N. Korea: Kim’s overconfidence undermined by miscalculation

The Star ^ | 08/05/06 | TAKUJI KAWATA

[TigerLikesRooster]

Kim’s overconfidence undermined by miscalculation

By TAKUJI KAWATA

IN AUGUST 2000, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il said he wanted to use the country's missile development programme as a diplomatic bargaining chip.

“I made it a (diplomatic) issue. The smaller a country is, the more proud it should be and the more strongly it should stand up against big countries,” he reportedly told an assemblage of South Korean media organisation presidents during a lunch meeting in Pyongyang.

At the time, US President Bill Clinton's administration was drawing to a close. North Korea had dragged the United States into bilateral talks by launching a Taepodong-1 missile in 1998, and the following year it won a modification of US economic sanctions in exchange for freezing its missile launches. The bilateral talks continued thereafter.

At the lunch meeting, Kim's talkativeness was presumably due to the presence of alcoholic drinks.

“If I say so, our county can establish diplomatic ties with the United States as soon as tomorrow,” Kim said.

“Ties will be established immediately after the United States removes the terrorist-branded hat it has capped us with.”

“My power stems from military force. Power in international relations also stems from military force,” Kim added.

I could sense Kim's inflated sense of self-worth when I read his remarks: Yarojidai, a Japanese word meaning arrogance and excessive self-confidence, floated into mind. My impression of Kim has not changed since.

A month has passed since North Korea's July 5 missile launches.

Why did Kim launch the missiles despite international calls for him not to do so? Pyongyang must surely have expected that international pressure would intensify after the launches.

Some specialists say he aimed to re-create his successful diplomatic manoeuvring of 2000.

We must admit that North Korea's diplomacy in 2000 was outstanding. Kim sent his close aide, Cho Myong-Nok to the United States in October, two months after he met the South Korean media.

Later that month, then US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited North Korea.

The United States and North Korea were but one small step from establishing diplomatic ties, but the Clinton administration came to an end.

It is now common knowledge that US-North Korean relations deteriorated rapidly after President George W. Bush took office.

The overconfident Kim may have thought that the United States would come to the negotiating table if North Korea could sway the country by launching missiles. He may also have thought that South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's administration was in his pocket, and that Japan would be unable to act after the missile launches.

Perhaps he also believed that the United Nations would be unable to implement strong measures against North Korea because of Chinese and Russian opposition.

As I have previously written: “Dangerous bargaining chips will lose their effectiveness if they are used too often. In this respect, the use-by date of North Korea's brinkmanship may well have elapsed.”

I wonder if North Korea aimed to maximise the effectiveness of its bargaining chip by launching seven missiles in succession.

Contrary to North Korea's expectations, Japan and the United States upped pressure on the country – as they warned they would – and North Korea was immediately isolated in the international community.

Considering that North Korea has so far failed to take any countermeasures, Kim obviously did not expect events to play out as they have.

He failed to grasp prevailing trends in the international community.

“Kim makes all his decisions with military leaders and his close aides. North Korea's policy tends to be hawkish because the military has a strong influence in the regime,” a Tokyo-based specialist said.

“Issues are not discussed by groups of officials, and his close aides are so busy competing to show their loyalty, Kim can't get correct information from them.”

Kim may have failed to understand recent events from receiving distorted information.

In this respect, Kim, who has survived by depending on military force, looks very much like the naked monarch in The Emperor's New Clothes.

After the latest missile launches, the North Korean media stopped reporting the leader's movements. It is believed that Kim, who apparently now grasps the seriousness of the situation, decided to ponder his next move in a quiet place.

After a long meditation, Kim may agree to return to the six-party talks to try and alleviate, albeit temporarily, international pressure. However, it is impossible to expect him to abandon the development of nuclear weapons or missiles as long as he insists that his power stems from military force.

Either way, there is no doubt that the “dangerous nation” has become even more dangerous. – The Daily Yomiuri / Asia News Network

[TigerLikesRooster]

Actually, the reasoning may have been simpler. All other ways lead eventually to the demise of Kim's regime, so why not move forward with brinkmanship again, crossing his fingers?

