＜ Chapter 31. Even if a rich country collapses, 30 years go by (2) ＞
Chapter 31. Even if a wealthy country collapses, 30 years go by (2)
In the next 20 or 10 years, the era of information technology will be around.
And the IT field can become the future industry of the republic that can create great added value in a short period of time if only well-educated and competent human resources and network infrastructure are in place.
Jeong-hwan thought that North Korea, which has a poor industrial base, scarce resources, and neither technology nor patents, could bet on the battle by preparing for the IT era to come.
‘At the moment, we have to acquire, learn from, and steal or steal as much as we can, but if we live like this forever, we are likely to hear the sound of a rogue state, so we need to prepare for the survival of our readers. The fortunate thing is that this doesn’t completely start from zero…’
As Jeonghwan said, surprisingly, North Korea had a computer network environment (considering its tearful economic power).
Right now, a 16-bit computer made by the Japanese NEC was connected to the line in Jeong-hwan’s secretary’s office, and computers were distributed to the homes of the children of the wealthy in Pyongyang, mainly in the People’s Grand Learning Center, Kimchaek Engineering College, and Kim Il-sung University.
Of course, there is no connection to the overseas network, so it is correct to say that it is a closed self-network, a very large intranet, rather than an Internet environment. it couldn’t be this
A vegetable garden would be available, and he had decided what to grow, then all he had to do was plant the seeds and give them water and manure well until they sprouted.
Looking at the history of IT development in Korea, or even around the world, people who played with computers close when they were young grew up to become giants leading the development of the information industry. .
Bill Gates also founded Microsoft when he was a child at an expensive private high school he attended and had access to computers that were hard to find even in college at the time.
“Hmm, hopefully, in 20 years or so, we might be able to see the North Korean version of Google or Facebook… Well, the name will come out differently here…”
“yes? What did you say, Comrade General?”
“It’s nothing, did Comrade Choi Seung-il depart for Japan?”
“Yeah, I got a report that I arrived in Tokyo yesterday and had contact with that person named Young-Jun Heo.”
“Okay, if I could, I would go myself, but it’s a pity I can’t. But he’s similar to Chairman Jung Moon-young, but he’s a different type of person, so maybe comrade Choi Seung-il can communicate better.”
“I too… no, I ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find out about the capitalist, a Korean-Japanese, but… Although he seems to have good talent, he is just a young capitalist who is just getting started. It’s worth paying attention to the general secretary Would you like to go?”
it is now
Jeonghwan thought to himself as he observed Jang Seong-taek tilting his head at the person who was about to send Choi Seung-il to Japan.
Read at noblemtl.com
Nearly two years have passed since the Party designated a special zone for planned development, and little by little, even in North Korea, the beginnings of what can be called an enterprise of a market economy and society are beginning to appear.Most of them were intermediary trading companies selling goods in China or in the catering business, but some of them had quite a bit of ‘competitiveness’.
The first taxi company in North Korea that imports used cars from Eastern Europe, opens a taxi company, and rolls over 50 ‘service cars’, or imports Chinese boilers, rips them out, manufactures them on their own, and installs them in people’s homes. to companies that are there.
Although it was a change centered on the special zone, the transformation to a market economy was already slowly but surely permeating the lives of the people.
However, no matter how hastily opened the door for reform and opening up, North Korea is originally a poor country.
“I have seen foreign magazines saying that the comrade has an eye for the development of the computer industry. But I think the general secretary is not looking for his comrade, but Japanese companies…”
“As expected, you have the view of comrade Jang. That’s right. If we don’t have the technology, we can just buy it from abroad. Whether it’s the American Yankees, or the island puppets. Even if they collapsed greatly in the past few years, even if a rich person collapses, it will last 3 years, and even if a rich country collapses, it will last 30 years, right? It’s a lot of dollars. We won’t even get a tee even if we eat some, haha.”
With a limited population of 23 million, low national income, and poor resources, in order for North Korea to develop in the end, it must put forward export-led growth as a banner similar to that of South Korea. there is almost no
Competitiveness in high value-added industries is never built in one stone, and especially in the manufacturing industry, which requires technological prowess, it is very difficult for latecomers to catch up with leading companies, and it is almost impossible depending on the field.
