George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 152

< Episode 151 >

The 2002 World Cup began. Due to time constraints, I had to fly straight over as soon as the Flint water crisis speech was over. Naturally, having achieved the unprecedented feat of boosting the president’s approval rating even after the government’s blunder, I had to burn the midnight oil aboard Air Force One to finish the overdue reports on time.

In any case, the state government, previously engrossed in developing its own territory, now realized the federal government was taking a more direct interest. They were fully aware that any mistakes would have consequences, regardless of their autonomy.

Thanks to this, the schedule was significantly adjusted, and I had to head straight to the Seoul World Cup Stadium for the opening ceremony, skipping any press conferences or other engagements. And so, the presidents of the two countries were now seated together.

President Kim Ji-hoon repeatedly glanced at the speech in Bush’s hand, visibly anxious about its contents.

“Surely that speech isn’t just two lines long, is it?”

“Hahaha! Of course not!”

Bush laughed off the joke, but President Kim Ji-hoon remained serious. He had accepted the invitation amidst pressure from the National Assembly and the public, but now felt like he was carrying a ticking nuclear bomb. He was genuinely unnerved by the news that Bush had delivered his Flint City speech in just two lines a few hours prior.

As if sensing President Kim Ji-hoon’s apprehension, Bush ostentatiously fluttered the speech in his hand. President Kim Ji-hoon felt a wave of relief upon seeing the densely annotated words.

However, as expected, this wasn’t the speech Bush would actually deliver. He was known for disregarding prepared remarks and improvising based on his emotions.

Regardless, the World Cup opening ceremony was about to begin.

“Do you see some empty seats?”

Bush noticed several empty seats. This was unusual, especially considering that 2002 was the peak of Korean soccer enthusiasm. Even without knowing that, it was strange to see empty seats at a World Cup opening ceremony.

“Due to some confusion, there was a serious error in the sales process, resulting in a slight disruption in filling the audience.”

“Is that number 3,500 seats?”

“I don’t know the exact number because the data hasn’t come out yet. How did you know that?”

“I just counted roughly and it looked like 3,500 seats, so I just said 3,500 seats.”

President Kim Ji-hoon looked humiliated. Despite this major incident, the Korean World Cup Organizing Committee had remained silent.

‘I’m going to overhaul the entire Korean sports world when this is over,’ he thought, gritting his teeth silently. Even with the 200 billion won already spent on building the Seoul World Cup Stadium and the looming deficit, this was a disaster.

Most absurd of all was the statement from the director of the World Cup Organizing Committee’s ticket sales project.

He had apparently said, ‘I have withdrawn from the game support in the provinces and the empty seats.’ He truly was a corrupt official deserving the harshest punishment. How dare he exploit the people after being elected with their tax money?

“You have very good eyes.”

“Haha, I have very good eyes.”

Of course, Bush could say that because he knew everything. Even 200 duplicate tickets were sold for the opening ceremony. The reason for the empty seats was none other than Byrom, a British ticket agency, which forced Korea and Japan to endure 7,000 to 10,000 empty seats at every game.

It wasn’t just the tickets that were problematic. Just before the World Cup, the hotel rooms that this company was in charge of booking were canceled en masse. The reason for this mess was that Byrom was originally just a lodging agency, but it hastily established a company three years before the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup was decided, with the aim of making a killing.

The secret to making a killing was blood ties. The reason why Byrom, a relatively new company, was in charge was because Byrom’s CEO was a cousin of the then FIFA [Fédération Internationale de Football Association] president. It was said that the best of all connections is blood ties, and that was exactly right.

‘I’m going to overhaul FIFA soon.’

There’s an old saying that if you have a complaint, do it yourself. So I decided to fix it myself. I can’t live in sorrow.

Anyway, even though the nationalities and races were different, everyone was thinking the same thing, albeit on different scales.

“By the way, I heard that in Korea, it’s called the 2002 South-North Korea-Japan World Cup, is that true?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

I had heard of it.

“It would have been better if Kim Jong-il [the then Supreme Leader of North Korea] had come himself.”

President Kim Ji-hoon smacked his lips. Of course, Kim Jong-il would have been furious if he had heard that. So it might be better if he wasn’t there. If he collapsed in an accident during the World Cup opening ceremony, Korea’s image would be severely damaged.

That’s that, and Bush thought that now was the time for the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong [a naval skirmish between North and South Korea in June 2002] to take place. Now, unless there was an open internal conflict, it would never happen, but with the US aircraft carrier stationed in Nampo Port, there was no chance of an internal conflict.