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[Tai_Chung]

The overconfident Kim may have thought that the United States would come to the negotiating table if North Korea could sway the country by launching missiles

His overconfidence may have stemmed from the liberals in the United States that demanded, almost as if they were working for the North Korean government, for President Bush to open one-on-one negotiations with North Korea and hailed the success of the Clinton North Korean policies.

[toomuchcoffee]

Paul Harvey mentioned Kim was hosting an international golfing thing last week, hoping to generate golfers interest in playing N K courses. Or, I could have shifted between universes for a moment. It was truly a bizaare thing to hear.

[snowsislander]

I could sense Kim's inflated sense of self-worth when I read his remarks: Yarojidai, a Japanese word meaning arrogance and excessive self-confidence, floated into mind. My impression of Kim has not changed since.

夜郎自大? I hadn't seen that one before.

Interestingly, from a dictionary entry I looked at, it apparently is a Chinese phrase and from doing a Google search certainly showed it used on a lot of Chinese sites compared to Japanese sites.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Hey!~ How did you get the hanja (hanyu, kanji, whatever you want to call it) to post correctly on FR without being baka moji (undecipherable). Been trying to do that for 8 years!!

For example, here is a cut and paste job of your "yurojita" characters just now: –é˜YŽ©‘å ... Watch, it won't work for me....

[AmericanInTokyo]

Self test here, using the script you had inputed to get the Chinese characters. I am just cutting and pasting the string that started with & and ended with a ?:

夜郎自大?

Well I'll be darned. It worked! Now, most noble snowislander, how did you get it from the characters to that odd string of code during the post-up, and then back to Chinese characters so they would display correctly on FR??

[snowsislander]

Well I'll be darned. It worked! Now, most noble snowislander, how did you get it from the characters to that odd string of code during the post-up, and then back to Chinese characters so they would display correctly on FR??

I used Jim Breen's excellent WWWJDIC.

There's a romaji entry option on the right of the search box. I entered the phrase and found the kanji representation. (I then consulted a paper copy of Sanseido's excellent Kanji dictionary to see what it had to say, which is where I found the bit about Chinese.)

From that results page:

Search Key: やろうじだい Options: [G]oogle search, [GI] Google images, [S]anseido dictionary, [A]LC dictionary (Eijiro), [Ex]ample sentences, [V]erb conjugations.

夜 郎自大 【やろうじだい】 (adj-na,n) throwing one's weight around in a small group without knowing one's real worth in a larger world outside [G][GI][S][A]

---

Select an action from the following and click on:   
New Search Dictionary: Key Type:  Text(J/E) RomajiOptions:  Starting Kanji  Common words  Exact word-match
Examine the kanji in a selected compound (Also click on the compound you wish to examine)
Repeat this search (choose another Dictionary above)

You can then choose the option Examine the kanji in a selected compound (Also click on the compound you wish to examine). From there, you get a nice page with encoding information:

夜 4C6B [4475:96e9] U591c B8 C36 G2 S8 F487 N298 V1129 H2056 DK1301 L1037 K258 O766 DO336 MN5763 MP3.0349 E212 IN471 DS144 DF150 DH232 DT169 DC318 DJ93 DB2.17 DG406 P2-2-6 I2j6.1 Q0024.7 DR467 ZPP3-3-5 ZPP3-4-4 Yye4 Wya ヤ よ よる night; evening SOD
郎 4F3A [4726:9859] U90ce B163 G8 S9 S8 XJ1622D 【】F569 N4762 V6138 H1289 DK867 L1851 K237 O1145 DO955 MN39405P MP11.0242 E1936 IN980 DC264 DJ546 DG757 P1-6-3 I2d6.5 Q3772.7 DR844 ZSP1-6-2 Ylang2 Ylang4 Wrang ロウ リョウ おとこ T1 いら お とう もん ろ ろお son; counter for sons SOD
自 3C2B [2811:8ea9] U81ea B132 G2 S6 F19 N3841 V4900 H3525 DK2195 L36 K53 O340 DO60 MN30095 MP9.0403 E134 IN62 DS229 DF242 DH150 DT126 DC14 DJ63 DB2.19 DG1587 P4-6-2 I5c1.1 Q2600.0 DR879 Yzi4 Wja ジ シ みずか.ら おの.ずから おの.ずと T1 より oneself SOD
大 4267 [3471:91e5] U5927 B37 G1 S3 F7 N1171 V1133 H3416 DK2133 L107 K7 O48 DO32 MN5831 MP3.0367 E53 IN26 DS22 DF40 DH25 DT14 DC5 DJ87 DB2.2 DG408 P4-3-4 I0a3.18 Q4003.0 DR1463 Yda4 Ydai4 Wdae Wda Wtae ダイ タイ おお- おお.きい -おお.いに T1 うふ お おう た たかし とも はじめ ひろ ひろし まさ まさる もと わ large; big SOD

