thumb one’s nose at somebody
北朝鮮で航空ショーが行われました。
North Korean air show thumbs nose at sanctions, draws aviation enthusiasts
WONSAN, NORTH KOREA – Just weeks after carrying out its fifth nuclear test, North Korea put on an unprecedented civilian and military air display Saturday at the country’s first ever public aviation show.
The two-day Wonsan International Friendship Air Festival was held at the newly refurbished Kalma Airport — previously a military airfield — completed last year to boost tourism in the area around the eastern port city of Wonsan.
The festival was already scheduled before North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test on Sept. 9, triggering international outrage and threats of still further sanctions against the deeply isolated nuclear-armed country.
The show kicked off with an aerial display by a U.S. Hughes MD-500 military helicopter — one of a number acquired in the 1980s by using a third country to circumvent U.S. export restrictions.
Sunday featured flights by one-sixth scale models of the U.S. F-16 and Chinese J-10 fighters, with the F-16 launching fireworks.
The choice of an F-16 at the show was an odd one considering the outrage North Korea regularly expresses over the presence of U.S. troops and air force bases in South Korea.
The North was particularly outraged over recent flights by B-1B Lancer bombers, which are capable of dropping nuclear weapons, near the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Koreas in a display of power after the North’s latest nuclear test.
Sunday’s events also included a demonstration of military parachuting, with the first two skydivers descending with huge North Korean and ruling party flags.
North Korea’s aviation industry was targeted by provisions in the U.N. Security Council resolution passed after its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6.
The provisions prevent member states selling or supplying North Korea with aviation fuel, aviation gasoline or naphtha-type jet fuel or kerosene-type jet fuel.
But a recent report by the Nautilus Institute for Security concluded that domestic supply of jet fuel was probably adequate to keep air force aircraft flying, especially given their very low annual exercise rate.
今回取り上げるのはthumbs nose atです。
LDOCEで“thumb your nose at somebody/something”の形で“to show that you do not respect rules, laws etc or you do not care what someone thinks of you”と定義されているように「（人を）ばかにする」の意味で用いられていることが分かります。
thumbを動詞として使うことで、同じ意味の“make a long nose at”と同様に「親指を鼻に突き立てる」動作を表し、小馬鹿にするような格好が想像できます。
国連安全保障理事会による、北朝鮮への航空燃料輸出の禁止の制裁があるにも関わらず、ショーを堂々と行う北朝鮮の様子が表されています。(flyingbird)
