＜ Chapter 29. Leader’s Dilemma (1) ＞
Chapter 29. The leader’s dilemma (1)
Jung-hwan, who was worried about him, gave the excuse that he did not need to go to the event and ran out of the secretary’s office, but his head was complicated.
When I first issued this order, I blamed myself for abusing the supreme leader’s public power for a trivial matter, but I couldn’t help but want to know.
And what I found out was that my existence, Kim Jung-hwan, had been ‘deleted’ from this world.
‘Or maybe I didn’t move from the future to the past, but somewhere in a completely parallel world.’
Or, as in the movies of ‘Back to the Future’ (a sequel is being made slowly in this era), the era moved to the same era, but due to his reincarnation, a completely new world was split and recreated at some junction.
Either way, it was the same thing that made me feel dirty.
“Well, okay. Even in his original life, he was far from being a gold spoon, and a researcher who would have remained as an ivory tower scholar rather than a real politician is still listening to our leader comrades, but this is not a fraudulent transaction.”
After confirming that there was no one around, Jeonghwan muttered to himself like that, but the memories of his previous life, the life of Junghwan Lee at the Korea Development Institute, came to mind.
After reincarnation, he had never felt so desperately as today that he was a human being who eventually bleeds and is tied to his family.
And with him, the face of his friend Kyung-soo, the one email that changed everything, and the promises he made to the friend he had made that day with nongban and jinban, and even to himself, came to mind.
‘Didn’t you say that you only come down after 30 years? Will you become a fallen dictator or a respected, iron-blooded leader who develops your country and then transfers power to a trusted heir? …..’
Junghwan came back with a sober attitude, stood stunned in the hallway on the third floor of our company, and fell into deep thoughts while reviewing the work he had done so far and the work to be done in the future.
It’s been a habit since he was a researcher, but the problem is that whenever this happens, Jeonghwan sometimes forgets his surroundings.
“Comrade General Secretary……? There…?”
“……”
“Cho, Comrade General Secretary, are you busy? If there is anything we can do to help…”
“……”
“Sin, I’m sorry! I’m just going to go away!”
Our employees, who were busy carrying documents from place to place, including the secretary’s office, were astonished to see the supreme leader standing in a ‘pause’ state blankly staring into the air (in the middle of our hallway) and did not know what to do, but now Such a sight was not even in Jeonghwan’s mind.
‘Once reform and opening-up and the market economy system are on track, there is a backbone of the United States, and there is no need to worry too much about 10 years until the national income rises to 10,000 dollars and rises to the level of a middle-income country.’
The introduction of a market economy system into North Korea had already begun in earnest and was accelerating.
Peony Holdings, a sovereign wealth fund that predicted the collapse of the Japanese real estate bubble and the sharp rise in oil prices caused by the Gulf War (though of course known to insiders as the ‘genius capitalist strategy’ of the leader), was accumulating astronomical dollars.
In addition, it was chosen as a safety pin for the US Northeast Asia strategy to contain the future growth of China through participation in the Gulf War and the establishment of diplomatic relations with the US through the opportunity to sell the blood of engineers and the People’s Army. The current situation was to reconsider the occupancy angle.
Moreover, when the students from Kim University who have predicted this situation soon and sent to the UK to study abroad, and the elites who have studied economics in both theory and practice at the forefront of capitalism, return to North Korea, capitalism will become irreversible even if they want to go back. will progress rapidly.
In any case, the economic development process that a developing country such as North Korea currently transitions to a middle-income country has already been established as a general theory through numerous data and examples.
For the next 10 years or so, what Jeong Hwan should be concerned about with regards to the economy is to eliminate the trial and error experienced by latecomers such as South Korea and Taiwan as much as possible, such as intensively investing capital in industries that will develop in the future. will put it
But now, Junghwan’s troubles were on the other side, politics, not the economy.
‘Nomenklatura, red capitalists, or oligarchs, you can call them anything, but the problem is how to tame these guys, who will soon pop out from everywhere as capitalism increases…’
Looking back on history, not only communist countries such as China and Russia, but also Taiwan, Korea, and, if you look far away, Japan, there existed a class of vested interests who accumulated wealth faster than others in the process of capitalization and economic growth.
In Korea, they were called chaebols, in Russia they were called Nomenclaturas, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they were called oligarchy, etc. They had the same thing in common: political and economic collusion and corruption.
And as North Korea also carried out reform and opening-up and economic growth, the emergence of this class was obvious.
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No, there were already signs of that in Jeonghwan’s eyes.“Well, I can only guess who will play the role, but the problem is that you can’t just beat it…”
“Heh, huh, uh, uh, uh, uh! Well, you’re wrong! Please save me, only my life, or even the lives of my family members! Comrade General Secretary!”
As Jeonghwan unconsciously mumbled his thoughts out of his mouth, one of our employees, who was trying to pass him carefully just in time, was so surprised that he fell on the spot.
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Not knowing how to respond to the travels of the supreme leader, whom he had never seen before, he carefully bowed his head and tried to pass by, but the words ‘slap me’ were faintly heard from the mouth of the general secretary, who was staring blankly into the air.However, all these circumstances, including the trembling staff for fear that he might have offended the supreme leader, could neither be heard nor seen by Jeonghwan, who was worried about the Republic and his future.