While I didn't need to do most of this in this case (I used a cut and paste that worked fine -- if it hadn't, I probably would have instead used the GIF images of each kanji that you can find at Mr. Breen's website), for lots more information about the various codings of each character, you can then visit the Unihan database which is the first link in each entry.

For instance, here is the Unihan database information about the first character (and the phrase in question is mentioned at the of the Japanese usages):

 

Grid Index

Radical-stroke index (36.4-6)

<<< Previous

Next >>>

Glyphs

The Unicode Standard	Your Browser
	夜

Encoding Forms

Decimal	UTF-8	UTF-16	UTF-32
22812	E5 A4 9C	591C	0000591C

IRG Sources

G-source	T-source	H-source	J-source	K-source	KP-source	V-source	U-source
0-5239	1-4C5F		0-4C6B	0-6528	KP0-F7E2	1-5145

Mappings to Major Standards

Chinese

GB 2312	GB 12345	CNS 11643-1986	CNS 11643-1992	CCCII	Big Five	HK SCS
5025	5025	1-4C5F	1-4C5F	21387E	A95D

Japanese

JIS X 0208	JIS X 0212	JIS X 0213
4475

Korean

KS X 1001:1992	KS X 1002:1991	KPS 9566-97	KPS 10721-2000
6908		F7E2

Other

EACC	Xerox	PRC Telegraph	ROC Telegraph
21387E	244:100	1123	1123

Dictionary Information

IRG Indices

KangXi	Morohashi	Dae Jaweon	Hanyu Da Zidian
0246.180	05763	0490.070	10285.010

Other Indices

Cowles	Fenn	Karlgren	Nelson	Mathews	Meyer-Wempe	Lau
5176	268A	187	0298	7315	3869	3378

Radical-stroke Counts

Unicode	KangXi	Japanese	Korean	Morohashi
36.5	36.5

Phonetic Data

Cantonese	Mandarin	Tang	Japanese On	Japanese Kun	Sino-Korean
je6	YE4	*ià	YA	YO YORU	YA

Other Dictionary Data

Definition	Total Strokes	Phonetic	Cangjie
night, dark; in night; by night	8	170 1522 1556	YONK

Variants

Simplified	Traditional	Semantic	Specialized Semantic	Z
				U+4EB1 ()

Chinese Compounds (drawn largely, but not exclusively, from the CEDICT dictionary file)

