George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 224

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Real-time video calls were being exchanged between the presidential offices of the United States and South Korea. Although there were some minor interruptions, communication was largely unaffected. Each president had a translator by their side. Ironically, neither of them needed one, but public perception dictated such formalities.

“We cannot continue to overlook the situation in North Korea. This is my conclusion. The American investment could become useless,” President Bush of the United States stated first. Bush needed to completely resolve the situation on the Korean Peninsula before the next election to secure his re-election. Whether the resolution was positive or negative, there were numerous strategies, but the turbulent state of the Korean Peninsula during the presidential election could undermine Bush’s achievements and become a weakness exploited by his opponents.

“I completely agree with that opinion. We need to mobilize troops on this issue,” replied President Hyun Won-seop of South Korea.

“Therefore, we will remain completely silent regarding any movements of the South Korean military outside of Nampo Port.”

“We will move as quickly as possible.”

This was the agreement reached between the presidents of the U.S. and South Korea. In truth, intervening in North Korea involved considerable risk. More precisely, there was no compelling reason to intervene at this point. Thus, the action was more about preventing further ‘losses’ than seeking ‘gains.’

There’s a saying about stirring up a hornet’s nest, and intervening now was exactly that. The justifications South Korea could use for intervening in North Korea at this point were as follows: The easiest was to define the current situation as a ‘large-scale riot’ or ‘civil war’ to justify rescuing the current government and dispatching troops. The next was to send troops for the legitimate recovery of territory. In fact, the North Korean government was defined as an illegal government under the constitution, making this a viable justification.

Of course, there were potential issues since North Korea was globally recognized as a sovereign state, but no country was in a position to pressure South Korea right now. The EU was preoccupied with the Middle East, Russia was struggling to manage its own affairs, China was ailing and silent, and the United States was actively urging the advance into North Korea.

So, to be precise, the U.S. military decided to condone the full-scale intervention of the South Korean military in North Korea. Apart from the U.S. forces stationed in South Korea, the U.S. forces stationed in North Korea were obligated to participate if North Korea was invaded. The United States decided to condone this.

“The justification for our side, South Korea, is simple yet complex.”

In any case, both of the above justifications had several problems. In the former case, the act of helping the Communist Party was ironic in South Korea. Now, public opinion might quietly gloss over it since it was a time of reconciliation and unification efforts, focusing more on the fact that a war was happening rather than the nature of the war itself, but it would undoubtedly become a problem in the future.

The latter also had significant issues when delved into. At first glance, it seemed like a legitimate war to recover territory, but there was a major problem in forcibly annexing North Korea: the possibility of a rebellion like the one happening now. It might not seem like a big deal because the South Korean military was strong, but it was a problem that could potentially escalate into a civil war later on.

There was also the issue of human rights. This was a loophole in a democratic government where human rights were prioritized for the sake of international awareness and public opinion. This also proved that a democratic government was not a perfect system, but that was not important now. What was important now was South Korea’s justification for intervention.

By thinking a little differently, both justifications could be used: helping the Communist Party while recovering territory. It might seem contradictory at first glance, but it wasn’t that contradictory when examined closely. After all, wasn’t politics about manipulating words and laws like clay?

“Doesn’t everything have exceptions?”

The current Communist Party was clearly expressing its intention to merge with South Korea, so an exception could be applied. The law also has problems if it is too rigid. If the law was perfect in every way, why would there be judges in trials? Anyway, at this point, the Communist Party was not much of an issue, and it was enough to insist on territorial recovery and annexation.

So, annexation was already in progress, and in the process, the military was being mobilized to enter effective control. However, encountering the ‘rebel army’ in the process was unavoidable. What would happen when encountering the rebel army was obvious, but wouldn’t obtaining gains without any losses be something that only existed in dreams?

The benefits that South Korea could gain by advancing troops into North Korea were very limited. It was the land and human resources of North Korea, but even those were people who needed to be supported, and if it weren’t for American investment, South Korea as a whole would have been greatly shaken just by supporting them and building new infrastructure.

However, it was excellent as a preventive measure. If things were left as they were, it would be one of two things: a government based on capitalism would be established, or a Communist Party government with the Baekdu bloodline [referring to Kim Il-sung’s lineage] as its leader would be re-established. Perhaps it wouldn’t be the Baekdu bloodline, but anyway, recalling the reason for their uprising, it was easy to guess that they would install a member of the Kim family as leader.

Now that things had come to this, there would be no opportunity for annexation if not now. Although there were economic side effects, wasn’t it the long-cherished desire of the Korean people? Moreover, there would be problems if it was blown away like this. There was no need to explain this separately.

“Guys, war has broken out.”

The problem was those who had been dispatched to North Korea as the Rice Corps [a unit ostensibly sent to provide aid, but with ulterior motives].

