George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 210

< Episode 209 >

The army, reduced to a nominal peacekeeping force after its dismantling, lacked the power to stop the people. Instead, they opened the checkpoints like automatic doors in Pyongyang.

“Are we really allowed to do this?”

Each checkpoint was manned by a squad-sized force, but even that was weak. Most of North Korea’s checkpoints were scheduled to be dismantled in a few years. Once a source of fear for the people, the checkpoints were now just a drain on resources.

An order was issued to checkpoints across North Korea to ‘block movement!’ But how could this meager force stop tens of thousands of people? They were ordinary soldiers, not the legendary heroes from the Fatherland Liberation War, like the 3 Heroes or 6 Heroes, who only appeared in propaganda.

“Do you want to be trampled by angry people? I don’t, man.”

According to propaganda and their training, small squads with a few rifles had successfully repelled American or South Korean invasions from strategic high grounds. But legends are legends for a reason. They’re impossible for ordinary people to replicate, right?

“I bet the higher-ups can’t do anything about this either.”

“If that strict squad leader from before was here, he would have made us all die rather than let anyone pass. I’m glad our squad leader is Squad Leader Lee Tae-sik.”

The former squad leader, who would have sacrificed himself for the Party if ordered, was eventually transferred to Pyongyang during the reorganization. News occasionally came that he was making a name for himself there, and he sometimes sent letters saying, ‘Pyongyang life is like this. How is it there?’ He was a man of great loyalty, even if he was a bit of a stickler for the rules.

“Hey, I thought those South Korean bastards over there would be making a fuss, but they’re quieter than I thought?”

He was referring to the light-water reactor security forces. In South Korea, they were mocked as the ‘1st Kaema Plateau’ unit [referring to their isolated and restricted living conditions]. Because they couldn’t take leave freely, they were considered pitiful and were newly ranked as the worst assignment. But that was the situation for the field officers and soldiers; the heads of the Ministry of National Defense had a different perspective.

“You stupid bastards!”

The arrogant and outdated Ministers of National Defense and the showboating National Assembly members were all the same. Watching the situation unfold, they couldn’t believe it was happening.

The reason was simple: deploying the military now, when North Korean public sentiment was so volatile, would only worsen the situation. Therefore, they thought it was better to observe and cooperate. What do politicians fear most? Public opinion, of course. And when does public opinion turn the most negative? During war.

In simple terms, they didn’t want to see foreign capital fleeing. The public might be evenly divided on the war itself and fight hard. But if the economy collapsed because of the war, and there was no rice or kimchi on the table, they would revolt.

Or maybe they would revolt even sooner. In fact, even now, following a long tradition, protesters were gathering in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, demanding action regarding North Korea.

But the problem was that no one was specifically suggesting what to do. Well, maybe a few were. But their opinions were all different. No one agreed, and they were fighting amongst themselves. Fortunately, the scale was limited due to the Super SARS outbreak.

The budget allocation was also a problem. Right now, they were managing without a supplementary budget because of the sudden influx of enormous funds. But that was reaching its limit, and talk of a supplementary budget was finally surfacing.

A supplementary budget? They agreed wholeheartedly. In fact, it should have been implemented a long time ago, but it had been glossed over thanks to an unprecedented economic boom. But they were only talking about changing it without presenting specific data on what they had spent, where, and how. Was this even reasonable?

The executive branch also had excuses. There is such a thing as tradition even among civil servants. The government itself is not that old, not even 100 years old, but tradition arises even after only 10 years. Tradition is not bound by age or importance.

But this was the result of following that damn tradition. Would this have happened if they had handled it properly? The election is about changing that. Roughly, a politician comes forward and says, ‘We will change this outdated tradition! Everyone!’ and the citizens elect that person.

But nothing changes. The administrative system, collusion between politics and business, polarization, even the military culture. Nothing changes. Even if they promise to eradicate corruption in the political world, nothing ever changes. Why? Because they are the corruption. How can corruption be resolved when corruption is trying to deal with corruption? It’s like using saltwater to purify the sea.

Especially terrible is the military. They always talk about changing the military culture, but when the Super SARS outbreak occurred, all the military’s disposable tableware and masks, which were stockpiled to prevent infection, were being sold out of the ‘officers’ pockets.’ How can corruption in daily life disappear like this?

