Dear Comrade Leader, Episode 168
Chapter 60. Modern Warfare
“I think you know, but General Secretary. We absolutely cannot tolerate voting rights in the new Petroleum Bureau by a country that we do not have our control over.”
“… … Still, how about making an offer once in a while? First of all, President Yeltsin is a democrat… … .”
“No, there cannot be any other option for this matter. It’s an informal contact, so I’ll be honest. We, the United States, must take the initiative in the new organization.”
As expected, Jeonghwan sighed exhaustedly at Dick Cheney, who came out hard even when only the Russian word ‘Russian’ appeared.
As you know, it is an international organization, but the reality is that even if the cause represents the countries of the world, in reality, it represents the interests of the great powers.
Right now, even at the United Nations, the secretary-general is only half a decoration, and in reality, the five permanent members of the US, China, Russia and the United Nations eat it all up.
And the biggest beneficiary of that reality, Vice President Dick Cheney of the United States (although he has his own personal inclinations, of course) cannot put a country that can rival the United States into a new institution.
“With Russia, it is tiring just to bump into each other even at the UN Standing Council. But I don’t want to waste time with meaningless discussions and vetoes.”
“… … First of all, it would be better to postpone this issue for a while.”
In the end, Junghwan took a step back.
In any case, the cartel’s largest shareholders are apparently the US government, or to be more precise, the Republican Party and the giant refineries called the Seven Sisters, and North Korea is the face of it.
If the largest shareholder causes the economy to play a role in trying to get even the slightest bit of Russia’s blow to the huge cartel that will dominate the world’s oil supply in the future, it would be best to quietly follow it for now.
‘Of course, I don’t mean to give up.’
Jeonghwan’s purpose was to solidify North Korea’s position as the founding and chairing country in the new cartel that will constitute the world order in the next era, and for that, the consent and cooperation of the United States was absolutely necessary.
But, of course, I had no intention of ever being swayed by them.
For now, we will have to bow down, but in time, we will have to bring in a country that can contain the United States as a member state.
“good. So, do you agree that we, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, will assume the presidency?”
“Since the general secretary made the first offer, it must be so. Let’s also set up our headquarters in Pyongyang. So now I have to set up a charter. Of course, it’s not that important, but the name of the device.”
After some time of discussion, the name and charter of a new oil cartel to fight against OPEC, led by the United States and North Korea, were decided.
-UPEC (Uniting of Petroleum Exporting Countries)
‘I thought it was a US-led organization, so they named it very similarly.’
At the name that Dick Cheney proposed without even thinking about it, Jeonghwan grumbled like that, but he didn’t say it out loud.
For now, just having a founding member and chairperson and having its headquarters in Pyongyang was a situation that had to be taken seriously.
Dick Cheney would not have accepted his proposal so quickly and easily if it hadn’t been for the moment when the US presidential election was imminent, precisely when the threat of some Democrat who is making waves right now was not materialized.
Of course, you have to rip it off as much as you can to the end.
“That’s a good name. And to add one more thing to the Charter, I would like for the decision to join the new member state to be approved by the presidency, and to allow the presidency to immediately vote on joining a new member state without notifying other member states.”
“… … Do you think that’s a bit excessive?”
“To put it bluntly, even if we are just chair keepers, shouldn’t we have the rights of a secretary general? If you make even the scarecrow too lax, you can’t fool the sparrows.”
“… … Hmmm, it makes sense. But even so, I don’t know if I’ll be able to convince my friends at ExxonMobil and Texas Oil… … .”
“You will understand. If the current Democratic Party’s blue chip, Rep. Al Gore, becomes president, wouldn’t it be very difficult to fulfill his role as a chairperson? Oh, of course, I wish it was Ki-woo, but… … .”
“… … .”
‘Now that I see, I’ve been aiming for this opportunity for a long time.’
In fact, as he said, in the Republican Party in the United States now, the main concern of the current leadership is ‘there is no specific candidate to stand up against the Democrats in the presidential election at the end of this year’ rather than ‘who will assume the nominal chairperson of the just-founded organization’. It was.
Although the names of several candidates, including Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld, have been mentioned, Al Gore, the opponent of the Democratic Party, was so popular that many lawmakers already regarded defeat as a fact.
