Dear Comrade the Leader, Episode 148
Chapter 52. new era of control
Of course, given the influence Israel has built up in the United States over that long period of time, and the effort it has taken to build that influence.
It was difficult to see that they made a major change to the pro-China line at once.
It just meant that those who had been holding on to the American line until now were starting to contemplate whether they should try another line.
At first glance, it was incomprehensible to spare the diplomatic investment in the United States, which is now recognized as the most powerful country in the world by most people in the world, and to invest its assets in China, but if you take a closer look, there is a good reason.
First of all, the United States, that is, Dick Cheney, failed to mediate between the two sides, and both Israeli and Palestinian leaders had to resort to suboptimal measures to preserve their position within their own groups.
The current Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, is a far-right Israeli politician with a low “Zionist” tendency, but even he had to look out for other far-right and nationalist Israeli politicians, such as violently suppressing the Palestinian protesters.
The agreement that has now returned to ineffectiveness, which should have been called the Oslo Agreement in the original history, was almost assassinated by the country’s far-right wing just by appearing on the negotiating table.
The outbreak of Zionism and extreme Jewish nationalism in Israel that rejects all dialogue and compromise to that extent is serious.
And in the case of the Palestinians, in terms of their reluctance to negotiate in the first place, it was much more severe than that of Israel.
-This treaty is pure absurdity, it says that it grants Palestinian autonomy over Gaza, but in fact hand it over to the Jews!
-Israel exercised police and administrative powers in an area close to 80% of the entire Gaza Strip? Aren’t the representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Arafat, who accepted this as an agreement, crazy?
-Israeli police can detain a Palestinian without a warrant at any time, but can a Palestinian not exercise jurisdiction over an Israeli no matter what? Hamas (a Palestinian military organization and political party that advocates Islamic fundamentalism) was right, all those who want to talk to the Jews are patriots!
The catastrophe of the deal, which both sides could not satisfy, provoked a riot from the toughest in both Israel and the PLO.
Those who are inclined to nationalism and far-right nationalism, which use violence and even war as a means of solving problems rather than dialogue and compromise.
Again, the Gaza Strip could not stay up all night due to the much more radical Palestinian protests and the confrontation between the Israeli police and the army to suppress them.
And as he himself refused to mediate with the Palestinians and stepped out of the negotiating table, the Israeli-US relationship fell into disrepair.
Still, the breakdown of the Oslo negotiations gave the US an excuse to stop losing with Israel, which had internally made the internal decision to withdraw from the Middle East for the time being due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and Black Hawk Down.
What more should I do to the guy who turned over after setting the table?
‘Maybe this was Dick Cheney’s intention. I was ordered by someone from behind or… … Or maybe he was pumping of his own will.’
After returning to Pyongyang, Jeong Hwan thought so when he heard one of the delayed reports that Chinese diplomats were going in and out of the Israeli embassy from agents of the North Korean embassy in China and the General Bureau of Reconnaissance.
Come to think of it, the interests of the two countries did not really clash.
Few large powers have the ability and will to exert influence in the Middle East, and the most powerful of them is the United States.
Europe is too far away in the first place and there are only enemy countries everywhere, so the only remaining countries are China or Russia.
From Israel’s point of view, Russia’s national power is falling in real time, and above all else, if the pro-Russian route is burned, it will directly touch the heart of the United States.
The US is Israel’s most important ally (although the US unilaterally distributes a lot of it) anyway, and most American politicians still vividly remember the days when Russia was the Soviet Union.
That is, the risk is too great.
But what about China?
China is not yet strong enough to compete with the US in terms of military and economic power.
Even within the United States, the opinion that China would become a power equal to the United States was still only being ridiculed by the public, and the opinion that went a little further was about a vast market for American capital to enter.
It is geographically close to the Middle East, and apart from materialism and communism that believes that religion is the opium of the people, Islam or Judaism, all you need to think about is the gain and loss of political interests.
Read at noblemtl.com
No, rather… … .“In terms of dislike of Islam, China is not that easy. In fact, it would be fair to say that I hate not only Islam, but all religions that have the potential to become anti-government forces.”
A typical example was the oppression of Uyghurs.
Although they are also ethnic minorities other than the Han Chinese, who make up 93% of China’s population, since their main religion is Islam, they have been wary that they might challenge the rule of the Communist Party by linking with other Islamic countries such as Pakistan.
According to the intelligence of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance (No, in fact, you can only find out by visiting the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, it is a bit misleading to call it spying), even in this world, the oppression against them seems to have gotten stronger if they got stronger, but not weakened.
In short, the diplomatic solidarity between China and Israel, two military dictatorships that found a common denominator of Islam and vigilance against secession and independence, was now being established.
“What does Comrade Kim think of the actions of Comrade Jiang Zemin and Comrades in China toward the Uyghur tribes?”
“I do not know… … This… … .”
