George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 323

George Bush’s Great America – 322

Following reunification, Korea experienced an unprecedented surge of nationalism. This intense nationalism surpassed all previous instances in Korean history, except perhaps the liberation itself. It was even testing the limits of that revered historical event.

For Korea, liberation was largely a result of the United States’ overwhelming power crushing the old Japanese Empire, forcing it to relinquish its territories. This was evidenced by the U.S. military government period, the subsequent ideological division by the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and the tragic Korean War.

In contrast to the liberation, where the U.S. played a dominant role, this reunification, while involving the U.S. in various ways, was clearly led by the government and military of the Republic of Korea. The world might acknowledge President George W. Bush’s significant contribution, but ultimately, it was the Republic of Korea that consistently invested resources and drove the process forward.

The government didn’t deny this, nor could it. To do so would have severely undermined the legitimacy of the regime.

In any case, reunification, to put it positively, healed the wounds of half a century and filled the people with pride. To put it negatively, it unleashed a wave of fervent nationalism across Korea. Had there been any obstacle to slow its momentum, things might have been different. But there wasn’t.

It was hard to say whether it was the lingering euphoria from reaching the World Cup semi-finals or the effectiveness of the North Korean soccer team integrated after reunification, but Korea somehow managed to reach the semi-finals again in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. This caused President Hyun Won-seop to wear a strained smile, a mixture of joy and apprehension.

Usually, such an outpouring of energy would lead to a decline in fervor, but this nationalism seemed to be an inexhaustible engine, defying the laws of thermodynamics and growing even stronger. Online, there were calls for retaliating against Japan to appease the spirits of the past, or for actively intervening in the Chinese civil war to maintain China’s divided state and control Beijing – ideas that were financially terrifying to even consider.

And one of those ideas was on the verge of becoming reality: the call to intervene in the Chinese civil war.

President Hyun Won-seop, who had been monitoring the situation and attempting to respond appropriately, sighed. His words, “Trying to respond dynamically, we’re about to get dynamically screwed,” were so memorable that they were recorded in his autobiography.

So, would intervening in the Chinese civil war truly be a loss for the Republic of Korea? The answer was, undoubtedly, yes. While a larger territory might seem appealing, the current administrative capacity of the Republic of Korea was already strained from trying to integrate the former North Korean region.

It might be beneficial in the long term, but the people living in that land are Joseonjok [Korean-Chinese], who are more aligned with China than Korea. These Joseonjok are known to switch allegiances whenever it suits them. Forget about shared Korean ethnicity; we can only absorb them if there are no problems for the country after absorption, right?

North Korea is already a challenge, and we’re slowly digesting it with the help of American capital as a digestive aid, like a snake consuming a large meal. Adding more food, especially unhealthy junk food, would only cause our stomach to burst.

Moreover, overseas deployments were not a new concept for Korea. They had already participated in the Vietnam War at the request of the United States. This time, however, it wasn’t at the request of the U.S., but at the request of China, a former enemy and an uncomfortable second superpower, even after establishing diplomatic relations.

However, it was debatable whether China could even be called a superpower anymore. They were divided and engaged in internal conflict. They would regain superpower status upon reunification, but for now, they were merely regional powers. Could that division last? The answer was ‘No.’

The United States, of all countries, was taking action. Allied and friendly nations generally understood the U.S.’s motives and were either indirectly silent or subtly supportive. Furthermore, the Communist Party in China possessed a degree of legitimacy and wasn’t particularly weak.

Given the circumstances, hoping for China’s collapse was unrealistic. However, that didn’t mean China would automatically become a superpower upon reunification.

In any case, if possible, securing at least half of Mount Baekdu [a sacred mountain in Korean culture], if not the autonomous region inhabited by the Joseonjok, would be desirable. There was already considerable discussion about occupying it by force.

To summarize President Hyun Won-seop’s feelings in a single sentence:

“To try to sell off the country’s young people for a measly piece of land, you should be ashamed.”

But even after expressing such sentiments, he had no choice but to deploy troops. This country was a democracy, and the people demanded the deployment. The National Assembly was debating not whether to deploy troops to China, but how many soldiers to deploy and when the deployment should occur.

Around the time the Korean government decided to deploy the 9th Division, a situation resembling a civil war was unfolding in Brazil. It wasn’t technically a civil war because the Brazilian army wasn’t fighting organized rebels, and it wasn’t a full-scale war because the scale was relatively limited.