Read at noblemtl.com
No matter how much resources and the capital that comes from it (unlike other developing countries with similar conditions) support it, in the eyes of Jang Seong-taek, who studied capitalism, he was skeptical as to whether North Korea would be able to assemble even a domestic car on its own in 10 years. .At that moment, an idea came to Jang Seong-taek’s mind.
‘But in a capitalist society, there is something called M&A.’
“Indeed, the insight of Comrade General Secretary is great. However, even though Japan has recently fallen off a cliff, it has enjoyed a level of prosperity comparable to that of the US imperialists until a few years ago.
‘Heh, look at this man, the frog in the well is already showing signs of change.’
Jeonghwan was satisfied in his heart as Jang Seong-taek, who was once drenched in a sense of sorrow that ‘Joseon is the best and there is nothing to learn from the islanders,’ began to recognize the shortcomings of the Republic little by little objectively.
There were times when I was confined to a closed republic in denial of reality, but after seeing the wider world, the potential of capitalism, and the achievements it has achieved in other countries around the world, I was able to clearly recognize the starting point of the republic. .
One way or another, he is also not completely hard-headed, and he is the elite of North Korea that Jeong-hwan will have to work for in the future.
He thought it would be fun to watch Jang Sung-taek’s changes in the future, and Jung-hwan encouraged him, who looked a bit anxious.
“Don’t worry too much, like Jung Moon-young over there, entrepreneurs are people who see the future rather than the present. All we have to do is make sure he sees a bigger opportunity in this republic than he has in Japan.”
Above all, this time, we are not bringing in the person holding the money as we did when Jung Moon-young was invited. Peony Holdings was planning to invest in that person and his company.
Who doesn’t like giving money?
‘ Junghwan thought to himself.
And at that time, in Tokyo, Japan, across the Sea of Japan, the two were heading somewhere to carry out Jeonghwan’s orders.
Among them, the bald man proudly stretching his legs in the backseat of a luxury Mercedes-Benz was frightened when he heard a siren nearby while the car stopped for a moment, so he hurriedly asked his driver.
“Uh, hey, Un-chan (driver), what is this sound?”
“Ah… these are the guys called ‘Metallica’. You just released your 5th album, and it’s just loud to my ears, but it’s a huge success across the water in America, so young kids are going crazy. In a world like this, isn’t it overflowing with abandoned buildings or factories these days? At that place, the kids gathered as a group to practice this guy with guitar and drums, so I thought I’d stay up all night…”
“No, aho (あほ: idiot), who talked about music now? Why are you hearing police sirens!”
Heo Young-jun, who now claims to be a solid businessman who has no shame, has looked up to the sky, but because of his old habit of wanting to run away when he sees the police still gathering, he hurriedly bowed down and under the back seat while blaming his driver for answering questions. hid
Still, he narrowed his eyes and watched the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department scrum around something, running out of the window with an ambulance.
And soon he realized what a group of police officers were gathering near the sidewalk and clicked his tongue.
“What, are you suicidal again? It’s common these days, so I won’t…”
“It’s common… So you’re talking about how often this happens in Japan right now?”
Heo Young-jun frowned at the low voice from the seat next to him and turned his head.
Last time I brought Jang Seong-taek to Tokyo and arranged a meeting with Jung Moon-young, it was not comfortable, but this person sitting next to me was uncomfortable in a different sense than it was then.
“Ibosho, that town… I thought I was going to be a bit bright in the world because there was a rare man who worked as an investment in Kitajosen… Don’t you know that this Nippon has a very portrait shop atmosphere these days? Not long ago, NHK said that the asset value of this Nippon blown away in one year is about 2,000 trillion yen. Wouldn’t anyone want to commit suicide if they blow up 2000 trillion won?”
“It’s definitely a huge sum, but if I had to tell you what I thought, I’d rather be alive. I lost the leader’s money, so I went to the kyohwaso, and I wanted to die every day, but thanks to the grace of the general secretary, I survived and returned to my original place. As long as you are alive, one day, good days will come.”
Heo Young-joon rarely shut his mouth for a moment and seemed to agree with Choi Seung-il, a skinny man next to him, who mumbled dryly.