“Yes?”

Sergeant Kim, whose discharge had been postponed, giving him the best combat power, almost dropped two sacks he was carrying on his shoulders. At first, he was very scared, but when he actually came, it felt like he was just volunteering with a gun, and he was filled with pride. But after gathering the guys who were moving rice well, they suddenly said it was war. What on earth was going on?

“Did the Chinese bring in volunteer troops like they did during the Korean War?”

It was too full-scale to be called volunteer troops, but anyway, China’s position was that they were volunteer troops. Of course, there was no such thing as nonsense, but what could they do? The difference in national power was so great? It was the sorrow of a completely powerless country.

“No, that’s not it. They say we’re going into occupation for effective control. But that’s what war is all about. There can’t be no clashes. Now you’ll have to hold a field shovel instead of a rice sack because we have to build outposts and dig trenches.”

The sound of the field shovel made him realize that this was not a joke but reality. The company commander, who was usually so playful, had completely lost the color in his face this time and began to issue operational orders with a pale expression.

“This is fucking bullshit.”

Someone muttered quietly, but everyone else felt the same way. The thought of possibly killing someone and the thought of war were mixed together, and a strange sense of elation dominated the body. The elevated mood cultivated in the individual gradually evolved into a collective atmosphere, forcibly injecting vitality into the soldiers.

“How are we supposed to fight with this shitty gun?”

His saying that it was shitty was no exaggeration. One out of every ten shots would jam. It was something that had happened because the guns had been used for years, and even though the K3 [South Korean light machine gun] was a decent gun with reasonable reliability, there was always a jam when practicing shooting.

“The enemies are unarmed. So don’t worry! Ammunition is already being supplied, and our company alone can defend this village for a day or two.”

What kind of nonsense was this? Were the enemies ghosts of the old Japanese army from World War II? If it was a machine gun with a bayonet charge, or a bamboo spear charge, it would certainly be no problem to classify them as unarmed.

“Unarmed? How can the North Korean army attack unarmed?”

“Ah~. That is… Our enemy is not the North Korean army! It’s a rebel army that threatens the current regime. Our battalion is already advancing. It doesn’t seem like the enemy will come to our side, but the enemies don’t have a clear base. Therefore, with the mindset that we can meet the enemy at any time-!”

‘Mindset my ass. It was supposed to be a safe operation.’

Even while grumbling inwardly like that, he scooped out a handful of dirt with a field shovel. As it shifted from quasi-wartime to wartime, resistance or rebellion could be disobedience to orders. It wouldn’t end with simple confinement like before.

“Preparedness prevents misfortune! Devotion to the country is a soldier’s duty!”

In fact, the company commander was in a considerable state of panic, no less than the soldiers who were grumbling inwardly. He was saying everything he knew or the transmission items that came down from above, while scraping together the positive words or words he knew and spouting them out like nonsense.

If a North Korean saw it, they would have mistaken the company commander for a military police officer or a political officer, spouting out like a broken machine. The company commander knew best what kind of tragedy would happen if this place was really attacked with this personnel, even though they were said to be unarmed, so he was very confused.

There were no proper heavy weapons, and the only thing he could expect was the outpost or position with the K3, but the number of soldiers was absolutely insufficient to form a proper firepower network. It would be fortunate if only the number of soldiers was insufficient, but the ammunition was also absolutely insufficient. The supply line was virtually cut off, and if they were attacked like this, they wouldn’t lose, but there was no guarantee that the entire company would be unharmed.

He couldn’t abandon the village either, because he had received orders from the command to protect the village, so he was completely stuck in this village and couldn’t move. He felt a slight dizziness at the thought that it might become a tomb.

“But don’t worry too much! There probably won’t be a battle!”

From some point on, it was becoming ambiguous whether he was calming the soldiers down or calming his own troubled mind. If Sergeant Kim, who had passed his end of service and had his discharge postponed, hadn’t stopped the company commander, he might have repeated the same words like a drunkard throughout the digging of the trenches.

“Company Commander. The radio is out of order.”

In the meantime, to make matters worse, an unprecedented situation occurred where even the radio broke down. It had been a problem from the beginning, but the fact that it happened now was frustrating. So he was sure what the problem was. It was probably that battery problem.

“Ah, damn it. We can’t even borrow one from the next company.”

The next company was defending another village, and that village was half a day’s walk away. Half a day was only on the premise that you didn’t get lost in the middle. In reality, it was very likely that it would take a whole day.

North Korea was a place where cell phones didn’t work. To be precise, there were places where they worked and places where they didn’t. This was a place where they didn’t work. It was absurd to split the battalion’s forces up to this point in the first place, but what could they do when that was the reality?

The company commander’s answer was:

“We are soldiers. We will defend the village until orders are given.”