晝夜		jau3 ye6	day and night
夜里		ye6 lei5	at night
熬夜	ao2 ye4	ngou4 ye6	stay up late or all night
白夜	bai2 ye4	baak6 ye6	white night
半夜	ban4 ye4	bun3 ye6	midnight; in the middle of the night
半夜三更	ban4 ye4 san1 geng1		in the depth of night; late at night
不夜城	bu2 ye4cheng2		(literally) a city with lights turned on all night--a big city with gay night life
卜晝卜夜	bu3zhou4-bu3 ye4	buk1 jau3 buk1 ye6	day and night; around the clock
不分晝夜	bu4 fen zhou4-ye4		(to work) day and night
徹夜	che4ye4	chit3 ye6	all through the night; from dusk to dawn
初夜權	chuye4quan2	cho1 ye6 kyun4	"jus primae noctis" (the right of a feudal lord to the virginity of a maiden on her; wedding night in medieval Europe)
大年夜	da4nian2ye4	daai6 nin4 ye6	on the night of the lunar new year's eve
寒夜	han2ye4	hon4 ye6	cold night, chilly night
後半夜	hou4ban4ye4	hau6 bun3 ye6	after midnight; the wee hours
即夜	ji2ye4	jik1 ye6	on the very night; within the night; immediately
今夜 今夕 今晚 今宵	jin ye4 jin xi4 jin wan3 jin xiao		tonight
沒日沒夜	mei2ri4-mei2ye4	mut6 yat6 mut6 ye6	day an night
每夜	mei3 ye4	mui5 ye6	nightly
年夜飯	nian2 ye4 fan4	nin4 ye6 faan6	New Year's Eve family dinner
年飯 年夜飯	nian2fan4 nian2ye4fan4		dinner for the whole family on the eve of the lunar new year
年夜	nian2ye4	nin4 ye6	New Year's Eve
前夜	qian2ye4	chin4 ye6	the night before the last
日夜	ri4 ye4	yat6 ye6	day and night; around the clock
三更半夜	sangeng-ban4ye4		late at night (usually after midnight)
上半夜	shang4ban4ye4		before midnight
深夜	shen1 ye4	sam1 ye6	very late at night
守夜	shou3ye4	sau2 ye6	to keep night watch
夙興夜寐	su4xing-ye4mei4		to rise early and sleep late; very diligent
夙夜	su4ye4	suk1 ye6	day and night
夙夜匪懈	su4ye4 fei3xie4		to work diligently day and night
天方夜譚	tian fang ye4 tan2	tin1 fong1 ye6 taam4	"Arabian Nights
屋漏偏遭連夜雨	wu lou4 pian zao lian2 ye4 yu3		(literally) The rain fell throughout the night with the roof already leaking--an added misfortune
午夜	wu3 ye4	ng5 ye6	midnight
戊夜	wu4ye4	mou6 ye6	the pre-dawn hours
下半夜	xia4ban4 ye4		after midnight; wee hours
小夜曲	xiao3 ye4 qu3	siu2 ye6 kuk1	serenade
小年夜	xiao3nian2ye4	siu2 nin4 ye6	the night before lunar New Year's Eve
宵夜	xiaoye4	siu1 ye6	a snack before going to bed
巡夜	xun2ye4	cheun4 ye6	to make nightly patrols; a night-watch
夜	ye4	ye6	night
夜不閉戶	ye4 bu2 bi4hu4		There's no need to close doors at night (a description often used to indicate efficient government administration)
夜間	ye4 jian1	ye6 gaan1	nighttime
夜晚	ye4 wan3	ye6 maan5	night
