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could anyone help me with a sentence? It was from an article in the Asahi about the leadership change in North Korea. The full sentence is 拉致被害者の早い救出も、そこによるところは大きい。I understand the first part of the sentence - the rapid rescue of the abduction victims as well. However, I am not sure about the second part. How do you translate そこによる and ところは大きい into English? Is による　似寄る or　に拠る? Thank you for your help.

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    による in the sentence seems to be 拠る/依る　-> depend on or 因る/由る -> due to But it needs more context to clarify the meaning. Can you quote the previous sentences? – Teno Sep 22 '12 at 15:39
  • Well, it goes like this:　腎愚の次第で民は泣き、国際社会は迷惑を被る。拉致被害者の早い救出も、そこによるところは大きい-世継ぎへの忠誠心争いや、どさくさの権力争いで、ミサイルや砲弾が他国へ飛ぶ事態もないとはいえない・ – Sean Sep 22 '12 at 15:50
  • If you go further back, you got this sentence: そして早々と三代目の世襲が宣言された。だが、その資質のほどはほとんど知られていない。 Did you get what そこ refers to from this? Does it refer to the new North Korean leader's disposition / 資質? – Sean Sep 22 '12 at 15:59
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賢愚の次第で民は泣き、国際社会は迷惑を被る。拉致被害者の早い救出も、そこによるところは大きい

In this context, そこ (that/it) points to 賢愚 (to be wise or foolish) の次第 and よる should be 依る, meaning depends on.

So it reads: the rapid rescue of the abduction victims also largely depends on it. (it refers to the degree of being wise or foolish.)

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  • Yes, I got it now. Thank you very much. It was a hard article. – Sean Sep 22 '12 at 16:19

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