21st century Goguryeo

Chapter 79

July 5, 2020, 10:00

Blue House meeting room, Jongro-ku, Seoul.

President Suh Hyun-woo put down the black phone receiver. The phone was a hotline phone connected to North Korea’s First Vice Chairman Kim Yo-jung. The president sank deep into his seat with both his eyes closed, an unreadable expression on his face, and did not open his eyes for a while. Then, an hour later, an emergency cabinet meeting was held in the Blue House.

“Thank you for coming all this way on such short notice,” the president said. “I just received word from First Vice-Chairman Kim Yo-jung.”

This emergency meeting was attended by most high-ranking government bureaucrats, excluding a few secretaries of state. When talks of North Korea came up, they all seemed concerned and paid close attention to the president.

“First Vice-Chairman Kim Yo-jung has finally responded positively to our federal unification plan.”

The national security director, NIS secretary, and other ministers did not respond to what the president said. In truth, for Korean politicians, unification between the South and North was a wished-for ideal, but it was only that. No one believed that it could be achieved. However, now that the unification had become something tangible, no one could believe it.

“Hahaha, oh my! It seems everyone here is in disbelief.” President Suh Hyun-woo seemed amused by all the wide-eyed government bureaucrats frozen in place, unable to speak, and he began to laugh.

National Security Director Oh Jang-soo, who was the first to come to his senses, showed a hint of a smile and said, “Mr. President... is that true?”

“Yes, First Vice-Chairman Kim Yo-jung has officially accepted our proposed federal unification plan.”

Hearing this, the government officials all began to clap their hands, and then the meeting for the South-North federal unification began.

North Korea’s First Vice-Chairman Kim Yo-jung had spent some time in agony and concern after receiving Head of the United front and Secretary of the Labor Party Kim Young-chul’s report. His report about South Korea’s unbelievable scientific technology and President Suh Hyun-woo’s sincere hope for the reunification of Korea made her lose sleep. A week later, First Vice-Chairman Kim Yo-jung fired all the old high-ranking officials who were still obsessed with the old ideals and could not see the world as it was. She replaced them with new, younger people, and when she made up her mind about reunification, she called President Suh Hyun-woo.

“A conference will be held with the North Korean government to discuss the federal unification,” the president said. “I would like all the ministers of each department to prepare diligently. Minister of National Defense?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I believe the Ministry of National Defense will be the busiest. Please make sure that the plans to reorganize the military proceed smoothly, and prepare for all aspects of the reintegration of our forces with North Korea’s.”

“No need to worry, Mr. President. Our military is in the final stages of reorganization. We have already formed a TF team to combine our forces with North Korea’s, and they have been analyzing the situation. I will make sure everything proceeds without incident.”

“Yes, I will put my faith in you, Minister Kang.”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

President Suh-Hyun-woo was very happy. He never thought he would be able to hold a meeting like this during his term, and if it wasn’t for the fact that he was leading the meeting, he would have thought he was dreaming. For this reason, the conference room had no shortage of laughter during the meeting’s duration.

“Prime Minister Lee Young-ho, please hold frequent meetings with the ministers of each department, and take care of their needs. If they need financial aid or support in human resources, I would like you to actively support them. If you can’t do so, please let me know.”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

NIS Secretary Na Bong-il raised his hand when the federal unification meeting was coming to a close.

“Yes, do you have something to suggest?” the president asked him.

“Mr. President, this is not related to the unification but as for the rising tensions with China, such as the incident with the illegal Chinese fishing ships in the West Sea and the explosion of the Chinese submarine. Also, I’m concerned about the safety of the Korean corporations and Koreans in China, now that there is no more Korean embassy staff. We must have all the Korean corporations and people brought back to the country before it is too late, sir.”

“Has the situation in China escalated that much?”

“Just yesterday, there was an illegal sit-down strike at one of Oh-Sung Electronic’s factories. Its factory equipment and facilities were destroyed, and the six Korean employees who had tried to stop the strikes were all beaten, and are currently hospitalized.”

“I see. If the Korean corporations and small business owners in China were brought back to Korea, how much would we sustain in financial damages?

Minister of Trade and Industry Kim Hyung-soo raised his hand and spoke. “I can tell you more about that, sir.”

“Okay. What would the damages be?”

“If the 18 factories and 36 large storefronts close down, the damage is currently estimated at 4.8 trillion won, and for small businesses, the damage is estimated at 4.2 billion won. The silver lining is that many of the Korean factories in China moved to Africa and Southeast Asia two years ago, so the damages sustained won’t be too great. However, for small business owners, even if the economic impacts are small, their livelihoods will still be largely effected, so the government needs to prepare a proactive aid policy for them.”

President Suh Hyun-woo stroked his chin while he considered what the Minister of Trade and Industry had said, then nodded his head and straightened up.

“All right,” he said loudly. “Proceed with bringing back all Korean citizens and corporations residing in China. Please have both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry cooperate in order to get this process underway as soon as possible. Also, have the Ministry of Economy and Finance set a budget for aiding the corporations and small business owners that will be affected. Since things are the way they are, take care of everything correctly, and have the Ministry of Security and Public Administration deport all Chinese citizens living in Korea.”

Everyone was surprised by how swiftly the president made these decisions. They all knew that the president ordinarily seemed like a kind-hearted, middle-aged man neighbor, but was like a bulldozer when it came to making a decision. However, they all believed that it would be extremely rash to deport all the Chinese citizens in Korea.