夜以繼日	ye4 yi3 ji4 ri4		night and day; around the clock; day in and day out
夜鶯	ye4 ying1	ye6 ang1	nightingale
夜班	ye4ban	ye6 baan1	night shifts; night work
夜半	ye4ban4	ye6 bun3	midnight
夜(叉)	ye4cha		(in Chinese mythology) a monstrous-looking devil
夜長夢多	ye4chang2-meng4duo		(literally) The night is long and dreams many. --There'll be twists and obstacles if a problem or an issue is not settled promptly
夜場	ye4chang3 (chang)	ye6 cheung4	night show
夜車	ye4che		night train
夜度資	ye4du4zi	ye6 dou6 ji1	money charged by a prostitute for boudoir favors for a night
夜工	ye4gong	ye6 gung1	night work
夜光杯	ye4guangbei	ye6 gwong1 bui1	a wine glass
夜光錶	ye4guangbiao3	ye6 gwong1 biu1	a watch with luminous markings on the dial
夜合花	ye4he2hua	ye6 hap6 fa1	magnolia pumila
夜壺	ye4hu2	ye6 wu4	a chamer-pot
夜間 夜晚 夜(裡)	ye4jian ye4wan3 ye4li5		the night; night time
夜間部	ye4jianbu4	ye6 gaan1 bou6	the night department (of a school, college, or university)
夜禁	ye4jin4		night curfew
夜驚	ye4jing	ye6 ging1	nocturnal phobia
夜景	ye4jing3	ye6 ging2	night scenes (of a locality)
夜靜	ye4jing4	ye6 jing6	the dead of the night; the still of the night
夜課	ye4ke4	ye6 fo3	night classes
夜來香	ye4lai2xiang	ye6 loi4 heung1	the tuberose
夜闌人靜 夜深人靜	ye4lan2-ren2jing4 ye4shen-ren2jing4		(in) the quiet of the late night; deep in the night
夜郎自大	ye4lang2 zi4da4	ye6 long4 ji6 daai6	the megalomania of the king of Yelang who asked the envoy of Han which was bigger--the Han Empire or the tiny state of Yelang--braggadocio; ignorant and boastful
夜涼如水	ye4liang2 ru2 shui3	ye6 leung4 yu4 seui2	the chilling (autumn)night
夜盲症	ye4mang2zheng4		night-blindness, of hemeralopia
夜貓子	ye4maozi5	ye6 maau1 ji2	the owl; a person who enjoys night life
夜明珠	ye4ming2zhu	ye6 ming4 jyu1	a pearl that shines at night, a legendary treasure
夜勤	ye4qin2	ye6 kan4	night shift; night work (esp. referring to doctors, policemen, newsmen, etc.)
夜色蒼茫	ye4se4 cangmang2	ye6 sik1 chong1 mong4	twilight at dusk
夜市	ye4shi4	ye6 si5	business activities in night hours; markets devoted to nighttime business
夜襲	ye4xi2	ye6 jaap6	night attack; to launch an attack under the cover of night
夜戲	ye4xi4	ye6 hei3	night show; evening performance
夜校	ye4xiao4		a night school
夜行軍	ye4xing2jun		night march
夜行人	ye4xing2ren2		night traveles; thieves, etc. who move about at night
夜夜	ye4ye4	ye6 ye6	every night; night after night
夤夜	yin2ye4	yan4 ye6	deep in the night
永夜	yong3ye4	wing5 ye6	a long night
子夜	zi3ye4	ji2 ye6	midnight

