Kim Jong Un went secretly on his armored train to visit Russia a few days ago to meet Vladimir Putin. Among other topics, they talked about war toys. North Korea's supreme leader can make its weapons industry available to Russia in exchange for the Russian president authorizing the transfer of advanced technology for satellites and nuclear submarines (in fact, the North Koreans just unveiled a new one, which they call "Whale" ).
Kim Jong Un's followers resemble those of Vladimir Putin. They know what it's like to feel isolated from the world. In the case of North Korea it is even more visible due to its separation from South Korea. Even, just in case, a security strip was established in 1953 between both countries, 4 km wide and 238 km long. What happens above stays above and what happens below stays below, although sometimes they converge and tensions are generated. But, there is something that, even though they are divided, unites both Koreas: language. Korean is the official language in both parts of the Korean Peninsula. That is, it goes beyond the border without anyone shooting it or threatening to fire a nuclear missile.
There are some nuances that further enrich this linguistic relationship, as happens with Spanish from Spain and Spanish from Latin America. In South Korea, Korean is often called Hangugeo, while in North Korea it is preferred to be referred to as Chosŏnmal. It is curious how those above, far from the rest of the planet, tend to adapt neologisms with Korean words, while those below, more Westernized, prefer to adopt English words. The language standard of South Korea is based on the speech of its capital Seoul, while in North Korea that of its own capital, Pyongyang, prevails. All of this is peccata minuta. The Korean language unites what politics and ideology keep apart.
The choreo is quite an example. Curiously, Spain and the entire European Union find it difficult to follow it. In principle, they are united, friendly territories, but, from politics and ideology, languages are used to separate instead of to strengthen ties. This week we saw how Catalan, Basque and Galician made their debut in the Congress of Deputies. Contrary to some bad omens, Spain has not broken (at least, for now) and the deputies have been able to understand each other (or fight) as always.
The representatives of Vox left the plenary session the moment the co-official languages were used and only returned when it was their turn to defend their "no" to this change of chip in the mentality of the Spanish people. The Vox spokesperson stressed that allowing the use of languages other than Spanish in Congress is "an exaltation of division." They didn't want to put a earpiece in their ear to listen to the simultaneous translation, although they did want to put on headphones to listen to a song in English... and maybe one in Catalan. Both voxeros and peperos presented amendments to the entire use of co-official languages.
It might be a good idea to hire the ventriloquist José Luis Moreno in Congress so that, with one of his dolls, he could translate from Catalan to Spanish; from Basque to Spanish; from Galician to Spanish, so that the most reticent deputies would find it more traditional. And, for that matter, we could resort to an Artificial Intelligence of Monchito, Macario and Rockefeller. But, the problem is not the earpiece, right?
But, the fact that language separates (for some) instead of uniting (for others) in Spain is not strange. Has anyone ever stopped to think that the words "yes" and "no" are written and pronounced the same in Spanish and Catalan?... On the other hand, we could think that in the European Union as a whole it is different, because there is much more linguistic wealth. That our allies are more understanding and inclusive.
But, this is not the case, because when a formal request is made for Catalan to also be an official language in the EU, we have run into the Church!... And the Catalan language, with all its wealth of variants, It has at least ten million speakers, many more than some of the official languages of the club of European states. What's more, Catalan is today the thirteenth most used language in the European Union.
Luckily, Pep Guardiola and other celebrities have signed up to broadcast videos calling on European countries to accept Catalan as another official language in the EU. Sweden doesn't seem to like it very much. If anyone has read the book Robo, by Ann-Helén Laestadius, where the discrimination of the Sami culture is perfectly portrayed, you will surely understand why... At the moment, it seems that money is an impediment, as always. But, we insist, the solution may be to create an AI in the image and likeness of José Luis Moreno's dolls to translate in real time in all languages. We do not know if Kim Jong Un, who has a nuclear button, speaks Catalan, even if only in private. But, even though he is one of the most hated or feared leaders on the planet, at least he does not use language as a weapon. On the other hand, in Spain and in the EU, yes.