Nevertheless, the military was actively involved, cities were ablaze, and the firepower employed was comparable to that of rebels. From the perspective of ordinary citizens, it was indistinguishable from a civil war.

The specialists in this area were the BOPE [Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais – Special Police Operations Battalion], a dedicated anti-terrorist unit, but the scale of the conflict far exceeded their capacity.

So, who was behind the unrest? It was the gangs of Brazil. The pervasive gangs that infest nearly every neighborhood in almost every city.

It began with the attempted assassination of the current Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The policies enacted by his administration primarily focused on poverty alleviation, land reform, and economic revitalization, collectively known as the Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) policy.

Despite a severely corrupt administration, Fome Zero had a noticeable, albeit imperfect, impact. The problem arose after the paper drug incident in the United States.

Local agents somehow obtained information about the paper drugs and reported it to higher authorities, targeting the cartels that operated with medium machine guns and grenade launchers. However, it was too late; the drugs had already entered the United States. The Drug Enforcement Administration blamed the local agents in Brazil, who in turn blamed the corrupt police.

The excuse was that their activities were exposed by the Brazilian police, and unfortunately, this proved to be true. The United States pressured Brazil, but Brazil remained consistently silent, regardless of the accusations.

Regardless of the government’s intentions, rumors spread that Brazil would be conducting a large-scale crackdown on gangs due to increasing pressure from the United States. The rumor itself wouldn’t have mattered, as they were planning to gradually eliminate some of them anyway, but there was no intention of launching a large-scale crackdown.

Then, one day, while the Brazilian president was giving a speech, a 7.62mm bullet fired by a foolish gangster pierced his abdomen. The podium area descended into chaos, the audience panicked, and the gunman was immediately shot dead on the spot.

Even at this point, there wasn’t a major problem. Although he was shot, he was the president of a country, and prompt medical attention was ensured. The surgery was performed quickly and accurately by a skilled surgeon.

The problem was that the bullet passed through a highly sensitive area, resulting in paralysis from the waist down. Ordinary people tend to feel anger rather than despair when their legs become paralyzed. Even if it’s an accident of their own making, they feel anger that has nowhere to go, but when the cause is clear, there’s every reason to be angry. And, of course, no one in Brazil could restrain the anger of the president.

“Massacre all those trashy bastards! All of them!”

Thus began the era of gang eradication in Brazil. The military was mobilized and began indiscriminately targeting gangs, and black smoke billowed from all over the city. Were the gangs eradicated? Not at all.

Homemade armored vehicles equipped with medium machine guns and high-speed grenade launchers were commonplace. Smuggled surface-to-air missiles and RPG-7s shot down combat helicopters, and even private helicopters fitted with homemade rocket launchers were deployed. At this point, they were more than just gangs; they were skilled guerrilla rebels.

Fortunately, the violence was sporadic and lacked a central command, and there were no instances of rockets being fired indiscriminately at the city. In other words, they would only fire if there was a specific reason.

Their primary targets were uncooperative police stations and government buildings. The reason they didn’t burn down entire cities or towns was simple.

While they possessed heavy weaponry, their supply lines were limited, and it would be counterproductive to bomb the bases where their collaborators, who provided shelter and collected taxes, resided.

That being said, civilian casualties were unavoidable in the conflict between the gangs and the military. The damage was more pronounced in the north than in the south, depending on the distribution of gangs and cartels.

Among the most affected areas was Rio de Janeiro, a city already notorious for its crime. Instead of learning arithmetic from textbooks, children learned by pickpocketing, calculating the amounts to be paid to corrupt police and gangs. Gangs armed with automatic rifles were a common sight.

Of course, if the city were consistently harsh and dangerous, tourists wouldn’t visit. However, it was generally a place where gangs didn’t indiscriminately shoot each other but maintained a fragile balance.

That city was transformed into a war zone almost overnight, highlighting the immense firepower present. If it were merely a seasonal cleanup operation triggered by national events to impress the world, they would have considered it an annual event and either hid or fled overseas.

Resisting the determined power of the state is foolish. Nothing is more precious to gangs than their own lives.

However, the Brazilian president, enraged by his paralysis, sought a bloody revenge, an eye for an eye. He enlisted the help of the United States, which was already focused on drug arrests, requesting them to apprehend those who fled overseas, while they would handle the situation domestically.

So, even if they fled overseas, they would face death, and even if they remained in the country, they would be unable to conduct business. Therefore, they had to fight back.

The news of Brazil’s request for cooperation perplexed Bush, who had been primarily focused on China in the White House.