capitulate 復習
トランプ大統領は、核兵器を保有する北朝鮮の「混乱」は今後も繰り返されるだろうと言及しました。
WASHINGTON — President Trump never tires of pointing out that his predecessors left him the “mess” of a nuclear-armed North Korea — a legacy of errors he vows not to repeat.
But as Mr. Trump announced Friday that his summit meeting with Kim Jong-un was back on, there were moments when he echoed Bill Clinton in his failed effort to settle another North Korea crisis nearly a quarter century ago.
Rather than sticking with the demand that North Korea disarm immediately, Mr. Trump opened the door to a prolonged freeze on the North’s existing nuclear capability, with vague declarations that disarmament will follow. That is essentially the deal Mr. Clinton embarked on with Mr. Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il-sung, in 1994.
Rather than warning that he would keep the younger Mr. Kim’s feet to the fire with sanctions until he complies, Mr. Trump said after meeting in the Oval Office with North Korea’s spy chief that he no longer wanted to use the term “maximum pressure,” a phrase drilled into the vocabulary of his aides for the past year.
(中略)
Some former negotiators said Mr. Trump had gotten a much-needed education in the complexities of dealing with North Korea. They said his drive for a meeting was still the best hope to avoid war.
“The trick will be to reach agreements that may not be the Libya model of immediate disarmament but that stop, roll back and eventually dismantle North Korean programs in a way that gives us confidence that they aren’t cheating,” said Joel S. Wit, an expert on North Korea who was involved in diplomacy during the Clinton administration.
“The only way to do that is to meet their concerns on issues like a peace treaty,” Mr. Wit said. “It’s not ideal, but that’s what negotiations are about. It’s not one side capitulates. It’s both sides win.”
Gardiner Harris contributed reporting
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/06/02/world/asia/trump-north-korea-nuclear-arms.html
capitulate /kəpítʃʊlèɪt/ に注目しました。『ジーニアス英和辞典第5版』(大修館) によると、「(不本意ながら) 負けを認める、(条件付きで) 降参する」といった意味があります。『ケンブリッジ英英辞典』をみると “to accept something or agree to do something unwillingly” あるいは “to accept military defeat” とあり、嫌々ながら相手の要求を飲む様を表しているとわかります。
capitulate はラテン語で「小さい頭」を指す “capitulum” が語源とされていることがわかりました。なぜ「小さな頭」といった意味の語から派生したか詳しくはわかりませんでしたが、おそらく自分の言いたい意見を言えず縮こまった様を「頭が小さい」と表したのではないかと推察できます。
トランプ大統領は北朝鮮の非核化政策について金委員長側の要望により段階的に行うことに承認したそうです。(Happidra)
