【796-797】朝鲜的禁忌之爱在越南找到了出路&尼日利亚大选：年经选民，老候选人

AS IT IS

Nigeria’s Election: Young Voters, Old Candidates

February 13, 2019

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari greets his supporters during a campaign rally ahead of the country's presidential election in Rivers State, Nigeria, Feb. 12, 2019.

Two men in their 70s are candidates in the Nigerian presidential election on Saturday. Yet half of the country’s registered voters are young people between 18 and 35 years of age.

The two men are well-known to voters. It is the fifth election campaign for President Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, who was a military ruler in the 1980s. Buhari, now 76 years old, is seeking re-election as president.

This is the fourth campaign for Atiku Abubakar, the main opposition candidate. Abubakar, now 72, was vice president from 1999 to 2007.

The presidential election offers little hope of change for young people in a country where nearly 25 percent of the workforce is unemployed. Some fear anger over the lack of jobs may lead to violence.

In Abuja, the Nigerian capital, student Dorcas Nathaniel is making plans to vote for the first time.

"I should be happy, but I'm not happy because the two candidates aren't what I expected," she said.

Nathaniel added that she had hoped at least one of the candidates would have policies she could support, but neither did. At 20, she is in the under-35 age group that makes up 51 percent of Nigeria’s 84 million registered voters.

Anyone seeking an alternative candidate is less than happy. The two main candidates are well-known, older Muslim men from northern Nigeria.

The similarities between the two are largely because of an unofficial power-sharing agreement between the country’s north and south. Under the deal, the position of president alternates from one area to the other every two four-year terms. It is now the turn of the mainly Muslim north.

There are more than 70 other presidential candidates. Yet they lack the financing available to Buhari and Atiku. The money comes from the All Progressives Congress and People's Democratic Party. The two parties have governed Nigeria since military rule ended in 1999.

The two men have also developed patronage systems after many years in politics.

FILE - Nigeria's main opposition party presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar speaks during an interview with Reuters in Lagos, Nigeria, Jan. 16, 2019.

Buying Votes

John Sunday is a 23-year-old student who lives in a poor neighborhood called Makoko. He said many people there were more interested in getting money from political parties than choosing their favorite candidate.

"People are after money. They're not after the future of their children. They are selling their votes," said Sunday, a political science student.

"Vote buying" is not new, but Sunday said for many people in the poor areas, life is getting more difficult. Among those aged 15 to 35, more than 55 percent are either out of work or not in full-time jobs.

Nationwide inflation reached a 7-month high of 11.4 percent in December 2018.

Cheta Nwanze is the head of research at SBM Intelligence, a service that provides advice to politicians. He said that poverty and higher living costs were a cause of violent crime as young men tried to make money outside official employment.

He said, "The economy isn't growing anywhere near enough to support them. When you have such a situation, the outcome is that all sorts of people will rise up to fill in the gaps."

Insecurity

Nigeria's security forces face violence within communities over land use.

Nigeria also has a history of violence at election time. This unrest can sometimes involve criminals paid to frighten voters. It also can result from public anger at fears of voting corruption.

Human Rights Watch reported that, eight years ago, more than 800 people died in election-related violence. The 2015 election of Buhari was comparatively peaceful, however.

Buhari and Atiku have both sought to consider the needs of those unable to find work in an economy struggling to recover from its first recession in 25 years.

The president said the expansion of a nationwide vocational skills program could create more than 15 million new jobs. He also said education was a concern. He promised to retrain teachers in subjects like science, technology and mathematics.

Atiku wants to expand the influence of private business to create jobs. These include promises to privatize the state oil company and spend $25 billion to support private business investment in the country.

I’m Susan Shand.

Alexis Akwagyiram reported this story for the Reuters news agency. Susan Shand adapted the story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

alternative – n. something that can be chosen instead of something else; a choice or option

patronage – n. the power to give jobs or provide other help to people as thanks for their support

gap – n. a hole or space where something is missing

vocational – adj. relating to the special skills or training that you need for a job or occupation

AS IT IS

Forbidden Love in N. Korea Finds a Way in Vietnam

February 13, 2019

In 1971, he was a Vietnamese student who had just met the love of his life. She was a North Korean worker who knew she was forbidden to love him back.