Jeonghwan stopped thinking about it then and asked Foreign Minister Kim Yong-geon, who was sitting quietly next to him.
Kim Yong-geon was looking into his eyes, not knowing what to answer to the question of the general secretary, who was very sensitive.
One wrong answer leads to a goal like Manager Jang Seong-taek, but the supreme leader’s question was difficult for him to answer easily.
When I said that it was natural to take the side of my (blood-blind) Chinese comrades and suppress the separation and independence of the Uyghurs, the general secretary did not seem to like the Chinese very much.
To say that what the Chinese comrades are doing, although they are allies, is wrong, it might sound indirectly in favor of the freedom and resistance of the Uyghurs to the regime.
Isn’t it the same as China and Joseon that dislike elements of system instability, such as religion, ethnicity, separatism, etc.?
In the end, Kim Yong-geon came up with the most vague answer like a diplomat, but neither this nor that, that is, the safest answer.
“I think that if we put the people first, lead by example, and choose to give, then Uyghurs or anywhere else will come under the leadership of the leader. It’s like a comrade general secretary now.”
“ha ha ha. That’s a nice word to hear. But the Chinese comrades did it wrong. Such a tyrannical method will only intensify the backlash against the system as a result. Not only for the Uyghurs, but also for the Han Chinese in general.”
Oppression in the absence of any other order to replace the existing order only invites backlash.
Even in the original history where Jeong-hwan was right now, even the world’s most powerful US military destroyed the local system and order, but fell into the abyss of the Iraq war and wasted a lot of national power.
As Jeong Hwan, the leader of North Korea with Dandong and Yanbian Korean-Chinese autonomous provinces next to Sinuiju, the Chinese and (future) US cases of such reformation and repression had no choice but to be a contrasting teacher.
Especially now that reports are coming up every day that a large number of Yanbian Koreans are flocking to North Korea, which is experiencing a period of high growth, from China, which is in a period of economic downturn.
“Then, what kind of plan does Comrade General Secretary have for reconciliation with other bloodlines?”
“First of all, the people should know for themselves the benefits of voluntary submission to the system, but… … For that, the first thing you need to control is.”
“What is it?”
“In the past, it would have been an information delivery medium, such as a newspaper or broadcasting station, but now the trend of the times is this.”
While saying that, Jeonghwan pointed to a flat rectangular plate on the desk.
Its identity, which was too large to be called a box of gwakbap (lunchbox), was unfamiliar except for some wealthy college students in North Korea, where computers and internet lines have begun to spread quite a bit.
The identity of the product was the Macintosh PowerBook line, which was launched by Apple in 1994, in other words, a laptop computer.
“Not long ago, an American company sent the comrade general… … that… … It’s a laptop. Apparently, when the Chosun Investment Corporation decided to invest in that company, they sent them to take a look at their products… … .”
“Yes. This is the future of this republic and of this system. I didn’t come out with this guy in front of the camera for the New Year’s address before I left for China because I had nothing to do. In the future, countries that understand the possibilities of information and communication technology and IT will dominate the future.”
* * *
IT industry!
That was the best business from the second half of the 20th century to the 21st century, and it was the holy grail of the new era that connected Africa and the Arctic.
Jeonghwan knew very well that countries and individuals riding on this huge wave of information and communication technology would create enormous wealth, but otherwise there would only be failure or shunning.
That is why, from the beginning, he considered IT as the future growth engine of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and has been preparing for it little by little.
The effort paid off, and a nationwide TV network (to broadcast the love story of the Yu sisters) was laid out, and the Internet line was also widely spread through the ADSL network using telephone lines, mainly in Pyongyang.
It was the beginning of the era of the information and communication revolution, in which the famous early form of PC communication had already appeared, and even some students of Kim Dae-jung joined the group and were suffering from censorship by anti-party groups.
But Junghwan thought that it was still not enough.
“Now, one of the most important axes of the future industries of this republic will be in charge of this information and communication technology. And it is also an area where this republic, which has a late start in all industries, has the only potential to advance by competing with South Korea and Japan.”
Jeonghwan broke his luck by announcing a new policy at the meeting of the Politburo members.
However, as expected by Jeong-hwan, and unfortunately, most of the members did not seem to agree with the vision of the young leader.
“Hey, I didn’t know that the computer could be so great. From now on, I will study hard so that I can respond to the interest of Comrade General Secretary… … .”
“Ha, that’s actually the problem.”
“yes?”
“There’s a hundred listings, can you send me an email?”
“… … Yes, comrade general secretary? If this is an email… … I know what it is, but that.”
Baek Seung-cheol, who was suddenly named, stammered until the end, looking for an answer, but his bewildered face was already telling all the answers.
Until now, he was neither an engineer nor a scholar, but as a military officer, he could not have been accustomed to newspapers such as computers and e-mails.
Jeonghwan turned his gaze to the other people at the table, but it seemed that the situation was not so different for the other executives as they all avoided his eyes at once.
