of the united Korea (which last existed 70 years ago) that South Korea continues to pretend to administer. I say pretend because in Seoul there is a whole building full of civil servants who technically oversee North Korea. There are departments for each of the provinces”)

Note:
(a) "in the middle of the South Korean capital[, a] concrete section of three slabs stands outside one of the museums as part of an exhibition comparing divided Korea with divided Germany.
Schoolchildren gaze attentively. They touch the rough concrete and take selfies in front of it. They are entranced by it - as they would be.  'If reunification could happen in Germany, why not in Korea?' is the question hanging over them and their country."
(i) "They are entranced by it - as they would be."  

BBC translates these two sentences this way: "前来参观的学生们认真仔细地看、伸出手摸摸墙壁，站在前面来张自拍。他们好像很入迷—肯定会的。
(ii) would
(A) "2a —used in auxiliary function to express wish, desire, or intent <those who would forbid gambling>"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/would

(B) "3: expressing a desire or inclination  <I would love to work in Prague>  <would you like some water?>
* * *
4.1: expressing willingness or consent  <who would live here?>
5: expressing a conjecture, opinion, or hope  <[hope:] I would imagine that they’ll want to keep it>  <[conjecture:] I guess some people would consider it brutal>  <[opinion:] I would have to agree>
6: used to make a comment about behavior that is typical  <every night we would hear the boy crying>  <derogatory  they would say that, wouldn’t they?>
7 [WITH CLAUSE] literary   expressing a wish or regret  <[I] would that he had lived to finish it>"
http://www.oxforddictionaries.co ... rican_english/would

(b) "Except they can't administer them from Seoul because these provinces are in North Korea. There is the small matter of the inaptly named demilitarized zone in the way - Korea's version of the Berlin Wall."
(i) BBC translation: "但是，他们人在首尔，根本什么也管不了，因为那些省都在朝鲜。小小的障碍：中间隔着那个名字不太准确的 '非军事区'—韩朝版的柏林墙。
(ii) The inaptly" does not mean 不太准确.
(iii) apt (adj): "suited to a purpose; especially : being to the point <an apt quotation>"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apt
(iv) What the report meant to say was that DMZ was not "demilitarized" -- quite the opposite. But I think the zone itself is demilitarized, though the border on each side is not.

(c) 'I went to visit the ministry the other day"

See the next posting.
(d) "a light blue postbox by the main entrance. On it is written in English: 'Homesickness Post Box.' * * * the letters will never get there because there is no postal service between the two Koreas."

post box
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_box
(British English, also written postbox; known in the United States and Canada as mailbox, letter box)
(e) "All of East Germany, apart from the most eastern part around Dresden, could watch West German TV every night"

Dresden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden
(Its name etymologically derives from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the forest)


  

choi

(2) Alastair Gale and Kwanwoo Jun, South Korea's Governors of Northern Provinces Don't—And Never Will—Govern; Appointed officials have perks and offices but don't enter the North. Wall Street Journal, Mar 18, 2014 (front page).
www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304419104579321810508073546

Quote:

“The government provides the governors with the same benefits as vice-ministers in central government, including an annual salary of as much as $100,000. The governors also have had a total of 97 "honorary" city mayors or county chiefs named to symbolically represent their provinces, but those are largely volunteer positions with only basic expenses paid.

"North Korea's surprise execution of dictator Kim Jong Un's uncle spurred emergency meetings at South Korea's Unification Ministry and other government agencies—but not among the governors.  'We do not deal with North Korean affairs. That's up to the Unification Ministry,' Park Yong-ok said.

"The longer the two Koreas remain separated, the tougher it will be for Seoul to find candidates who originate from North Korea to keep the governor positions filled.

Note:
(a) Japanese version of the same report:

Alastair Gale and Kwanwoo Jun, 任地に赴けない韓国の知事―北朝鮮の以北五道. WSJ (Japan), Mar 20, 2014.
jp.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303572004579448421651978380
(b) PARK Yong-ok  朴庸玉  (en.wikipedia.org: 1942- ; Governor (도지사) of the hypothetical South Korean province of South Pyeongan 平安南道 (a territory under the control of North Korea) between 2009 and 2013)  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pyongan_Province

This WSJ report said 平安南道 “includes the capital city, Pyongyang.”
(c) "in a cavernous, white five-story government building in the foothills of Mount Bukhan [Bukhansan 北漢山, 836.5 m (2,744 ft)] in northern Seoul, the official home for the Committee for the Five Northern Korean Provinces, a body set up by South Korean President Syngman RHEE 李承晩 in 1949"

Committee for the Five Northern Korean Provinces  以北五道委員會 is NOW under Ministry of Interior -- not Ministry of Unification 統一部.  The government of S Korea has reorganized so often, that the recently created MOI is home to the committee for now.
(d) "PARK Kee-jung [whose name is not spelled in hanja 漢字], also 71, was appointed governor of North Hamgyong Province in North Korea's northeast last year"

North Hamgyong Province  咸鏡北道
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hamgyong_Province
(e) Taiwan had 光復大陸設計研究委員會 (1954-1991) but did not appoint governors, though it had lawmakers from mainland provinces in 國民大會 and 立法院 well into 1990s.