THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-April 15, 2017- Topic 2

Tensions in Korean peninsula

Cool minds

With tensions in the Korean peninsula continuing to escalate, Beijing took the rather extreme step on Friday of warning that something needs to be done to wind down the U.S.-North Korea confrontation, saying the “the storm is about to break”. The heightened rhetoric of recent days follows Washington’s display of naval power with the despatch of a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group to the waters off the Korean coast. Though U.S. officials described the move as merely cautionary, President Donald Trump, who has made North Korea a key foreign policy concern of his administration, used the word “armada” somewhat ominously. 

For their part, the North Koreans have threatened nuclear retaliation in the event of any attack. In late March, the U.S. had commenced installation of the so-called Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea in response to missile tests by the North. The agreement, in the works since last year, has already increased regional tensions, entangling China as well. Washington and Seoul have emphasised that intercepting the North’s advanced development of inter-continental ballistic missiles was the real objective behind the new system. But apprehensive that its own nuclear infrastructure would be inevitably exposed to snooping by the THAAD radar, Beijing has sought to counter Seoul with trade and tourism boycotts.

Mr. Trump’s threat of unilateral action against Pyongyang in the event that China fails to rein in North Korea may partly echo the mood in Washington after the recent missile strikes in Syria. If the Chinese government views Pyongyang’s growing nuclear capability with concern, as it professes to, then it must do much to use its leverage effectively. Merely stressing the need for a peaceful resolution to the conflict is not enough. Japan, Washington’s important regional ally, would view with no less consternation any potential threat to stability in its neighbourhood. American air strikes in Syria last week have raised very valid concerns about their legitimacy under international law. But they also indicate that the Trump administration may be shifting politically from a populist-driven isolationism to more conventional interventionism. His latest observations on China point to a shift from open confrontation to a possible constructive engagement. Notable here, for instance, is a willingness to eschew the previous rhetoric on China as a currency manipulator. Against this emerging backdrop, a return to a reasoned and nuanced approach on North Korea would be a most positive development in these volatile times. That would, however, require a spectacular roll-back by Pyongyang of its current nuclear capability, which includes long-range missiles that can reach targets in the Pacific. As well as sustained cooperation between China and the U.S., it is time for cooler minds to weigh in — there is nothing to be gained by aggressively staring down adversaries.

Vocabulary

Confrontation: a hostile or argumentative meeting or situation between opposing parties.

Example: A confrontation with the legislature

Synonyms: conflict, clash, fight, battle, encounter, faceoff, engagement

Rhetoric: the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques.

Example: Born into a rich provincial family, he studied philosophy as well as rhetoric and law.

Synonyms: oratory, eloquence, command of language, way with words

Merely: just; only.

Example: She seemed to him not merely an intelligent woman, but a kind of soul mate

Synonyms: only, purely, solely, simply, just, but

Armada: a fleet of warships.

Example: An armada of destroyers, minesweepers, and gunboats

Synonyms: fleet, flotilla, squadron, navy

Ominous: giving the impression that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen; threatening; inauspicious.

Example: There were ominous dark clouds gathering overhead

Synonyms: threatening, menacing, baleful, forbidding, sinister

Retaliation: the action of returning a military attack.

Example: The bombings are believed to be in retaliation for the trial of 15 suspects

Synonyms: revenge, vengeance, reprisal, retribution, requital, recrimination

Entangle: cause to become twisted together with or caught in.

Example: Fish attempt to swim through the mesh and become entangled

Synonyms: twist, intertwine, entwine, tangle, ravel, snarl, knot, coil

Apprehensive: anxious or fearful that something bad or unpleasant will happen.

Example: He felt apprehensive about going home

Synonyms: anxious, worried, uneasy, nervous, concerned

Consternation: feelings of anxiety or dismay, typically at something unexpected.

Example: I always welcomed clover, much to the consternation of the neighbors

Synonyms: dismay, perturbation, distress, disquiet, discomposure

                                        

Eschew: deliberately avoid using.

Example: He appealed to the crowd to eschew violence

Synonyms: abstain from, refrain from, give up, forgo, shun

Volatile: liable to change rapidly and unpredictably, especially for the worse.

Example: The political situation was becoming more volatile

Synonyms: tense, strained, fraught, uneasy, uncomfortable, charged