The Chaebol Returns To The Presidency 1967 [EN]: Chapter 148

148. Defense Budget is Blind Money

Hungbu Seed Company headquarters, South Korea.

President George of Monsanto visited Korea for the first time to meet with President Kim.

The arrogant demeanor he once had was nowhere to be found; his shoulders slumped like a general surrendering on the battlefield.

“I heard you are still interested in acquiring our company.”

As the acreage for GMO [Genetically Modified Organism] cultivation rapidly decreased, Monsanto’s sales also plummeted.

With declining sales, the break-even point where they could no longer afford astronomical punitive damages was approaching.

Rumors of Monsanto’s bankruptcy were circulating frequently in the stock market.

Eventually, the president had to pull out the last card: the sale of the company.

President Kim said,

“It’s still valid, but the situation has changed a lot since then. The stock price has shrunk to 1/20th.”

“That’s true.”

“The problem is the future. If you stop producing Roundup [a widely used herbicide], how do you plan to pay the huge compensation to the victims?”

“Exports are still alive. And a new herbicide will be on the market soon. This herbicide has no problems.”

“Will it be as successful as Roundup was in the past?”

“Well, we are optimistic.”

“It will only be one of dozens of herbicides.”

“…….”

“Let me give you the conclusion. I will buy Monsanto for $1 per share.”

“$1? As a penny stock? That’s half the current price.”

“The day when the damages exceed the sales is not far off. I’m not the only one offering this price, am I?”

“…….”

That was true.

They had approached other companies in the United States, but they all shook their heads.

It was the opposite of when Chairman Wang was selling to Bayer in Germany for 63 trillion won [approximately $53 billion USD, a large sum of money].

With a negative premium, George said with a dark face,

“That’s too absurd a price. I’ll have to go back.”

President Kim said to him as he was about to turn around,

“There is a way to get $3 per share.”

Turning back, George’s face clearly showed a look of desperation.

“What is it?”

“Sell only the seed ownership that Monsanto has. I’ll give you a higher price than the company’s value.”

“…….”

George couldn’t hide his displeasure.

The royalties from the seed patents were quite lucrative.

He replied,

“I’ll think about it.”

And he returned to the United States.

*

President Kim went to President Jung and reported.

“I bet as you said, but he went back quite displeased. Did I push too hard?”

“Wait and see. Time is on our side.”

Really, two months later, President George called.

– I will sell the seed sector separately. But please give me $5 per share.

“I’ll give you $3.5.”

– Then $4.

“$3.75.”

– Okay. That price seems appropriate.

In this way, they acquired hundreds of thousands of seeds that Monsanto had plundered from all over the world, including seeds originating from Korea, and regained seed sovereignty.

Hungbu Seed Company, with Tiger Fund and the National Pension Service as major shareholders, instantly grew into the world’s number one seed company.

*

The rooftop of the presidential office.

The President and President Jung were having a dinner with soju [a Korean distilled spirit] as an accompaniment to pork kimchi stew.

“You’ve worked hard in other countries, President Jung.”

“The food really didn’t suit my taste, which was even more difficult. So I’m planning a Korean restaurant chain in Koreatowns in LA and New York. I’ve also prepared a house, so I can eat Korean food to my heart’s content and introduce Korean food to Americans.”

“Hahaha, you’ve really become a businessman now. That’s how you spend money. Personal motivation is what puts soul into it.”

“I think I learned what business is through this American business. Although the problem is that the overall loss is greater than the profit.”

“-20% net loss is a good defense. Reducing GMOs is worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. Gaining control of Cargill and Hungbu Seed Company’s grain distribution and seed sovereignty is worth more than money. Energy and food are the keys to world strategy.”

“I also bet on the future and went for it.”

“Betting on time is the best move. Now, let’s have a drink!”

The President and President Jung clinked soju glasses.

* * *

A certain military unit, a restaurant in a nearby village.

Sergeant Eom of the Capital Mechanized Infantry Division staggered drunkenly onto a deserted road.

He didn’t usually drink well, but today he was so emotional that he attended both the first and second rounds of drinks and drank too much.

It was then.

Two men appeared.

It was Sergeant Nam and Sergeant Oh, who had been with him for the second round of drinks.

They were not from the same division in the transportation department, but they had unexpectedly attended from the brigade transportation department today.

Sergeant Nam was holding a solid jujube tree club in his hand.

Sergeant Eom turned around at the sudden feeling of someone approaching.

“Who is it?”

“Are you trying to be the only one to succeed? Take this!”

Thwack! Thwack!

Sergeant Eom was hit in the face several times and collapsed, covered in blood.

The two sergeants rummaged through his pockets, taking the money from his wallet.

*

According to the new military law, not only the military police but also the police from nearby units who received the report joined the initial investigation.

However, it was the military police who arrived at the scene first.

The military police said to the police who arrived late,

“It seems he was robbed while returning home drunk. His wallet was stolen.”

“A simple robbery, you mean?”

“Yes.”

“Were any traces of the perpetrator or the weapon used in the crime found?”

“Pardon?”

“If it’s a robbery, you have to catch the perpetrator. You arrived at the scene first, so there must be something you found, right? And you’re looking for witnesses, too.”

