北朝鮮Ｎｏ．２粛清 金正恩体制揺るがす権力闘争

The Yomiuri Shimbun December 10, 2013
Vigilance required as power struggle shakes Kim Jong Un regime
北朝鮮Ｎｏ．２粛清　金正恩体制揺るがす権力闘争（12月10日付・読売社説）

The latest development in North Korea probably was the result of a power struggle behind the scenes.
　水面下で続いた権力闘争の結果ではないか。

A close watch must be kept on how the latest housecleaning in North Korea will affect the future course of the reclusive country, which will soon mark the second anniversary of the death of former supreme leader Kim Jong Il.
　金正日総書記の死から近く２年を迎える中、今回の粛清人事が北朝鮮の行方にどう影響するか、注視せねばならない。

In North Korea, Jang Song Thaek, vice chairman of the National Defense Commission and an apparent mentor for the current leader Kim Jong Un, has been ousted from all his posts.
　北朝鮮で、金正恩第１書記の後見人と目されてきた張成沢・国防委員会副委員長が失脚した。

Jang was a member of the ruling Workers’ Party Politburo—together with Kim Kyong Hui, Jang’s wife and a sister of Kim Jong Il—and made his presence felt as the No. 2 man in the young Kim’s regime.
　張氏は、金総書記の妹である夫人と共に朝鮮労働党政治局員であり、甥(おい)の金第１書記を支える政権“ナンバー２”として、存在感を発揮していた。

Jang had also been in the vanguard of Pyongyang’s economic diplomacy. Last summer, for instance, he visited China and proposed to leaders there, including then President Hu Jintao, the joint development of trade zones in North Korea near its border with China.
　昨夏には訪中し、当時の胡錦濤国家主席などに中朝国境の共同開発を持ちかけるなど、率先して経済外交に乗り出してもいた。

At an expanded meeting of the Politburo on Sunday, Jang was denounced as a leader of “antiparty, antirevolutionary factional activities,” dismissed from all his posts, deprived of all his titles and expelled from the party. North Korean TV broadcast an image of Jang being taken from the meeting venue by uniformed guards.
　８日の党政治局拡大会議は、張氏を「反党・反革命的な分派活動」を首謀したと糾弾し、全職務からの解任、一切の称号剥奪、党からの除名を決定した。北朝鮮のテレビは、張氏が会議場から連行される模様も放映した。

Jang was charged with such criminal acts as having immensely hindered the improvement of the country’s economic activity and people’s livelihoods, and committing treason by cheaply selling off the country’s precious resources. He was also accused of corrupt and illicit behavior, including improper relations with women, using narcotics and squandering foreign currency.
　張氏の罪状には、「国の経済活動と人民生活の向上に莫大(ばくだい)な支障をきたした」「国の貴重な資源を安値で売り払う売国行為を働いた」などが挙げられた。女性関係や麻薬使用、外貨蕩尽(とうじん)など、堕落・不正腐敗行為も列挙された。

Jang shown no mercy

The purge of a high-ranking government official is not rare in a country under despotic rule, but the harshness of the punishments in Jang’s case is striking. Two of his close aides were reportedly publicly executed.
　高官の粛清は、専制国家では珍しくないが、張氏の場合は処分の厳しさが目立つ。側近の部下２人は公開処刑されたという。

Kim Jong Un may have felt it was necessary to show no leniency even to a relative over disobedience to his orders and illicit enrichment. The latest purge may reflect Kim’s sense of alarm over the rife corruption among North Korea’s leaders.
　金第１書記には、命令への不服従や不正蓄財に対して、身内といえども容赦しない姿勢を示す必要があったのだろう。指導層に腐敗が浸透している実情への危機感の反映ではないか。

In accordance with Kim’s grand command to build a strong and prosperous nation, organs related to the North Korean Cabinet, the party and military are competing with each other to take credit for earning foreign currency by developing mining resources and wooing foreign investment.
　北朝鮮では、「強盛国家」建設の大号令の下、鉱山資源開発や投資呼び込みなど外貨稼ぎのため、内閣や党、軍の関係各機関が手柄を競い合っている。

As long as North Korea continues pursuing nuclear weapons development and economic construction in parallel, there is no way the international community will ease its sanctions on the country.
　もとより、核兵器開発と経済建設の二兎(にと)を追う「並進路線」を続ける限り、国際社会が制裁を緩和することはない。

If North Korea is serious about pursuing honest economic activity, the only option is to abandon its nuclear and missile development.
　まっとうな経済活動を目指すのであれば、核・ミサイル開発を放棄するのが唯一の道である。

With the abrupt downfall of Jang, Choe Ryong Hae, director of the Korean People’s Army General Political Bureau, who was seen as a rival of Jang, will gain more clout.
　張氏の突然の失脚により、今後は、張氏のライバルと見られてきた崔竜海・朝鮮人民軍総政治局長の影響力が強まろう。

Some observers in Japan had held expectations that Jang could be a go-between with direct ties to Kim over the issue of Japanese abducted by North Korean agents. Now that Jang has been ousted, it is essential that Japan carefully analyze the internal situation in North Korea.
　日本には、拉致問題解決を図る上で、第１書記に直結するパイプ役として張氏に期待する向きもあった。張氏までもが粛清された今、まずは北朝鮮の内部事情を慎重に分析することが肝要である。

There are fears the Kim regime may resort to such acts as a nuclear test to deflect and suppress unrest within the country. Japan must remain vigilant.
　金体制が国内の動揺を抑えるために核実験などの挙に出ることも懸念される。警戒は怠れない。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Dec. 10, 2013)
（2013年12月10日01時45分  読売新聞）