Al Gore, an elite of the East with a clean and intelligent image, who graduated from Harvard and is interested in IT, finance, and even environmental issues, has already expanded his popularity by playing as Clinton’s running mate last time, and his popularity did not fade at all after Clinton’s defeat.
The election loss was not surprising, as he was unaware of the public fatigue of Bush, who had already been hammocked for eight years, but the real problem for Dick Cheney and the big boys in the oil industry was Al Gore’s promise.
Al Gore has been a major advocate of regulation of the oil industry to solve global warming and environmental problems.
[Humanity has been ignoring an inconvenient truth. The fact that global warming will destroy humanity if we continue to increase our carbon emissions. And at the forefront of that doom will be the United States, the world’s largest consumer of oil. Voters, if we are to survive, we must all reduce our use of petroleum cars and our carbon emissions!]
Al Gore, who publicly challenged the nation’s largest oil industry, has sparked an uproar among American refiners.
If Al Gore falls and the Republicans stay in power, that’s enough, but the situation is serious because they already knew that the American public, especially those in their 20s who grew up in the hypermedia era, are tired of the outdated and outdated Republican image. .
Jeonghwan, who is well aware of this situation, must have already known that Dick Cheney’s words that it is difficult to convince people in the oil industry are just harsh words.
‘Well, okay. After all, if something goes wrong later on, it’s enough to change the presidency to voting. Please enjoy to your heart’s content the status of the presidency.’
When Jeonghwan secretly stabbed the sore spot, Dick Cheney was so cynical in his heart that he pretended not to win and promised to honor his request.
“… … I will do that. As I’ve been feeling for a while, the person sitting in Pyongyang is very bright with the news from Washington.”
“I have a lot of good ears. Then we look forward to seeing the official launch declaration soon.”
If it is short, if it is long, it is an agreement over the phone call, and UPEC, the Federation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is revealed to the world.
It soon became clear that Dick Cheney was never lying.
Shortly after the phone call with Jeong Hwan, he persuaded and united American refiners, their lobbyists and think tanks, as he had sworn, to assert the need for a new oil cartel led by the United States.
The Republican mainstream, backed by oil giants, had to agree with the statement that, if anything else, the inauguration and membership should be passed over to Congress before Al Gore came to power.
While a stable oil supply is more important than anywhere else, generals from the US military, whose defense budget fluctuates with oil prices, also voiced their voices.
In the active lobby of Thatcher’s Northeast Asian Balanced Security Foundation, the United Kingdom, which owns the North Sea oil field and shares interests with the United States in almost every aspect, was the first to declare its membership.
Most of the other countries that were offered to join as member countries were also close to OPEC’s arbitrariness.
And to exert even the slightest influence on oil price decisions, which are becoming increasingly important, they did not hesitate to help out with one arm.
UPEC, which has nine founding members from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, India, the Netherlands, Norway and North Korea, held its first inauguration ceremony in New York.
The draft of the UPEC Charter was made as follows after some modifications in the discussion between Hwan Jeong and Cheney.
group 1. UPEC member countries will take the following joint action to ensure the exclusive protection of economic rights such as stable oil supply and export and sale of each member country.
Article 2. UPEC regularly holds its General Assembly in Pyongyang, and the representatives of its member countries are appointed by ministerial-level ambassadors recognized by each country.
Article 3. All resolutions of the UPEC are decided by the votes of the member states, and a majority of the resolutions are adopted as the official resolutions of the UPEC.
Article 4. The presidency is decided by votes of the member states, and in addition to the regular general meeting, the chair country may convene a general meeting. The first chair country is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
… … .
The provision to agree on oil prices by a majority vote rather than a unanimous system like OPEC was possible thanks to two main reasons.
The first was that most of the member countries did not have to risk the life and death of the country on oil prices as they were not resource-dependent economies like OPEC members, which depend only on oil.
Although Saudi Arabia was a hegemon in the Middle East, it was difficult to say that it was a great power, whereas the United States was able to pressure other member states by means other than oil.
And when the coalition of oil producing countries was officially launched, what surprised the international community the most was that the chair country of this organization was neither the UK nor Canada, but the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
However, those with insight who saw the situation objectively and calmly noticed the true meaning of the United States hidden in this fat-like composition.
Finally, the US has declared war on the OPEC-centered oil price structure!
As they said, the curtain of a silent war between OPEC and UPEC, both camps over oil, an indispensable resource for mankind, was rising like this.