 

Japanese Compounds (drawn from the EDICT dictionary file)

お七夜	おしちや	name-giving ceremony
暗夜	あにゃ	dark night
暗夜	あんや	dark night
闇夜	あにゃ	dark night
闇夜	あんや	dark night
闇夜	やみよ	dark night
一昨々夜	いっさくさくや	two nights before last
一昨昨夜	いっさくさくや	two nights before last
一昨夜	いっさくや	night before last
一昼夜	いっちゅうや	a whole day and night/24 hours
一日一夜	いちにちいちや	all day and night
一夜	いちや	one night/all night/overnight/one evening
一夜	ひとや	one night/all night/overnight/one evening
一夜	ひとよ	one night/all night/overnight/one evening
一夜乞食	いちやこじき	a person made homeless by fire
一夜妻	いちやづま	temporary consort/prostitute
一夜妻	ひとよづま	temporary consort/prostitute
一夜造り	いちやずくり	built in a night/stopgap/hastily written
一夜大臣	いちやだいじん	overnight millionaire
一夜中	いちやじゅう	all night through
一夜中	ひとやじゅう	all night through
一夜漬け	いちやづけ	salted just overnight/cramming
乙夜	いつや	about 10 p.m.
乙夜	おつや	about 10 p.m.
寒夜	かんや	cold night
金剛夜叉妙王	こんごうやしゃみょうおう	Vajra-yaksa Vidya-raja (Budd.)
月夜	つきよ	moonlit night
甲夜	こうや	8 p.m.
今夜	こんや	this evening/tonight
昨夜	さくや	last night
昨夜	ゆうべ	last night
三日三夜	みっかみよ	3 days and 3 nights
七夜	しちや	celebration of a child's seventh day
十五夜	じゅうごや	night of the full moon/the night of the 15th day of the 8 lunar month
十三夜	じゅうさんや	13th day (of the moon)/the night of he 13th day of 9th lunar month
十六夜	いざよい	16-day-old moon
夙夜	しゅくや	from morning till night/day and night/always
初夜	しょや	first night/first watch of the night/bridal night
除夜	じょや	New Year's Eve
深夜	しんや	late at night
真夜中	まよなか	dead of night/midnight
星夜	せいや	starry night/starlight night
晴夜	せいや	clear night
静夜	せいや	quiet night
先夜	せんや	few nights ago
千一夜	せんいちや	Thousand and One Nights
千夜	せんや	many nights
前夜	ぜんや	last night/the previous night
前夜祭	ぜんやさい	Christmas Eve/the eve (of festival)
昼も夜も	ひるもよるも	day and night
昼夜	ちゅうや	day & night
昼夜を舎かず	ちゅうやをおかず	continuing day and night
昼夜兼行	ちゅうやけんこう	around-the-clock/(working) day and night
通夜	つや	all-night vigil over a body/a wake
徹夜	てつや	all night/all night vigil/sleepless night
同夜	どうや	the same night/that night
日夜	にちや	day & night/always
白河夜船	しらかわよふね	be fast asleep (and totally unaware of what is going on around one)
白夜	びゃくや	white (arctic) night/short night
半夜	はんや	midnight
百鬼夜行	ひゃっきやぎょう	a veritable pandemonium/a large number of people plotting and doing evil/a scandalous scene
百鬼夜行	ひゃっきやこう	a veritable pandemonium/a large number of people plotting and doing evil/a scandalous scene
不夜城	ふやじょう	nightless gay quarters/nightless city
夜	よる	evening/night
夜々	よよ	every evening/night after night
夜々中	よるよなか	midnight
夜ごと	よごと	nightly
夜なべ	よなべ	night work
夜な夜な	よなよな	every evening/night after night
夜もすがら	よもすがら	all night
夜暗	やあん	dead of night/shades of night
夜陰	やいん	shades of evening/dead of night
夜烏	よがらす	night crow
夜雨	やう	night rain
夜営	やえい	encamping at night
夜伽	よとぎ	watching/vigil/watcher
夜稼ぎ	よかせぎ	night work/burglary
夜会	やかい	evening party
夜会結び	やかいむすび	evening hairdo
夜会服	やかいふく	evening dress
夜回り	よまわり	night watch/night watchman
夜学	やがく	evening course/night-school
夜学校	やがっこう	night school
夜寒	よさむ	night cold/cold night
夜寒	よざむ	night cold/cold night
