nadir

韓国の朴槿恵新大統領の就任式がソウルの国会議事堂前広場で開かれました。就任演説では５年間のビジョンを示しましたが、北朝鮮政策や経済など山積みの問題を抱え、多難なスタートとなりました。

South Korea's president-elect faces tough challenges

(CNN) -- South Korea's first female president Park Geun Hye will take office on Monday in the shadow of two giants -- the first is the specter of a nuclear-armed North Korea and the second is the legacy of her father, former military dictator Park Chung Hee.

The daughter of the assassinated strongman of South Korea, Park, 61, will be sworn into Seoul's presidential Blue House promising a conservative policy of "trustpolitik" with its volatile northern neighbor -- a concept that emphasizes what she has called "mutually binding expectations" between the two sides.

The policy stands in contrast to that of former President Lee Myung-bak, who demanded an end to Pyongyang's nuclear arms program as a condition of economic aid.

His hard line stance came under fire towards the end of his tenure for having achieved little, and for even having further strained relations between the two Koreas.

It's hoped that Park's softer carrot-and-stick approach will tease concessions from Pyongyang at a time when relations have reached an all-time nadir.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/22/world/asia/south-korea-park-inauguration/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

天頂（zenith）の正反対の点を表す末尾のnadirは「（逆境・運命などの）どん底」（the lowest point）という意味です。（例：The relationship between the two countries reached a nadir in the 1920s.）
日本語の外交用語では、こうした二ヶ国間の関係はしばしば「もっとも冷え切った」と形容されることがあります。（UG）