“Mr. President! Deporting all Chinese citizens would be a bit...”

When Minister Joo Il-tae from the Ministry of Labor tried to oppose the decision to deport all Chinese citizens, arguing that it would cause large ripples across the pond, President Suh Hyun-woo cut him off.

“I know full well what you’re saying. However, are we going to allow Chinese to stay here when we’re taking financial losses by the Chinese government, which is ignoring the safety of the Korean people in China? We can’t act like the Chinese government and allow terrorist attacks to happen to Chinese corporations’ facilities and people, can we? There is only one solution: deportation. My mind has already been made, so stop opposing me, and have each department proceed. I would also like the prime minister to keep a close watch over the proceedings.”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

On July 15, 2020, the Korean government announced a policy that would return all Korean citizens and corporations in China to Korea by August 10, and on August 11, Korea announced that all Chinese citizens residing in Korea would be deported by September, which led to each nation having their embassy staff and citizens returned to them.

Now, relations between China and Korea had devolved into war without any military activity. Reports that Korea and China had gone into a “war without gunshots” were plastered in headlines all over the world, and the papers were filled with rubbish predictions that Korea would sustain more damages than China and would give up before the year was over.

* * *

September 20, 2020, 15:00

Panmungak conference room in Paju-si, Kyung gi-do (8th federal unification ministers’ meeting).

The federal unification meeting, which started on August 1, had now reached its eighth meeting. All the staff and ministers from the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces were in attendance, and the two-day long meeting about the sensitive topic of unification was about to begin.

The first item on the docket was the organization of the central government forces and main defense forces under a federally unified nation, along with the formation of a uniform military ranking system. At times, compromises were made easily, while at other times, there were difficulties coming to an agreement. However, even if the unification process was a federal one that combined the two independent nations into one, it leaned toward the re-absorption of North Korea into South Korea. Therefore, the agreement that was made was based on the suggestions by the South’s Ministry of National Defense.

On October 1, 2020, when South Korea entered into its election, a special statement was issued by the heads of both countries at the Blue House and North Korea’s Presidential Palace. It was the shocking announcement that the South and North had agreed to a federal unification. China made an announcement that the unification was invalid, citing the Chinese-North Korean Formal Amity, while Japan took a neutral stance, advocating that amity made between two nations must be respected. Western countries such as Russia and America did not send any messages of congratulations or disagreement. Though the unification of Korea didn’t receive any praise, it was slowly rising to the surface.

* * *

October 2, 2020, 09:00

Politburo of the Communist Party of China meeting room, Beijing, China.

When South and North Korea announced their federal reunification, the Chinese leaders responded immediately and called for a meeting with all the members of the Communist Party. They all convened in order to make various suggestions about how to punish North Korea and South Korea in light of the ongoing economic trade war with them. The atmosphere of the room was becoming more and more escalated.

Vice President Lee Yuan Chao spoke aggressively, foaming at the mouth “This is a good opportunity for us. We must oppose the federal unification of South and North Korea by citing the Chinese-North Korean Formal Amity. It’s a great chance for us to punish the two nations for looking down on China.”

Secretary Wang Qi San from the Central Discipline Inspection Committee agreed with Vice President Lee Yuan Chao’s statement and argued for a proactive measure. “The vice president does have a point, and I agree with what he says. The people’s discontent with Korea has reached its peak. We must use this opportunity to show South and North Korea that we are the more powerful nation.”

“Do you think South and North Korea will listen to us in this situation?” Prime Minister Lee Ke Chang said.

“Yes. It will be difficult to pressure North Korea with just the Chinese-North Korean Formal Amity since they have agreed to the federal unification and are receiving aid from the South. ”

“Would that be the case?”

When Minister of National Defense Ping Bai Fung, who was seated at the left of the conference table, said this, all the members in attendance turned their gaze to him.

“Do you have a solution?” Vice Prime Minister Ma Kai asked.

“Yes. It’s simple. China is now a G2 nation and is on equal footing with the U.S, both economically and militarily. I can’t understand why a large nation like China must have a meeting about two small nations and rack its brains over what to do about them.”

“Please get to the point,” Prime Minister Lee Ke Chang said, becoming impatient.

“We stage a preemptive invasion into North Korea, breaking the Chinese-North Korean Formal Amity.”

“Minister, are you suggesting we go to war?”

“I would prefer that you view it as the punishment of a dependent state, Prime minister Lee Ke Chang.”

“What kind of nonsense...”

President Xi Jing Ping, who had only been listening with his arms crossed, finally spoke. “I don’t think it’s entirely wrong,” he said.

“Mr. President, are you agreeing with Minister Pin Bai Hung?”

“He’s not wrong, is he?”

“What?”

“As the Minister said, our great China is now a nation that can stand shoulder to shoulder with America, and soon enough we will surpass them. Why must we rack our brains over two nations smaller than our own states?”

When the conversation headed in the direction he wanted, Vice President Lee Qian Chao gave a relaxed smile and supported President Xi’s words. “That’s right. We’re no longer the China that had to bow down to Western nations.”

President Xi Jing Ping stood up from his seat, puffed out his chest, and after looking at all the government officials, said curtly, “Everyone, I am willing to go to war for China’s dignity and security.”