‘Dilemma, these established political and economic collusion are obstacles to democracy that hinder the development of the country. Yes, it’s good up to that point. But if my prediction is correct, these guys are essential elements of an oligarchy and at the same time…’
I’m sure he’s on my side, and it’s also pretty close,” Jeonghwan swallowed inwardly.
Power and money are inextricably linked.
Aren’t Russian oligarchs, Korean chaebols, and Chinese communist aristocrats in the original history accumulating wealth through unjust means by rubbing their palms with power?
However, the reason that it is difficult for the regime leaders to wipe out these people at once is because in most cases, not only themselves, but also their close associates who maintain their power, are more or less swamped with these corruptions one at a time.
If a general who was loyal to him was cut off because he took a bribe, or if a minister who had committed irregularities in his children’s military service was removed without permission, the dictator’s own power was often in jeopardy.
The dictators who have such a hard time removing cancer cells will eventually compromise with reality and end up in a situation where they have no choice but to embrace them even though they know they are cancer cells.
‘In the beginning, China in history was roughly like this…. Usually, this kind of political system is a compromise between factions, which leads to an oligarchy or eventually a dictatorship. In fact, it was the case in China. But what are you going to do to make that happen in this republic?’
Jung Hwan thought that democracy was an inefficient political system, but what he hated even more than such democracy was the Chinese-style oligarchy.
Wasn’t modern China an oligarchy in which the communist aristocratic factions who inherited positions from their fathers, who were de facto communist elders, took turns eating out of a collective leadership system?
Jeonghwan thought that it would be better to transfer power to a democratic government than to meet a tiger while trying to avoid a wolf, or adopt such a pre-modern group hereditary leadership system.
Fortunately, Jeong-hwan, the leader of the highest authority, who has inherited power from the ‘living god’ Kim Il-sung, was concerned about this situation, so he launched the Anti-Corruption Investigation Bureau and removed the buds to some extent…
“But, if we go straight to democracy without any foundation, right after the collapse of the Soviet Union, we will end up in chaos like Russia.
In the end, for the time being, as a typical development dictator, he has no choice but to crack down on the corruption of his aides as much as possible with his own power to crack down on the side effects that will arise from the rapid transition to a market economy system…
The problem is that although Jung-hwan may be a superman or iron man leader who knows future knowledge and controls himself only when he is young, as a human being who eventually grows old and dies, he has to prepare for the future North Korean system…
And around the time that thought popped into his head, Jeonghwan finally realized that he was standing blankly in the middle of the hallway in front of the secretary’s office door and being the target of the fearful gaze of our employees.
Just when Jung-hwan was unintentionally intimidating the company’s workers, in an office inside the company, what Jung-hwan was worried about was already happening.
“Comrade Zhang. Comrade General Manager today… U.S.-Hmmmm, didn’t you say that you’re going to Nampo if something is coming from the U.S. trade ship or something? Why did we bring you here after the construction was so busy?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that, Comrade Hong Chasu. I sent comrade Young-sook Hyun instead of me, so it’s actually a painting, didn’t you like that one better? Ha ha ha.”
In front of Hong Gye-seong, who is still coughing because he has not lost his old habit of talking, Jang Sung-taek burst out laughing and poured Irish single malt whiskey into a glass.
In fact, it was because Hong Kye-seong knew that it was not because he was really worried about such a face-lighting event, but because he was puzzled that Jang Seong-taek, the leader of the party and military, and who had a very uncomfortable relationship with each other before, invited him.
“Doesn’t comrade Kim Yong-geon also think so? You will go abroad a lot more often than we do, and you will see the camera more often.”
“…….. Even if comrade Hagiya Jang gets caught up in such chores, there’s not much to do…”
Another guest of the day, Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Yong-geon, also received a glass from Jang Seong-taek with a dazed face that he still did not know why he called him.
Fortunately, when Jan returned to everyone, Jang Sung-taek immediately explained his business.
“With this victory in the Persian Gulf War (Gulf War), our supreme leader has assured his position as the highest dignity of the republic. And because of the meeting with the US president, now US imperialist capital has flowed into our republic on behalf of China. In a word, a new era of the capitalist republic has arrived.”
“……But, why do you know everything…”
“Then, wouldn’t it be good for both of you to end the confrontation with Comrade Hong Cha-su? Now that the owner of this republic has been decided, it’s not that we’re arguing over a seat for nothing, but let’s think about how each of us will lead the republic by protecting our comrade general from their position while we are playing with such sectarianism. Five.”
‘Look, there’s no way this guinea pig would have called me here to say something like that… Let’s say a truce between me and me?’
Hong Gye-seong read everything on the spot what Jang Seong-taek was thinking like an old military commander, but he couldn’t help but be moved inwardly.
Although the statute of limitations has been lengthened due to the recent victory in the Gulf War, the current supreme leader of the republic is sure to reduce the bloated People’s Army in the long term, and Baek Seung-cheol and other military commanders including him must find a way to survive in the changing times. .
And if there is a way to compromise without fighting with the party that is growing in power against them in the process, Hong Gye-seong was willing to listen to anything.
“It would have been nice if Director Jang could explain a little more about his position.”
“Literally. Gone are the days of defending one’s position with bullets. So, I will help Comrade Hong Cha-su to find a way to take care of Comrade General Secretary in a way other than bullets .”