[KS] Dear Leader

[Ruediger_Frank]

Dear all,

as Aidan knows from many related debates we had, the title of Kim Jong-il is one of the issues that bothers me a lot. Actually, it is not the title itself, but how it is used in Western media. Kim JI has been the Dear Leader (jinaehaneun jidoja) until his father's death, which is long enough ago to just forget about that title. Ever since, his functionary titles (chongbiseo, wiwonjang etc.) aside, he is referred to as Great Leader (widaehan ryeongdoja) or, less frequently, Dear General (jinaehaneun janggunnim). We outsiders seem to like the somewhat funny expression "Dear Leader", so it has survived in our media. So far, so good,  but imho at least academics should use the correct title, no matter what they personally think about the man. It is certainly problematic that in English, widehan suryeongnim and widehan ryeongdoja are both translated as Great Leader; however, I am wondering why there would be too many instances to use these honorific titles anyway (imagine the NYT or Washington Post using "Great Leader"). The official address in international protocol is Chairman (wiwonjang), which is both correct and fairly neutral. As for the Worker's Party, it should be mentioned that "Labour Party" (instead of Labourer's Party) would indeed be the correct translation; it is not rodongjadang, but rodongdang. But I guess that would make our British colleagues unhappy...

Best,

Ruediger Frank

PS: For those who might think these are just words, here is what Confucius had to say (Lun-yu, Chapter 13, Verse 3): 
"If terminology is not corrected, then what is said cannot be followed. If what is said cannot be followed, then work cannot be accomplished. If work cannot be accomplished, then ritual and music cannot be developed. If ritual and music cannot be developed, then criminal punishments will not be appropriate. If criminal punishments are not appropriate, the people cannot make a move. Therefore, the Superior Man needs to have his terminology applicable to real language, and his speech must accord with his actions. The speech of the Superior Man cannot be indefinite."
(http://www.human.toyogakuen-u.ac.jp/~acmuller/contao/analects.htm)


am Mittwoch, 04. Oktober 2006 um 03:10 schrieben Sie:

> Dear Andriy & Michael

> "Suryo^ng-nim" is just "leader". "Dear leader" is a usual English
> rendering of "Chin'aeha'nu^n chidoja" and is a standard epithet for
> Kim Cho^ng-il.  Kim's father was known, inter alia, as
> "kyo^ng'aeha'nu^n suryo^ng-nim," another epithet standardly rendered
> in English as "Respected and Beloved Leader."  The
> "Nodongdang"/"Rodongdang") is translated regularly as the "[Korean]
> Workers Party," in English and is often abbrievated KWP.  Kim
> Cho^ng-il is the General Secretary ("Ch'ong Piso^.")

> Doc Rock

> Andriy Ryzhkov <andy_kim at ukr.net> wrote: Dear Michael, 
> "Dear leader" sounds like "suryong-nim" in Korean and is still used to address Kim Jeon Il,
> but this term is used mostly in North Korea (he may also be called
> "Kim Jeong Il rodong-dang piseo" which means "The secretary of
> labour party", which is more official, but I`m not sure about the
> correctness of this term).  In "suryong-nim" "suryong" is
> Sino-Korean word which stands for "the leader" and "~nim" is a
> honorific suffix of pure Korean origin. As for South Korea, he is
> usually called "Kim Jeong Il gugpang wiweon-jang" or "chairman of National defence committee".
> I`m not sure whether my reply is satisfactory...
> Best regards, 
> Ryzhkov Andriy, 
> PhD candidate
> National Taras Shevchenko university of Kyiv.






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> Korean Language Instructor 
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