It took 31 years before Pham Ngoc Canh, the Vietnamese student, and Ri Yong Hui, the North Korean woman, were finally married. They wed in 2002, after North Korea took the unusual step of permitting one of its citizens to marry a foreigner.

Former Vietnamese chemical student Pham Ngoc Canh who studied in North Korea and his North Korean wife Ri Yong Hui hold their first photo together which was taken in Spring 1971, at their house in Hanoi, Vietnam February 12, 2019. (REUTERS/Kham)

Now she is 70 years old and he is 69. They live in an apartment in the city of Hanoi, in Vietnam. Today, Vietnam is one of Asia’s fastest growing economies, but when the couple met the country was struggling. It was at war with the United States and divided in two. So the North Vietnamese government sent 200 students, including Canh, to North Korea to gain the skills the country would need to rebuild.

In North Korea, Canh saw Ri working in a laboratory. Canh said, “I thought to myself, ‘I must marry that girl.’”

Ri’s friends had told her about the Vietnamese student who was training at the factory. “As soon as I saw him, I knew it was him,” said Ri. “He looked so gorgeous.”

She added, “Until then, when I had seen so-called handsome guys I hadn’t felt anything, but when he opened the door, my heart just melted.”

The courtship

But romantic relationships with foreigners are strictly forbidden in North Korea. They were also forbidden in Vietnam at the time.

However, Ri and Canh exchanged letters. In time, she agreed to let him visit her at home. He had to be careful. He knew another Vietnamese man had been beaten when he had been found with a North Korean woman.

So Cahn dressed in North Korean clothes, took a three-hour bus ride and walked two kilometers to reach Ri’s home. Canh said, “I went to her house secretly, just like a guerrilla.”

He repeated the trip every month until 1973, when he returned to Vietnam. He was the son of a high-ranking party official, and he was expected to have a bright future with the state. But he refused to join the Communist Party.

“I just couldn’t agree with a socialism that stops people from loving each other,” Canh said.

In 1978, Canh asked to return to North Korea with a group of Vietnamese engineers. He arranged to meet Ri, and even wrote a letter asking the North Korean leadership for permission to marry her.

But Ri said the visit broke her heart. She did not believe her government would agree to his proposal, and she was afraid the two would never meet again.

So Canh did not send her the letter. Instead, he asked Ri to wait for him.

Later that year, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and fought a border war with China. North Korea and Vietnam were on opposite sides of the conflict. Ri and Canh stopped writing.

“My mother was crying while caring for me,” said Ri. “I think she knew that I was lovesick.”

Years passed. Finally, in 1992, Ri sent Canh a letter. She told him that she still loved him.

Former Vietnamese chemical student Pham Ngoc Canh who studied in North Korea and his North Korean wife Ri Yong Hui looks at their wedding photos, at their house in Hanoi, Vietnam February 12, 2019. (REUTERS/Kham)

The marriage

But the two still could not meet, let alone marry. Then, in the late 1990s, North Korea faced a deadly famine. By now, the Vietnamese government was connected to the West, and it refused to send aid.

But Canh was so concerned for Ri and others that he raised donations of rice to send to North Korea. When North Korean officials learned of Canh’s act of kindness, they agreed he could marry Ri – but only if Ri kept her North Korean citizenship.

In 2002, the couple finally married in the Vietnamese embassy in Pyongyang. “In the end, love beat socialism,” said Canh.

Canh and Ri are hoping the upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi will help end hostilities between their countries.

“If you’re a North Korean, you want to see this resolved. But politics is complicated,” Ri said. “When people first heard Kim Jong Un decided to meet Trump, they expected reunification to happen soon. But that’s hard to realize in just one or two days. I hope things work out well.”

I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I'm Bryan Lynn.

Hai Do adapted this story for Learning English based on a report from Reuters. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. The video was produced by Reuters and Dorothy Gundy.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

wed - v. marry

romantic - adj. of, relating to, or involving love between two people

guerrilla - n. a member of a usually small group of soldiers who do not belong to a regular army and who fight in a war as an independent unit

【目录2】As It Is-----------

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【383】Why Some Americans Keep Talking About Chicago 1968

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