夜間	やかん	at night/nighttime
夜間営業	やかんえいぎょう	open at night
夜間勤務	やかんきんむ	night work
夜間撮影	やかんさつえい	night photography
夜間中学	やかんちゅうがく	evening middle school
夜間部	やかんぶ	night-school season
夜間預金々庫	やかんよきんきんこ	night-deposit safe
夜間預金金庫	やかんよきんきんこ	night-deposit safe
夜気	やき	night air/stillness of night/cool evening
夜汽車	よぎしゃ	night train
夜詰め	よづめ	night watch
夜宮	よみや	eve of a festival vigil
夜泣き	よなき	(vs) crying (of an infant) at night (due to colic)
夜業	やぎょう	night work/night shift
夜曲	やきょく	nocturne
夜勤	やきん	night shift
夜具	やぐ	bedding
夜空	よぞら	night sky
夜景	やけい	night view
夜警	やけい	night watchman
夜見の国	よみのくに	hades/realm of the dead/the next world
夜見世	よみせ	night shop/night fair
夜光	やこう	nocturnal luminescence
夜光時計	やこうどけい	luminous watch
夜光虫	やこうちゅう	phosphorescent animalcule
夜光塗料	やこうとりょう	luminous paint
夜攻め	よぜめ	night attack
夜更かし	よふかし	staying up late/keeping late hours/sitting up late at night/nighthawk
夜更け	よふけ	late at night
夜更し	よふかし	staying up late/keeping late hours/sitting up late at night/nighthawk
夜行	やぎょう	walking around at night/night train/night travel
夜行	やこう	walking around at night/night train/night travel
夜叉	やしゃ	female demon
夜桜	よざくら	cherry trees at evening
夜晒	よざらし	leaving things exposed outside all night
夜仕事	よしごと	night work
夜市	よいち	night market
夜襲	やしゅう	night attack/nocturnal assault
夜商い	よあきない	night trading
夜商人	よあきんど	night shopkeeper
夜上がり	よあがり	weather clearing at night
夜色	やしょく	shades of night/night scene
夜食	やしょく	supper/night meal
夜深い	よぶかい	(staying) up late at night
夜深け	よふけ	late at night
夜戦	やせん	night warfare
夜船	よふね	night boat
夜前	やぜん	last night
夜想曲	やそうきょく	nocturne
夜鷹	よたか	nighthawk/street walker
夜着	よぎ	night-clothes/heavy kimono-like quilt
夜中	やちゅう	all night/the whole night
夜中	よじゅう	all night/the whole night
夜中	よなか	midnight/dead of night
夜昼	よるひる	day and night
夜長	よなが	long night
夜鳥	やちょう	nocturnal bird
夜通し	よどおし	all night
夜釣り	よづり	night angling
夜店	よみせ	night shop/night fair
夜盗	やとう	night burglar
夜盗虫	やとうむし	cutworm/army worm
夜討ち	ようち	night attack
夜逃げ	よにげ	night flight
夜働き	よばたらき	night work
夜道	よみち	street at night/making a night journey
夜凪	よなぎ	evening calm
夜尿症	やにょうしょう	bed-wetting/enuresis
夜這い	よばい	night crawling/sneaking visit
夜泊	やはく	night mooring
夜半	やはん	midnight/dead of night
夜半	よわ	midnight/dead of night
夜番	やばん	night watch/night sentry
夜番	よばん	night watch/night sentry
夜風	よかぜ	night wind
夜分	やぶん	evening/night/nighttime
夜歩き	よあるき	walking around at night
夜毎	よごと	every night
夜霧	よぎり	night fog
夜明かし	よあかし	staying up all night/all night vigil
夜明け	よあけ	dawn/daybreak
夜明けの明星	よあけのみょうじょう	morning star
夜鳴き	よなき	crying or singing (of bird, etc.) at night
夜盲症	やもうしょう	night blindness
夜目にも明るい	よめにもあかるい	luminous in the dark
夜夜	よよ	every evening/night after night
夜夜中	よるよなか	midnight
夜遊び	よあそび	night amusements
夜来	やらい	overnight/since last night
夜嵐	よあらし	night storm
夜立ち	よだち	setting out at night
夜露	よつゆ	evening dew/night dew
夜郎自大	やろうじだい	throwing one's weight around in a small group without knowing ones' real worth in a larger world outside
夜話	やわ	night talks/evening tea parties
夜話	よばなし	night talks/evening tea parties
連日連夜	れんじつれんや	every day and every night