* * *
“Another war has begun. comrades. The war that has been fought for the past 40 years has now begun to be won little by little by our republic.”
“As the general secretary said, the South Korean comrades seem to have fainted. South Korea’s U.S. military to join the new oil system… … There are also stories in the South Korean newspapers that compare it to the presence of US forces in Korea.”
‘Hey, from Korea’s point of view, it’s worth feeling betrayed by the US. That’s why we have to look at oil or anything else.’
Baek Seung-cheol, who was summoned to the secretary’s office, and Hong Kye-seong (who still seem to be in the dark) mentioned the editorial in the Goryeo Ilbo, Jeong Hwan also read in the morning a few days ago.
The editorial with an impressive headline, ‘North Korea’s UPEC presidency system is a signal for the establishment of a new diplomatic route for the United States on the Korean Peninsula, comparable to the conclusion of the ROK-U.S. military alliance,’ clearly shows the shock felt by Koreans who understand the situation. .
In particular, the discouragement and sense of crisis of South Korean government officials, including President Park Yi-sam, could not be expressed in words.
Relations with the United States or any other country can be broadly divided into economic allies and military allies.
While South Korea has been military friendly relations with the United States through the US Forces Korea (USFK), North Korea is now moving forward as an economic friend through the United States and UPEC.
The fact that the U.S. conceded the chairperson position in the oil organization, and even to North Korea, is not a story that the U.S. is giving North Korea the same level of trust as South Korea, or more trust than South Korea.
In summary, it was a kind of diplomatic defeat.
“Modern Warfare is not just a battle that takes place on a border, but a battle that takes place on almost every side. Diplomacy, the media, internal politics, and above all the economy, that is, money.”
“It’s a sensible thing to say. Comrade general secretary. In that sense, the Republic’s accession to the new oil system is a great diplomatic victory that surpasses the victory in the Battle of Cheongsan-ri during the anti-Japanese struggle. This is because our People’s Army will no longer have to fight over eating frozen tofu over rice.”
“I’m glad you seem to understand the meaning. My comrades also believe that by now the greatest weapon of our People’s Army is the indomitable partisan spirit, which has been erased from the goal. But now the challenges facing the People’s Army and our Republic are not enough. That too for a long time.”
Jeonghwan said so and got up from his seat and walked around as if thinking deeply about something, leaving Hong Kye-sung and Baek Seung-cheol sitting in front of him.
“The inherent limitation of our republic is that it is a small country compared to neighboring countries. The number of people is too small compared to Russia and China, as well as South Korea. Modern warfare is not decided by the number of troops, but by no means is the number of troops completely irrelevant.”
“… … .”
“… … So, with this limited military resource, we should devise a way to efficiently increase our national defense power as much as possible to protect the strong mountains of the Republic. But no army wins every battle on all fronts, on land, naval, air, and amphibious warfare. If yes, about one? The US military could be a strong candidate for that, but they may be invincible, but they are not all-rounders.”
The two generals of the People’s Army closed their mouths and straightened their postures with a nervous expression, seeing the supreme leader’s troubled appearance, which is rarely seen.
It was because he had a gut feeling that the reason they were summoned to the clerk’s office shortly after joining the historic oil system would be mentioned soon.
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Not surprisingly, a test in the form of a question was thrown from Jeonghwan’s mouth.“So, comrades, answer me. In the future, which army do you think is the most likely to clash between the Republic of Korea Army and the People’s Army? With the limited resources and budget of this republic, where is the hypothetical area that should be researched and attacked and defended most effectively?”
In response to the Supreme Commander’s question, the two generals remained silent for a moment.
After about 5 seconds of silence in the secretary’s room, Jeonghwan noticed that Hong Kye-sung and Baek Seung-cheol already knew the answer but hesitated to answer, and added a word.
“Don’t worry about diplomatic relations, just give me your opinion as a soldier. The party and cabinet comrades are well aware that there will be no ears to hear here, and there are no permanent enemies or permanent friends as ever.”
When the supreme leader’s permission was granted, the two young and old generals looked at each other for a moment, then answered almost simultaneously.
“It’s from China.”
“Isn’t that China?”
“I’m glad I’m sharing what I’m thinking. Then ask again. Now, if the Chinese comrades break the DPRK-China military alliance and invade this republic… … Are your comrades confident of winning?”