“… … If there are so many hard-headed party members, what will my new year’s face become when I say, ‘The second revolution following the founding revolution of the party is the IT revolution of the Republic’? South Korea is already ahead of us in this area as well.”
The era is 1994, and it is still a long time for Korea to establish an advanced IT infrastructure by supplying broadband high-speed Internet networks under the ‘people’s PC’ policy by Yu Min-jung, who will become president.
However, it was hard to deny that it was far ahead of North Korea, where the existence of computers had just begun to be known to most of the people, in terms of perception and in everything.
In order to develop the IT industry as a national priority industry in the 21st century, the masses had to get used to computers first of all.
Even in Korea, the generation who grew up with Hitel, PC communication, and Starcraft when they were young became the entrepreneurs of future IT companies.
In order to bring about such an innovation in this North Korea, it was necessary to give the rising generation a computer first of all.
“As a New Year’s task from now on, I will propose to achieve 50% personal computer penetration for young people aged 16 to 29. As far as I know, didn’t a young comrade who recently returned from studying at an Anglo-American university set up a computer assembly company?”
“Yes, yes, of course, it is a small business that only copies and assembles US-made products… … .”
“Perfect. To support young entrepreneurs, place large orders. Lower the price by subsidizing it at the party level. At least two or three computers should be provided in libraries and people’s synagogues in each location so that they can be used for common use.”
In other words, it was a benchmarking of the ‘National PC’ project that Min-jung Yoo launched in actual history a few years later.
As a result of actively opening the stage for studying abroad and academic exchange for several years already, the number of first-generation North Korean venture companies aiming for at least the blue ocean of the future was being born one by one.
However, Jeonghwan knew that supporting the private industry at the government doesn’t mean buying a lot of goods.
because.
“Like you, there are too many party members, and party cadres, who have never even heard of the digital ‘D’ in this republic. The diffusion of technology always precedes the legal system, but at least the legal system must not block technological innovation. But, not only you, but most of the party members still do not know what an email is.”
“He said, there is no face… … .”
“To break this perception, symbolic propaganda is necessary. In other words, the event should be held.”
“That’s it, that… … How about an event?”
“Send invitations to a few people in my name. Please come to this republic and share your thoughts on future information technology. This will be the economic and industrial life of the republic ten years later. Whether or not we adapt to the digital age will determine the fate of our country and system.”
In order to change a person, an organization, a country, or a country, it is a law that requires a little bit of consciousness.
If you’re going to buy a computer anyway, you’ll have to buy ‘that person’ company’s products as well, so if you think of meeting a bulk buyer once, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Jeonghwan thought so, and as the secretary of the office waiting in the conference room quickly prepared to make an international call, he waved his hand to signal that there was no need to do so.
* * *
“Sir, come here for a second and look at this.”
“What? No big deal, or the secretarial line. Don’t waste my time.”
In a conference room in Redmond, Seattle, USA, far from Pyongyang, a man in his late 30s with glasses answered the personal secretary who interrupted the meeting with an annoyed expression.
He was literally a man of time, and he didn’t want to waste a second of his day.
He was now one of the youngest billionaires in America, but no matter how much money you have, you can’t buy time.
Still, there were too many reporters who forgot that and wasted his time with useless interviews.
“This is a request for a visit and lecture. in Asia.”
“Asia? Send me a message saying I’m sorry. I don’t have time to fly there.”
“Aren’t you going to ask where it is? Something a little odd… … The head of state himself… … Well, I contacted you by e-mail via webmail. I even know the Japanese owner Masayoshi Sohn.”
“… … Are you Masayoshi? That hand of SoftBank Masayoshi?”
If it’s Masayoshi Son, Jeong-eui Son, he knows it too.
We’ve met several times in business.
His bold investment in a field where the business reality was unclear in Japan, an IT barren land, remained impressive in his memory.
Besides, it’s webmail, not fax?
Even in this day and age, and even in the United States, the country that made him rich, the president and other elderly political leaders were still full of people who didn’t even know what e-mail was.
It was inevitable because, like his company, webmail was still a stranger in a company that decided to sell software for the first time.
But did the head of an Asian country contact him by webmail rather than by phone or letter?
Hearing this far, he became interested.
“… … What is your purpose?”
“I want to have young people in my country hear about the success story of the president and share my vision for the future. When I asked the sales department, they said that our company’s products, i.e. windows, were also purchased in bulk this time. I don’t think I’m just calling him to compare his wealth with the boss.”
“Today’s meeting ends here. Everyone go and work like worker ants.”
Okay, then I’ll have to go.
If you are a head of state who understands the potential and value of software, it is worth meeting at least once.
With that in mind, Microsoft’s president, Bill Gates, interlaced his hands behind his head, walked out of the conference room and asked his secretary.
“Where is the country?”
“North Korea, North Korea. Why is that a country where a young man about the age of a boss who is a little over 30 is the president.”