The Chaebol Returns To The Presidency 1967 [EN]: Chapter 150

150. The Secret Royal Inspector Is Here!

The Senior Secretary for Social and Cultural Affairs responded,

“We’ve established comprehensive measures to protect, compensate, and reward public interest whistleblowers. These include safeguarding their identity, ensuring their physical safety, preventing any retaliatory actions against them, minimizing their job responsibilities, and protecting any collaborators. Furthermore, we’ll provide up to 300 million won in compensation and a maximum of 100 million won in rewards if their report is deemed to be in the public interest. We will also offer financial assistance for legal fees, relocation expenses, medical costs, and other related needs.”

“That’s a life-changing sum if someone reports wrongdoing effectively.”

“While maintaining confidentiality is ideal, whistleblowers may face exposure, requiring them to leave their organization and defend themselves in court. Considering what’s at stake, it’s not an excessive amount. Moreover, the deterrent effect of such reporting yields even greater benefits, significantly reducing societal costs.”

Clap! Clap! Clap!

“The Senior Secretary for Social and Cultural Affairs has a bright future in the National Assembly. He’s expertly laying the groundwork for effective legislation.”

“You’re too kind. We’ve also planned a public awareness campaign. December 9th is UN Anti-Corruption Day, and we will designate it as Public Interest Reporting Day in our country. If the President recognizes and rewards public interest reporters alongside other meritorious individuals at the year-end awards ceremony, it will generate significant positive publicity.”

The Public Interest Whistleblower Protection Act passed the National Assembly with overwhelming support and secured its funding.

*

First Lieutenant Kim of the Special Forces aimed the unwieldy K11 composite rifle, a combination of a rifle and a grenade launcher, at the window of a training building.

The K11, inspired by the XM29 project researched by the U.S. military, was designed as a revolutionary weapon to eliminate hidden enemies by detonating a 20mm grenade inside buildings.

It garnered attention as an innovative weapon capable of inflicting critical damage on enemies concealed during infantry combat.

Following its development, 400 units were initially supplied to special forces, with plans for gradual distribution throughout the entire army.

Sergeant Kim, lying prone, grumbled.

“The gun’s height forces me to raise my upper body, making me an easy target. Lying down is too unstable. If I’m going to be exposed anyway, I might as well shoot standing or sitting. It’s heavy and bulky; I doubt its practicality in actual combat.”

The squad leader retorted,

“Those are inherent limitations. Just follow orders. Sergeant Kim, eliminate the enemy inside the building. Fire!”

Sergeant Kim pulled the trigger.

Bang-

Boom!

“Huh?”

Instead of entering through the window, the grenade struck the wall and exploded.

“Sergeant Kim, aim correctly! What kind of marksmanship is that from a supposed sharpshooter?”

“I aimed and fired correctly. The trajectory is off. It’s neither a direct-fire nor a curved-fire weapon. Mastering this will take years. What happens at night when the trajectory is invisible?”

“Stop complaining and fire again!”

Bang-

After five shots, only one made it through the window.

But there was no explosion inside the building.

“Huh? It’s a dud.”

“Seriously! A 20% accuracy rate, and even then, it doesn’t explode? What are we supposed to do with this thing?”

“Squad leader, considering the explosive force when it hit the wall, I doubt it has any real killing power. It’s worse than a regular grenade.”

“I see. If the enemy doesn’t group together because of the grenade, and even if you manage to hit them while exposing yourself, the lack of killing power poses a significant problem in actual combat. Let’s test its lethality separately. Fire again! Make sure it explodes this time.”

“Is that up to me?”

“Fire!”

He pulled the trigger.

Kaboom!

“Argh!”

It exploded, but the grenade detonated inside the chamber instead of launching.

Sergeant Kim covered his face and rolled around in pain.

The squad leader rushed to his side.

“Sergeant Kim!”

Sergeant Kim, bleeding from his face, appeared seriously injured.

“Medic! Ambulance! Hurry!”

*

The Audit Office of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).

Director Moon, the person in charge of the K11 development, questioned the head of the military audit office.

“Who’s coming from the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI)?”

The Ministry of National Defense also had its own audit office.

However, due to the K11 incident, the BAI, a higher-level organization, was sending an auditor.

The head of the audit office answered nonchalantly.

“I heard a new inspector is coming. What does a greenhorn know? We’ll be lucky if they can even understand the report properly.”

The director was relieved.

“Whew, I thought so. It seems like they’re just going through the motions. If that’s the case, why bother sending anyone at all?”

“There was a tip-off. They’re cleaning house because of it. This is just a formality.”

“He should have resigned sooner. Those guys are obsessed with their warped sense of justice and have no tact. Traitors are unforgivable.”

The adjutant entered.

“Director, the auditor from the Board of Audit and Inspection has arrived.”

“Tell him to come in.”

Since the auditor was a superior from a higher-level organization, the two stood up from their seats, leaving the head seat vacant, and went to the door to greet him.

When the auditor, dressed in a suit and carrying a heavy black briefcase, entered, the two were startled as if they had seen a ghost.

“Lieutenant Ryu?”

“How have you been? I’m Ryu Tae-young, dispatched from the Board of Audit and Inspection.”

“You… you quit. But you joined the Board of Audit and Inspection? How did you even get in?”

The inspector displayed the name tag on his chest and said,

“I studied hard and got lucky. Please take care of me.”

The two men wore expressions of utter dismay.

Ugh, we’re doomed!

The person they ousted for internal whistleblowing had returned as an inspector. There couldn’t be a worse scenario.