Although he himself was in prison (of course, the amount was much smaller because the reason he entered is completely different from Choi Seung-il), he was released and ran the streets without a penny.
Besides, I had never been to a North Korean prison, but I don’t know, but I knew that Japanese prisons were much worse, to the point that they felt like Hawaii.
But it was still uncomfortable.
“Anyway, even if it’s not suicide, all the bosses and managers I know around these days are screaming that they’re going to die. To the extent that Hiroshima and Nagasaki really felt better. They put all their company money into real estate, but they are all good companies, banks, and they are all going bankrupt… Well, the government seems to have boosted the economy and building bridges, airports, and more may still be a good business for real estate agents like me.”
At the end of 1991, Japan’s real estate and stock markets were experiencing a wingless crash.
The fall in land prices, which started in central metropolises such as Tokyo and Osaka, also affected rural areas, freezing the economy and closing people’s wallets.
Although the Ministry of Finance intervened directly in the stock market and injected public funds, it was not able to prevent the collapse of stock and real estate values.
Of course, even if that was the case, it was still the case that Japan was still the number one advanced country in Asia and an economic power that could not be compared with South Korea, Taiwan, and even North Korea, but it was clear that investor sentiment had fallen and a recession that had never been before had arrived.
Right now, Choi Seung-il, who flew from Pyongyang today, with Heo Young-joon, was also desperately hoping for a helping hand from Peony Holdings, to be precise, because the financial flow was blocked.
Strictly speaking, it was not that he approached, but that Choi Seung-il’s side led him to approach him.
However, Choi Seung-il thought that he should be careful.
According to what he found out, the person he was going to meet today was someone who was good at raising a business by attracting money from other investors, not his own, and it was certainly not a scammer like Heo Young-jun sitting next to him, but if he did it wrong, he would only accumulate money and lose all the initiative. it might be passed on.
Investors are prone to embarrassment if they can’t distinguish the audacity of a vicious con artist from the boldness of a visionary manager.
Maybe the two factors are not very different from each other in the first place.
“It’s all over.”
When Choi Seung-il, who had previously announced a visit to a building in Minato-ku, Tokyo, revealed his identity as the CEO of Peony Holdings, employees immediately took them to the president’s office.
Then the person he was about to meet appeared.
“hello? My name is Jeongui Son and Masayoshi Son. I’m sorry, but I’m not good at Korean or Korean, so if you’d like an interpreter…”
“No, let’s speak English. Masayoshi I heard that you don’t like conversations with interpreters too much. Especially when it comes to investment-related conversations.”
When fluent English came out of Choi Seung-il’s mouth, Son Jeong-ui smiled confidently as if he was lucky, and he himself spoke in fluent English.
He looked confident enough to think that, if anyone saw it, that Son Jeong-eui was not in a position to receive investment, but rather the opposite of each other.
“Fortunately, the. I also live in the US for a long time, so I am comfortable with English. And call me Son Jeong-ui, not Masayoshi.”
They were seated right away.
A pretty good tea was prepared on the table, but neither of them paid any attention to the car, especially Son Jeong-eui.
Instead of a teacup in his hand, he held an entirely strange object.
It was a whiteboard and a magic pen that you would see in a university classroom.
“Chief Choi. If you mind, I will show you why you, Peony Holdings, should invest in our Softbank with this whiteboard in the form of a presentation. If you give us 30 minutes, we will share a vision of how our company will occupy a significant position in the future IT technology ecosystem.”
‘It’s just as Comrade General Secretary said.’
Choi Seung-il thought so while looking at Son Jeong-eui expressionlessly.
In Japan’s highly conservative corporate culture, no matter how emerging a company is, it is difficult to imagine that the president and the investor hold an impromptu investment briefing session with the investor in a venture company of a certain size.
In the womb of Silicon Valley, which is relatively free from formality and business manners, it can be said that he was a person who studied in California and took the first steps as a businessman.
In addition, despite the company’s financial hardship due to the recent bubble burst, Son Jeong-eui did not show any signs of urgency or thirst for money.
At least on the surface it was.
‘There is money over there, but I also have what they want, so I would have approached it. Even if the company’s funds are a little tight now, I must never hand over my right to management and autonomy. SoftBank is a company that has a future, and you can’t give it away at a bargain price .’