密告制度

English translation: Network of clandestine informants

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Japanese term or phrase:	密告制度
English translation:	Network of clandestine informants
Entered by:	KNielsen

04:23 Feb 3, 2006

Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Government / Politics

Japanese term or phrase: 密告制度

How would you translate this? It's in relation to North Korea (ie, that North Korea operates on this kind of a system). Thanks for your help!

KNielsen KudoZ activity Questions: 33 (none open) Answers: 87 Japan
Local time: 04:03

Network of clandestine informants

Explanation:
制度 is typically "system," but essentially means a structured process for doing something. "Organization" or "network" would also work.
密告 is to inform secretively.

Network of secret informants
Network of clandestine informants

...it's difficult to choose the right style without more context.

Selected response from:

Troy Fowler
United States
Local time: 12:03

Grading comment

Thank you all so much for your thoughtful answers, and my apologies for taking so long with this; I've really been scratching my head over it. As to the question of a gulag, it is commonly acknowledged to exist (see, for example, http://www.hrnk.org/hiddengulag/toc.html or

http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501031103-526547,00.html
), but the gulag is usually translated as a system of (強制)収容所. Anyway, your answers and discussion were very helpful, and thanks again!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +3

Network of clandestine informants

Troy Fowler

4 +1

government reward system for secret reporting

humbird

3 +1

system of (anonymous) denunciations / network of (anonymous) denouncers

mstkwasa

4 -1

anonymous report system

Kazuo SAWADA

informant system

casey

a(n extensive) network of informers

tictac

3 -1

secretive regime

KathyT

1 -1

anonymous tipsters

Maynard Hogg

2 -3

hidden gulag system

V N Ganesh

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

4 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

密告制度 secretive regime

Explanation:
Rachel Zabarkes Friedman on North Korea & College Activism on ...
Although our knowledge of what goes on in North Korea

Reference: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&rls=GGIC%2CG...

KathyT
Australia
Local time: 05:03
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12

33 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

密告制度 anonymous report system

Explanation:
With this system, the government get secretive information and grant reward to the informer.

Kazuo SAWADA
Local time: 09:03
Works in field
Native speaker of: Japanese
PRO pts in category: 8

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

密告制度

Network of clandestine informants

Troy Fowler
United States
Local time: 12:03
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12

Grading comment

20 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

密告制度 anonymous tipsters

Explanation:
The Chinese, for example, have "neighborhood committees" monitoring everyone's activities and reporting people to the police. Got a grudge? Make something up!

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Note added at 22 mins (2006-02-03 04:46:37 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://www.jca.apc.org/apfs/event/event20040227.htm describes the system as practiced in police state Japan, my home, but I don't see a direct translation for the term.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 43 mins (2006-02-03 05:07:02 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

How about "the government has a network of informants" or, to use a verb (BAD English habit) "the government relies on informants." The latter has advantage of not involving an organized network or requiring that the informers be known to the authorities.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 45 mins (2006-02-03 05:09:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"the government encouraging informing on the neighbors"? In my dialect of English "informing on" does not require truth.

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Note added at 1 hr (2006-02-03 05:36:40 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Thanks for the context. A three-pronged approach: informants, secret police, and concentration camps.

Maynard Hogg
Canada
Local time: 12:03
Native speaker of: English

3 hrs confidence:

密告制度 informant system

Explanation:
http://tacoma-preview.nandomedia.com/opinion/insight/story/5...

casey
United States
Local time: 15:03
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English

7 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

密告制度 system of (anonymous) denunciations / network of (anonymous) denouncers

Explanation:
From "denounce" - "5. To declare or make known (an offender) to the authorities; to inform against, delate, accuse." (OED)

E.g.
"It can hardly be an accident that the choice of the name Benedict refers back to a Pope of that name in the early years of the last century who put an end to a particularly nasty system of anonymous denunciations."
(Source: http://www.publishersweekly.com/index.asp?layout=articleprin...

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Note added at 7 hrs (2006-02-03 11:47:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I think the issue of anonymity is a moot point. What happens is usually thus (from the Soviet and GDR system): A wants to inform on B for whatever reason (B's started to listen to foreign broadcasts, B got more food etc.); A goes to C whom A knows is a member of the security forces; C reports to D (a bureaucrat in the system); then D sends E (secret police) to fetch B; B is arrested; B is sent to a court where s/he is accused by the "justice" system on the "evidence" of A but without knowing the identity of the informant/denouncer. Tried and sent to a camp. D or E may not know the identity of A.

It is known that people living in reressive regimes denounced others for various reasons - not only for profit/reward but also mutual fear ("I'd better inform on him before he does on me") or jealousy ("they've got more food / a cow / a pig etc.").

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 hrs (2006-02-03 18:37:45 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"Under a directive issued by Kim’s father, North Korea’s founder, Kim Il Sung, three generations of a dissident’s family can be jailed simply on the basis of a denunciation."
(http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3071466/)

mstkwasa
Local time: 20:03
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Japanese
PRO pts in category: 8

14 hrs confidence:

密告制度 a(n extensive) network of informers

Explanation:
North Korea is itself a rigidly totalitarian state where the population is kept in check by a network of spies, informers, prison camps and executioners.

The North Korean political police, known as the Ministry for Protection of the State Security (MPSS), run an extensive network of informers.

Reference: http://nk.chosun.com/news/news.html?ACT=detail&cat_id=4&res_...
Reference: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/GE26Dg01.html

tictac
France
Local time: 21:03
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Japanese

1 day 17 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

密告制度 government reward system for secret reporting

Explanation:
This happens often (but not limited to) under totalitalian, secret regime such as North Korea.
I am not sure any simplistic, or one-size-fits-all translation. I have chosen this for following reasons:
government -- It is obvious this is not a private operation. I believe this needs to be emphasized.
reward -- there has to be reward to the informers to encourage such activities
system -- because this is institutional (i.e. governmental)
secret -- no need for explanation
reporting -- I would avoid "infomant" for the reason I stated in my comment to other answerer

Hope this helps.

humbird
Native speaker of:

Japanese,

English
PRO pts in category: 20

9 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): -3

密告制度 hidden gulag system

Explanation:
U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
... NORTH KOREAN GULAG I ... system, which was collected by Republic of Korea government agencies, scholars, and specialists. The first major international human rights NGO report on North ...www.hrnk.org/hiddengulag/part1.html - 114k

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Note added at 3 days5 hrs (2006-02-06 10:15:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

OpinionJournal - The Real World
... THE REAL WORLD. North Korea's Gulags. Even babies aren't ... for Human Rights in North Korea. In landmark depth ... report, titled, "The Hidden Gulag: Exposing North Korea's Prison Camps ...www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/cRosett/?id=110004200 - 0 -

V N Ganesh
Local time: 00:33
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 20

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密告制度

English translation: Network of clandestine informants

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