The inspector, noticing their discomfort, asked,

“Is that the data on the desk?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Then let’s begin immediately. We need to determine whether to issue an award or a punishment.”

He commenced the inspection in earnest.

*

The inspector summoned the squad leader who witnessed the grenade launcher accident and questioned him.

The squad leader reported the advantages and disadvantages truthfully.

“Besides the explosion malfunction, the weapon’s size and weight are considerable, forcing the shooter to raise their upper body and become exposed. There are also issues with accuracy and killing power.”

“Is it suitable for actual combat?”

“It’s worse than a carbine. It’s a step backward.”

The inspector then questioned the director and the person in charge of weapon performance testing.

“Looking at the report on the cause of this explosion, it attributes it to a malfunction between the fire control device and the ammunition.”

“We’ve already addressed all the identified defects through 10,000 live firings.”

“The report lacks specific physical evidence or design modifications to support this claim. How did you resolve the issue?”

“There was also the issue of operator skill.”

“So, the problem lies in the operator’s skill level, not a design flaw?”

“There’s also the problem of the battery malfunctioning in low temperatures. We replaced it with a more expensive battery.”

“So, it’s an isolated incident?”

“That’s correct.”

“If this type of accident recurs, will you acknowledge it as an inherent design defect?”

“Of course.”

Inspector Ryu inquired,

“In the lethality test, the K11 initially produced 317 total fragments, which was 72% of the 438 total fragments of the 40mm high-explosive (HE) round, leading to a request for reconsideration. Subsequently, you revised the re-examination evaluation criteria for the 20mm grenade’s power. Why?”

According to U.S. military data, the 20mm grenade, intended to replace the 40mm grenade, failed to meet the required power standards. Consequently, the bore was increased by 5mm from the existing XM25 CDTE to 25mm to enhance explosive power.

However, DAPA’s solution was to maintain the original bore size and merely increase the warhead length by a few millimeters, adding more gunpowder.

In the re-examination, the evaluation criteria were changed to ‘1.5mm rolled steel plate penetration and embedded fragments’ and tested, resulting in a passing score based on 249 fragments (including all penetrating and embedded fragments), which is 343% of the 72 fragments from the 40mm HE round.

The person in charge responded,

“We devised a more appropriate method for evaluating killing power.”

The inspector countered,

“If you had assessed the 40mm round using the revised criteria, what score do you think you would have obtained?”

“…….”

“The explosive power remains the same, yet you reported a threefold performance improvement by switching to a significantly weaker test standard. At the very least, you should compare results using the same testing methodology. Isn’t it deceptive to present an absolute comparison based solely on test results obtained with a less demanding standard that doesn’t accurately reflect killing power?”

The person in charge began to sweat profusely.

“Well, the killing standard is important, but the U.S. military standard is excessively high.”

“Killing standard, killing standard… Do you even understand what the killing standard entails?”

“…….”

“Are you looking down on me?”

“…….”

“The 1.5mm rolled steel plate penetration and fragment embedding standard represents a slightly stronger explosive force than tear gas (apple bomb)! Is the K11 intended for riot control?”

“It’s for combat.”

“Then why are you claiming that riot control standards are sufficient for combat killing?”

“…….”

“Don’t try to deceive me! Conduct a re-examination using evaluation criteria that meet the 5-meter killing radius! Submit the 40mm round trajectory and experimental data for comparison using the same evaluation criteria.”

“Yes, I understand!”

Even at this point, the person in charge retained some confidence.

“However, this time, the evaluation must be entrusted to a private military research institute established recently, not the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.”

The director, who had been observing from the sidelines, couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

“Inspector, why are you suddenly altering the development process that DAPA was overseeing?”

“Are you unaware that the law has been amended?”

“…….”

“Weapon tests that DAPA failed initially and which were flagged by the Ministry of National Defense Audit Office and the Board of Audit and Inspection must undergo objective re-examination by a third-party agency.”

The inspector kindly opened the statute book and showed it to him for confirmation.

“…….”

And the inspector produced a document and presented it to the director.

“This is the durability performance test certificate that DAPA submitted as proof of passing, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“This is an item that was initially rejected during the delivery inspection conducted by DAPA.”

“…….”

“But you forged the official document to indicate a passing grade by manipulating the firing impact test data.”

“H, how did you…?”

“I refused to participate in the manipulation at the time. Why wouldn’t I know?”

“Gasp!”

“This is precisely why we amended the law to mandate third-party testing for defects. You claimed earlier that the explosion accident was due to a lack of skill?”

“…….”

“You stated that you tested 10,000 rounds. Did you actually fire them?”

“…….”

“This composite rifle costs 16 million won per unit, and each bullet costs 160,000 won (based on 2010 prices). The infantry’s standard-issue firearm is equivalent to the price of a mortar. 10,000 rounds translates to 1.6 billion won spent. We are currently conducting an inventory check at the delivery location.”

The military was reducing the number of durability tests in the new weapon experiment stage and inflating the cost of ammunition consumed to embezzle funds.

Because the price of bullets was so high, they embezzled tens of billions of won in development costs over five years under this pretext. The inspector knew this fact better than anyone else.

During the period of searching defense companies and tracking the accounts of related military generals, another K11 explosion accident was reported.

The DAPA director felt as though he had entered the wide-open gates of hell.

*

The Board of Audit and Inspection submitted the results of the K11 development audit to the National Assembly.

The Minister of National Defense attended and was bombarded by lawmakers.

“You arbitrarily altered the evaluation criteria, and to make matters worse, you manipulated the test results and embezzled over 10 billion won under the guise of testing. Is new weapon development a bonanza?”