“I investigated earlier, but there were no clues. Only the wallet was missing.”

The police officer who examined the body was suspicious.

If they were after the wallet, they could have easily knocked out the drunk person with just one hit and taken the wallet, but to brutally kill him by hitting his face several times for just a few bucks was a typical case of revenge killing by an acquaintance.

The attitude of the military police was also suspicious.

Rather than preserving the scene and trying to find traces of the perpetrator, they were busy trying to withdraw quickly.

The police chief ordered the police officers to search the area.

After a while, the searching police officer reported by radio.

– We found a blood-stained club that appears to be the blunt weapon used in the murder! It was thrown into the forest.

If it were a person with a previous conviction for murder, they would have tried to completely eliminate the most important clue, the blunt weapon.

The police captured evidence that the perpetrator was an amateur with no previous convictions for murder and the escape route of the perpetrator.

The military police and the police each submitted investigation reports to the prosecutor.

However, there was a big difference in the contents.

The military police wrote the cause of death as a simple robbery, while the police wrote it as a murder by an acquaintance disguised as a robbery.

As the reports from both sides differed, a civilian prosecutor was dispatched according to the law.

The prosecutor identified five people who had been with him at the drinking party on the day of the incident as potential suspects.

They immediately tracked the alibis of the five people.

The billiard hall owner testified that two sergeants were at the billiard hall at the time of the incident.

The alibis of all five people were proven.

Just as they were about to switch the investigation to a simple robbery, the police who conducted the investigation found a witness in the village.

The woman said,

“It was getting dark, so I went to get the goat that I had tied up to feed it grass, and two men with short hair went up that way.”

She couldn’t recognize their faces because her eyesight was bad, but she clearly remembered their appearance.

The direction the two men went was the opposite of downtown, where the billiard hall was located.

The prosecutor took the billiard hall owner into custody and questioned him.

“Are you sure the two sergeants were there at that time?”

The billiard hall owner answered, trembling,

“Yes, yes.”

“A village witness has appeared who saw the two men in a different place at that time.”

“…….”

“This is a murder case. You will be severely punished if you commit perjury.”

The billiard hall owner didn’t know it was a murder case.

“Actually, they came an hour later than the time I testified.”

“Is that so?”

“Sergeant Nam said that there was a problem with the military police, so he asked me to do him a favor because he was a regular. I didn’t know it was a murder case at first. Am I going to jail?”

“Fortunately, you can be saved before the trial.”

“Thank you, Prosecutor!”

“Please tell me in detail what happened that day.”

The two sergeants were immediately taken into custody.

They exercised their right to remain silent, but when they called and investigated the people around Sergeant Eom, the motive for the crime came out.

“The mechanized unit consumes a lot of fuel, and the higher-ups embezzled a lot of military fuel. Sergeant Eom knew this and protested to his superior, but he was threatened instead. He was told to shut up if he didn’t want to lose his job. And they gave him some money. He told me that he was worried about whether he should retire or not.”

Those involved in the embezzlement of oil were arrested one after another.

The commander of the division, as well as the commander of the brigade and the commander of the military supply, were all connected to the slush fund.

All were arrested and discharged.

During Chairman Wang’s time, the murder of Sergeant Eom was a military mystery that was covered up.

This time, the whole story of the crime was revealed with the new military law and investigation system.

However, military corruption and defense industry corruption continued.

*

National Assembly.

A member of parliament questioned the Minister of National Defense.

“I heard that the Ministry of National Defense requested the Ministry of Strategy and Finance to increase the budget for the barrack improvement project.”

It was part of the modernization and welfare of the barracks, which would change the existing bunk-type barrack structure to a single-bed type and greatly expand the living area per person from 2.3m² (0.7 pyeong [a Korean unit of area, approximately 3.3 square meters]) to 6.3m² (1.9 pyeong).

“That’s right.”

“More than 1 trillion won [approximately $850 million USD] has been spent on the improvement project over the past three years, and you are requesting an additional 300 billion won [approximately $255 million USD]. But according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance’s investigation, the bed supply rate is less than 30%. What kind of cost does it take to change the beds?”

“It’s not just a project to put in beds, but we had to build new barracks with new standards, and relocation costs were incurred to establish or reduce military units for efficiency. Such budgets were not reflected in advance.”

The member of parliament presented data as if he had expected it.

“Based on the government procurement standard military bed price and the standard construction cost in 1973, even if you demolish and rebuild all the barracks and replace them all with new-style beds, only about half of the budget taken by the Ministry of National Defense is normal.”

“…….”

“The receipts submitted to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance are completely bogus. There are no detailed breakdowns of construction dates, equipment, and labor costs, and only lump-sum receipts such as construction costs and relocation costs are attached.”

“That’s because the accounting process in the military is not good.”

“Don’t think about glossing over it like that. Your fixed idea is that the military budget is blind money!”

“…….”

“I will request an audit of the Ministry of National Defense.”

*

For three months, audit committee members were dispatched to the barracks to investigate the actual conditions of the barracks under construction.

The cost of the barrack modernization work, which was carried out under the supervision of the audit committee members, was almost close to the cost stated by the Minister of National Defense.

But there was a twist.

Major Ryu, an officer of the military supply brigade, reported it to the Board of Audit and Inspection.