North Korea's official news media have recently been praising South Korean anti-U.S. beef protests, describing them as a popular struggle against a "traitor" president. The protests hold both irony and lessons for North Koreans.
北韩的官方媒体最近一直高度赞扬韩国人反对进口美国牛肉的抗议活动，说这是针对“卖国”总统李明博的一场人民战争。但是，韩国人发起的抗议活动对北韩的民众来说，既可以说是经验或者是教训，也不乏讽刺的意义。
North Korea's Central News Agency has been expressing solidarity recently with the South Korean protesters. The reports deride South Korean President Lee Myung Bak as a "begging president" who acts as a "puppet" to the United States, and says his administration has been "sentenced to death" by the popular struggle.
北韩的中央新闻社最近公开表示与韩国的抗议民众站在一起。有关的报导都把韩国总统李明博说成是“沿街乞讨”的总统，是美国的一个傀儡，还说李明博内阁已经被这场人民战争“判处了死刑。”
Ryoo Kihl-jae, a Dean at Kyungnam University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, says the protests are useful for the North's propaganda.
Ryoo Kihl-jae是位于首尔的庆南(Kyungnam)大学北韩问题研究所的负责人。他说，韩国最近的这些抗议对北韩的政治宣传来说可以说是大有用武之地。
He says the North is enjoying the fact that the Lee administration is, as he puts it, "on fire." In addition to displaying its enjoyment, he says, the news releases are a way to show Pyongyang's displeasure at Mr. Lee's North Korea policies.
他说：“北韩现在很高兴看到李明博政府火烧眉毛了；除了公开的嘲笑之外，北韩的新闻报导，内中还包涵著对李明博上任之后所采取的针对北韩的政策的不满。”
President Lee has taken a much stiffer line on North Korean aid than his two previous predecessors. North Korea has frequently rebuked Lee for what its media describes as straying from the spirit of the historic North-South summit in 2000.
与他之前的两任总统相比，李明博总统对北韩的援助政策要强硬许多。北韩方面一直在攻击李明博背弃了南北韩之间2000年历史性首脑会议的精神。
However, Professor Ryoo points out North Korea is very selective in its coverage of the South's protests.
但是，Ryoo教授指出，北韩在报导韩国近期发生的抗议活动的时候，实际上是很有选择的。
He says the North does not provide many details about the protests to its people-- choosing to portray them one-dimensionally, as an anti-Lee movement. He says if Pyongyang provided too many details about the protest, it might make North Koreans contemplate their own anger against their government.
他说：“北韩方面根本就不对民众提供抗议活动的具体细节，而是有选择地把整个活动描绘成一边倒；说成是一场打倒李明博的运动。假如平壤方面报导有关抗议的太多细节的话，或许北韩的民众会反思对平壤政府的不满。”
North Korea has one of the most repressive authoritarian governments on the planet. Jang In Suk, a North Korean in her 60s who defected to the South about ten years ago, says protests like the ones in Seoul would be utterly inconceivable back home.
北韩政府是世界上最强权的政府之一。六十多岁的Jang In Suk是十年前从北韩叛逃到韩国的。她说，像韩国这些天来举行的抗议活动，在北韩是根本无法想象的。
She says anyone who talks back to the North Korean government winds up dead, so citizens there do not even dream about protesting. She says, she wants to tell North Koreans that people in the South are like kings - they can speak out, protest, and publish. Such things are theoretically guaranteed in the North's constitution, but have no existence in reality.
她说：“在北韩，谁敢挑战政府，谁就没命了，所以北韩的民众根本想都不敢想抗议的事儿。她希望能够告诉北韩的民众，在韩国，老百姓都如同国王一样，有发表言论、举行抗议、以及出版的权利和自由。在北韩，所有这些在名义上是受宪法保障的公民权利，但是实际上，根本就没有这回事儿。”
North Koreans may perceive another ironic subtext in the South's protests, that South Koreans can afford a lengthy fight about how to indulge their consumption of beef. Most ordinary North Koreans have not tasted or seen beef from any nation for decades. Aid groups warn the North is teetering on the brink of its second famine in ten years, unless it receives donations of corn and other basic grains.
另一方面，北韩的民众从韩国的抗议当中，或许还可以感受到另外一层涵义，那就是，在韩国，人们可以针对牛肉问题而高谈阔论，但是在北韩，普通老百姓已经有几十年都没有见到、或者是品尝到来自不管是哪一个国家的牛肉了。国际援助机构警告说，除非国际社会给予北韩玉米和其他谷物的援助，否则北韩随时可能发生十年来第二次大规模的饥荒。
Cha Sung-Ju, a North Korean defector in his 40s, represents the Committee for the Democratization of North Korea in Seoul. He says it is unfortunate that most South Koreans become so emotive about the beef issue, but remain apathetic about suffering in the North.
今年四十多岁的Cha Sung-Ju也是从北韩叛逃到韩国的。他是总部设在首尔的北韩民主化委员会的代表。他说，很不幸的是，这么多的韩国人在牛肉问题上情绪可以这么激动，但是却很少有人关心北韩民众的疾苦。
He says millions of people are dying of starvation and suffering under dictatorship in the North. He says the hundreds of thousands who have joined the candlelight protests in Seoul have probably never lifted a candle for North Koreans.
他说：“在北韩的独裁统治下，千百万民众在饥荒和迫害当中丧失了生命。但是，在首尔参加烛光抗议的成千上万名韩国人，恐怕从来也没有为北韩的民众点燃过蜡烛。 ” |