Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung being taken to a hospital on the 19th day of his hunger strike on Monday (Yonhap)

진행자: 최정윤, Beth Eunhee Hong

1. What drove Korea's once-revered teachers to despair?

요약: 논란이 계속 되고 있는 교사들의 교권 침해, 무엇이 한 때 존경 받던 선생님들을 절망으로 몰아 넣었나

[1] For Kim, a retired teacher in her late 60s, teaching was one of the greatest gifts of her life. Recalling students’ laughter and small parties in classrooms celebrating Teachers’ Day every year, she was a teacher who was revered and appreciated by both students and parents.

*despair: 절망/ 체념하다

*revere: 숭배하다, 존경하다 (respect, admire, think highly of)

[2] However, when Kim visited a memorial altar for a Seoul elementary school teacher who took her own life on Sept. 4, she lamented at how different schools have become and how the teaching profession -- widely revered in South Korea for many previous generations -- has fallen into disarray.

*lament: v. 애통/한탄하다 n. 애도 (mourn, grieve, weep for, bemoan, bewail)

*disarray:혼란, 혼돈 (disorder, confusion, mess, chaos; by the wayside)

[3] The recent back-to-back deaths of teachers by apparent suicides have laid bare the dark reality of schools, where educators are not only losing respect from students and parents, but also control of their classrooms. Including the 23-year-old teacher at Seoi Elementary School in Seoul, three others -- in Daejeon; Gunsan, North Jeolla Province; and Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province -- took their lives in last two months, sending shock waves through the education community.

*back-to-back: 꼬리를 물고, 연이어 / 서로 등을 맞대고

*lay bare: 발가벗기다, 드러내다 (reveal, disclose, divulge, show, expose)

[4] The deceased teachers had all grappled with high volumes of work and students bringing challenging behavior to classrooms that led to severe stress, according to reports. They were also heavily pressured by aggressive parents who complained about everyday classroom matters, along with parents’ threats of reporting them for child abuse.

*grapple with: ~을 해결하려고 노력하다

*abuse: 남용, 오용 (=misuse) /학대

기사 원문: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20230919000615

2. Lee Jae-myung and the politics of fasting

기사 요약: 특정 메시지를 전달, 혹은 결정을 이끌어내기 위한 목적으로 거행되는 '정치인의 단식' 속 역사와 의미는 무엇일까? 야당 대표 이재명의 단식 투재을 통해 본 한국 속 '단식 정치학'

[1] South Korea’s main opposition leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung has been on an indefinite hunger strike, having consumed nothing other than salt and fluids for 18 days straight.

*indefinite:무기한의 /분명히 규정되지 않은 (=imprecise)

[2] The chair of the Democratic Party of Korea says he is forgoing food to protest the way President Yoon Suk Yeol is running the country, which he has characterized using two keywords -- “tyranny” and “incompetence.” He insists he would not give up unless his demands are met, one of which is that Yoon replace his entire Cabinet to hold ministers accountable for the “failures” of the president’s first year in office.

*forgo: 포기하다

*tyranny: 압제, 폭압/ 독재 정치, 국가 (=dictatorship, despotism, absolutism)

*incompetence: 무능 (ineptitude, inability, incapacity)

[3] Lee follows in the footsteps of major Korean politicians who staged hunger strikes for varying causes, most notably those dating back to the country’s transition from dictatorship to democracy in the 1980s. Two former presidents, Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, as opposition politicians famously went on fasts lasting 22 days and 13 days, respectively, to oppose the dictatorial governments then in power.

*stage: 무대를 올리다, 어떠한 일을 벌이다 (put on, present, produce)

*dictatorial: 독재자의, 군림하는 (autocratic, undemocratic, totalitarian, authoritarian)

[4] While politicians choosing to fast to make their point is not a rare sight in Korea, questions are being raised in some circles about the motives behind this particular hunger strike, as the opposition leader happens to be one of the most legally embattled members of the National Assembly at the moment.

*embattled: 궁지에 몰린, 공세에 시달리는

기사 원문:http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20230917000183&ACE_SEARCH=1