 

Other Data

Data type	Value
kFourCornerCode	0024.7
kGSR	0800j
kCihaiT	341.401
kGradeLevel	2
kKangXi	0246.180
kFennIndex	621.01
kRSAdobe_Japan1_6	C+3831+8.2.6 C+3831+36.3.5
kHanyuPinlu	ye4(799)
kFrequency	3
kVietnamese	dạ
kIICore	2.1
kHKGlyph	0831
kMorohashi	05763
kHanYu	10285.010
kDaeJaweon	0490.070
kHangul	야
kSBGY	422.55

---

[dfwgator]

At the lunch meeting, Kim's talkativeness was presumably due to the presence of alcoholic drinks.

So did he blame all wars on the Jews, too?

[DeweyCA]

He failed to grasp prevailing trends in the international community.

It wasn't the international community that changed; it was George Bush replacing the idiots, Clinton and Albright.

[Tai_Chung]

It's a Chinese idiom. I am not familiar of it being a Japanese term.

Chinese kids in Taiwan learn –é˜YŽ©‘å and many other phrases in schools and at home. The purpose is to instill good moral judgement in the children. Such terms are used daily.

–é˜YŽ©‘å is used to decribe a person who's overly confident.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Oh man, you are the GREATEST! THanks VERY MUCH!

[RightWhale]

Big news this morning is that six of the seven 4th of July missile launches were successful. They even called it a nuke test on an early report. This is not news, but that some gov't agency now thinks it is, is news itself. The official alarm status has ratcheted up.

[snowsislander]

It's a Chinese idiom. I am not familiar of it being a Japanese term.

Chinese kids in Taiwan learn 夜郎自大 and many other phrases in schools and at home. The purpose is to instill good moral judgement in the children. Such terms are used daily.

Yes, it's in the list of Chinese references above from the Unihan database, with the description:

the megalomania of the king of Yelang who asked the envoy of Han which was bigger--the Han Empire or the tiny state of Yelang--braggadocio; ignorant and boastful

Japanese also uses many four character combinations from Chinese, such as 呉越同舟. There's a list of 3 or 4 thousand of them somewhere on Jim Breen's site, though it would take me some time to find them.

[Sam Cree]

Can somebody explain to me what the deal is with N Korea?

I have a liberal friend who frequently chastises Bush for not going to the bargaining table with Kim. Of course, I remember what fools Carter and Clinton made of themselves when bargaining with him, but what does Kim want from Bush, and why does Bush refuse to "negotiate?"

Sorry for my ignorance, but thanks.

[Tai_Chung]

The United States knows North Korea is a liar and a cheat. They have violated every agreement it has made with the United States since the Korean War.

The 6-way talks are with North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, and the USA. It allows all parties to have a stake in the success or failure of the talks. It allows all parties to see for themselves the unreasonableness of North Korea and the frustration of their activities. This policy has helped the United States isolate North Korea. It gives more option to the US to put presure on North Korea.

If the US held direct one-on-one talks with North Korea, the Koreans can accuse the US of obstruction and the other regional powers would more likely put presure on the US to appease rather than North Korea. It would isolate the whole nuclear issue as a US-problem rather than a regional problem. If it becomes a US problem, the solution must be a US solution.

Since we already have very limited influence on North Korea, we would likely have only 3 choices in our dealings with North Koera.

1. The Clinton era appeasement strategy. Give North Korea what they want and ignore any violations of the agreement so you don't have to actually try to solve the nuclear issue by option #2.

2. The military option. This would remove North Korea's nuclear capability, but likley isolate the USA with our own allies.

3. Accept a nuclear North Korea. This would likely lead to Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan going nuclear. The US does not want a nuclear arms race in Asia.

What does North Koera want?

1. withdrawl of all US forces from South Korea.
2. Free oil, food, and money to keep their country alive
3. Control of South Korea
4. Nuclear weapons that can be used to blackmail the US for more money at any time.
5. withdrawl of all US forces from Japan

China has great influence on North Korea and could probably get them to do anything they want with the threat of economic sanctions. We also convinced China to host the talks so their international standing as a major responsible power would improve. In reality, China probably wants North Korea to keep the US on edge so China itself won't become a primary focus of US concern.

South Korea's involvement is a courtesy. Any dealings with North Korea should include South Korea. Unfortunately, South Korea has tried to increase their position in the meetings by appeasing North Korea at almost every opportunity.

Japan is included because they are our best ally in Asia and the failure to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of North Korea would likley force Japan to go nuclear.

Russia is really a minor player but was invited because North Korea needed 2 countries in their corner (China and Russia) since the USA had 2 countries in our corner (South Korea and Japan). Besides, we didn't want Russia to attempt to force themselves into a "solution" later on and mess things up.

[Sam Cree]

Thank you, that was a very eloquent answer.

[Sam Cree]

It's good to have others involved when someone is trying to jerk you around.

[dr_who_2]

“I made it a (diplomatic) issue. The smaller a country is, the more proud it should be and the more strongly it should stand up against big countries,” he reportedly told an assemblage of South Korean media organisation presidents during a lunch meeting in Pyongyang.

Spoken like a true cave dwelling cannibal.