If they had developed nuclear weapons, they could have threatened, ‘We’re all going to die! Let’s all explode together!’, but they couldn’t even make a reactor to refine uranium, let alone nuclear weapons.

“Although North Korea was not able to participate this time, it will be able to participate as a unified Korea next time.”

Considering that the next World Cup was in 2006, his words were by no means empty promises. The full support of the world’s only superpower, the United States, the will of the people of both South and North Korea to unite, and the four years were more than enough time for the two countries to become one.

The opening ceremony was scheduled to start at 7:25 PM, and it was exactly 4 PM now. Because of the time, we were able to have dinner in the VIP room before the opening ceremony started. In other words, it was in a place called the ‘Sky Box’. The government chartered this place for diplomatic relations with the United States.

“The dinner menu is out. Let’s try it.”

‘Shrimp?’

“Is this Dokdo shrimp?”

“…How did you know?”

“Ah, I’m a bit interested in shrimp.”

I instinctively sensed it. It was clear that information had leaked from somewhere. Of course, it wasn’t just based on instinct. Even if the US president’s words were true, it should be called Dokdo shrimp, not Dokdo shrimp. Dokdo shrimp was a word that referred to Dokdo shrimp that came from Dokdo [a group of islets in the East Sea, disputed between South Korea and Japan]. This was to differentiate it from other shrimp and secure high-value commodity value.

In other words, it was a suspicion and conviction that was a mixture of instinct and reason.

‘I’m going to have to grill the National Intelligence Service.’

No, you might wonder, ‘Why is it the National Intelligence Service that’s being grilled?’ No matter how hard the National Intelligence Service runs around, it can’t get involved in every single product purchase, can it? But this time, it was right for the National Intelligence Service to be grilled. Because President Kim Ji-hoon secretly ordered the National Intelligence Service to purchase a small amount.

Because Bush had played a big role in confirming Dokdo as Korean territory, he decided to serve Dokdo shrimp as a symbolic gesture, but this was classified as a top-secret order because it was a direct order from the president, even though it was a simple purchase of goods.

“Hmm, it tastes very good.”

Of course, it was only because Bush remembered that he had served Dokdo shrimp to the US president, but President Kim Ji-hoon had no way of knowing that. Unlike Bush, who had a very satisfied expression, President Kim Ji-hoon was burning inside because of the messed-up security, and he didn’t even know if the rice was going into his mouth or his nose.

After that, trivial chatter was mixed with national affairs, and verbal promises were exchanged. Stories about Nampo Port after unification or trade easing policies. There was also this story.

“You’ll be bordering China soon, what are you going to do?”

No matter how messed up China was, China was China. Due to the nature of Korea, which has no choice but to fight with conventional forces, there was a high possibility that it would be pushed back to the end due to the human wave tactics once the war broke out. Otherwise, it might be hit by dozens of nuclear missiles and become an unfortunate country with only ethnic minorities and ruins left.

However, nuclear armament was completely unreasonable. More than anything, President Kim Ji-hoon didn’t show it, but what if relations with the United States soured in the future? If that happened, Korea would really have to take care of itself.

“I’m thinking of introducing a surface-to-air missile air defense system.”

The idea was that if they couldn’t have nuclear weapons, they would do whatever it took to stop ICBMs [Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles]. If they could create a kind of radar screen in the sky and intercept ICBMs with surface-to-air missiles, at least the war wouldn’t end as soon as it started.

“Hmm, we have something we’re developing in our country, would you like to introduce it?”

“Yes?”

This was really unexpected for President Kim Ji-hoon.

“It’s called THAAD [Terminal High Altitude Area Defense]. It’s already in the mass production preparation stage. It will probably be mass-produced smoothly after unification.”

Since the United States was originally a weapons dealer to the bone, the proposal to purchase military equipment was not surprising. However, promising to sell something that was under development was unprecedented.

‘Originally, I was going to supply and deploy it to the USFK [United States Forces Korea], but if it’s an air defense system anyway, it might be better to sell it.’

It was more profitable from an economic point of view. And I was thinking of keeping the USFK only as much as needed and gradually withdrawing it. The USFK was a monster that ate money.

“We appreciate your verbal promise, but will Congress allow it?”

In fact, the Federal Congress is always clamoring to sell weapons to secure a budget. Even the F-22 was almost sold, so would they tell me not to sell THAAD? The only ones who oppose this are the Pentagon, who are always worried about the increase in the enemy’s power.

“Forget about the complicated stuff and just say one thing.”

Bush rested his chin on his hand and said in a nonchalant voice.

“So, are you going to buy it or not?”