The solution the higher-ups came up with was to force them to eat a lot of kimchi. They blindly believed the ridiculous media reports that kimchi was good for Super SARS. If that’s the case, they should at least improve combat power, but Private Kim of such-and-such division is using an aluminum canteen that Private Michael of such-and-such division, who was dispatched during the Korean War, used.

Other countries are focused on equipping their standard rifles with optical equipment and devising new training methods, but they are pouring money into artillery to the point of obsession, even though their main force is infantry. But if you ask if that artillery is any good, that’s not the case either. It’s ridiculously heavy and ridiculously old.

And what is the purpose? Just to shoot a lot. That’s right. They’re not thinking about winning, they’re just thinking about retaliating a lot. The land is small, so it wasn’t entirely wrong, but if that’s the case, shouldn’t they build more bunkers properly? Not those crumbling concrete bunkers made 20 or 30 years ago.

And all the military hospitals have been infected and collapsed for a long time, but they don’t announce it. The media is always practicing media manipulation, claiming to be transparent, but it’s truly laughable. You could bang your head against a wall and still be surprised by the constant stream of absurdities.

Was it called a free press? So this is the result?

In a situation where they don’t have enough treatment, they are using some unknown talking head, who they don’t even know if he’s a paid expert, to promote folk remedies in the news, saying that kimchi is good? Deceiving the public with sensational articles and sensational word choices?

That’s right. The current Republic of Korea is a cornerstone. You can quickly rotate the cornerstone to support a collapsing pillar, but the cornerstone slowly wears away. And at some point, everything will suddenly collapse like dominoes.

“Those bastards deserve to be torn apart and killed.”

And the person grinding his teeth like this is surprisingly the 16th President of this country, Hyun Won-seop. It was not a situation he could easily control. If he had been in power for about two years, he could have wielded power smoothly, but he had just begun to seize control of the political world, so he couldn’t push it too hard.

To be precise, he was resisting like a dog being dragged home after a walk. He wanted to pull it along, but it was resisting, so there was nothing he could do.

‘When I was young, I condemned the US president as a son of a bitch leading the United States into a dictatorship, but I never imagined I would envy that.’

At least he did well to wield an iron fist against the media. It was truly regrettable that he couldn’t do that openly because the history of the Republic of Korea is a history of oppression.

“The most urgent issue is still the North Korean problem.”

At least the decision to move the military was something only the president could do without interference. This time, it was a binary choice with no other options. Will he dispatch troops to Pyongyang to protect the Communist Party, which is cooperative with the current government and a guarantor of unification? Or will he not dispatch troops for the sake of a new government that may or may not be established, or more precisely, for the sake of the government’s public opinion?

“This is troublesome. I’m going to be evaluated as having ruined all the achievements of the previous president.”

Of course, the reality was completely unrelated, but there would be no better bait for the media than this.

“The US side has taken a step back, wanting us to handle it ourselves. This is driving me crazy.”

If the US military stationed in Nampo Port had moved, there would have been an excuse. Supporting the Communist Party, the neighbor he wanted to crush, or maintaining the status quo. Whichever he chose, the options were frustrating.

If he chose the former, unification would be smoother. However, the problem was the future. After unification, those kinds of people would enter the government, whether he liked it or not. People who want to be dictators or are loyal to dictators. This must never happen. Unlike the previous president, President Hyun Won-seop wanted to proceed gradually over time.

If he chose the latter, it was a problem in its own right. It was just a return to the original state, nothing more, nothing less. Of course, a more friendly government could be established. The protesters marching towards Pyongyang were not just those loyal to Kim Jong-il. On the contrary, there were also those who wanted to take this opportunity to resolve their past grievances and establish a democratic government that would return power to the people.

But this was nothing more than a lottery. Who knows if it’s just a change of faces, even if it’s called democracy? Could they reject unification in the future when they live reasonably well? The reason they are trying to unify now is because they have tasted the benefits of economic exchange, and they want to maintain that prosperity by unifying with South Korea.

“Nothing is working out.”

Nothing was really working out. The president is just a president in name only. At this point, what’s the difference between him and an old middle-aged man wearing a president’s hat? Of course, he wasn’t really a figurehead. He had enough power. But nothing could be solved even if he used it, so nothing was working out.

In this chaotic political situation where nothing is working out, what will the President of the Republic of Korea choose?

“Screw it all. Life is subjective.”

What he chose was a large-scale intervention, going beyond simply dispatching troops.