Dear Comrade - Dear Comrade chapter 99

＜ Chapter 27. the next 10 years ＞

Chapter 27. the next 10 years

The poet’s editorial, which began with a sentence that was both provocative and ridiculed, was shocking to the student activists who were trying to ignite the university district with the flames of struggle again in two senses.

The first was that the editorial was published in the Goryeo Ilbo, which was treated as a ‘government watchdog’, and the second was that the author of the editorial was a person who fought against the dictatorship with them.

＜…I don’t want to repeat the golden and jade birds that life is sacred. Politics, economy, culture, and even religion exist for the protection and well-being of life, and it starts from that, not the other way around. Are your own lives that light? An individual’s life is greater than a government. This should be the starting point of all true movement.＞

Although the editorial was not long, it was powerful. It appealed to the most universal sensibility of ‘the preciousness of life’ and, implicitly within the movement at the time, was an effective means of resistance to the military dictatorship (forced against one’s own and half), and directly sacrificed life. because it was criticized as

And the reason why the attack was so powerful against the progressive forces in Korea was that it had a great influence not only on the group based on the ideology prevailing in an era called the movement rights, but also on the small citizens who supported the movement in the sense of passively rejecting the tyranny of the military dictatorship. It was.

＜Is the prospect of liberation that you believe is firm? Are beliefs about purpose scientifically sound? If it is conventional socialism, the prospect is already over. As we have all seen, Kim Il-sung is dead, and Kim Il-sung’s Republic is also dead. No, it is questionable whether his intention was socialism in the first place. The young successor of the deceased President also joined hands with the former enemy of the United States. At this point with less than 10 years left in the new millennium, I want you to look back on what you are working on here.＞

‘It hurts a lot more when the person you were on the same side as before and now turns around and hits you.’

Jeonghwan shook his head bitterly as he saw the editorial section of the Goryeo Ilbo delivered only to the secretary’s office.

And, as Jeonghwan predicted, the Korean progressive forces that dominated the 1980s faced a political ice age from the publication of this editorial.

Of course, at first, most of the voices dismissed the editorial as the opinion of a mere traitor who fell into the current president and his faction, saying ‘the defector of a senior in the democratization movement’ and ‘not a traitor, but a hidden face’.

However, after that, bad news for the movement and strategic mistakes in response to the bad news started to occur.

The current president and the ruling party started a counterattack against the progressive forces as they had long been preparing for the local elections scheduled for that year.

One of the students who self-immolated as a protest against the repression and death did not commit suicide, but was pushed to suicide by the coercion and persuasion of the leader of the student movement. The public opinion, which had been long and gloomy, began to deteriorate rapidly in the movement.

History could have changed if the student movement, represented here, had changed the course and started a nonviolent struggle in a conciliatory manner, but unfortunately, students who are still leaders in the movement are still tired of the smell of tear gas in the university district. hadn’t noticed

The era of ideology and ideology was coming to an end in both South and North Korea, even on the Korean Peninsula, one of the front lines of the Cold War.

And as if blocking the retreat of the student movement that could not sense the change of the times, the president and the ruling party began to shake their ideological foundations by revealing that discussions, including acknowledgment of each other’s existence and economic exchanges, were progressing between the two Koreas.

Of course, this contact with North Korea was based on Jeonghwan’s judgment that it was in his best interest to contact him when the South Korean government desperately needed an image of inter-Korean cooperation.

– Eh, I and this government…. After long negotiations with the North, we agreed that we should aim for the peaceful reunification of the divided country and bring an end to the conflict. Discussions are currently taking place at the practical stage, and if the North’s supreme leader loses the sanction, the two sides will sit face to face at the negotiating table at any time…

When they got here, the logic of the progressive camp that “the current government is a fascist force that solidifies their power base that they usurped in a coup d’état by consolidating the division and the Cold War at the behest of major powers such as the United States and Japan, and obstructing national reunification,” has greatly lost its power. .

And at this point in time, activist groups made another mistake, unable to abandon their past radical path.

– The prime minister who massacred our teachers and betrayed our values as an educator, step down from the sacred arena of education!

At that time, the former Minister of Education and Education, who was newly appointed as the prime minister at the time, was a person who had previously been dissatisfied with the students of the activists due to the measures to suppress the student movement, such as the ‘5.6 measures’, and the attacks on the KTU.

And at the school where the new Prime Minister-nominee was giving his last lecture before taking office, the students of the athletics made a serious mistake in using physical force directly on him.

In addition, the appearance of the Prime Minister nominee, who was reported through reporters who were gathering at the school to interview the nominee, was baptized with stones and eggs and left school surrounded by bodyguards. It dried up even the last sympathy of the Korean people, saying, ‘It must not have been democratized.

– These sleazy bastards… you know who’s defiling the sacred arena of education right now! How dare young people use violence against a heavenly teacher!

– Those bastards can’t do that anymore, that one. What kind of student movement is that and the democratization protest? just gossip Is democracy beating school teachers?

And the movement (at least in the mainstream of society) has been hit with near extinction.

The ruling party, which seized the opportunity to counterattack, defined the activist students’ attacks on the prime minister’s nominee as ‘terrorism that forsaken humanity’ and ‘established law and order’ and investigated and arrested the leaders.

And finally, in front of the upcoming general election, Jeong Hwan, who decided that ‘the ruling Democratic People’s Liberation Party and the government will desperately want one last shot to enter into consolidation’ gave instructions to Foreign Minister Kim Yong-geon and Standing Chairman Kim Young-nam.

“Now is the right time. If you want to sell water at the highest price, you have to sell it to someone who is thirsty. This agreement will determine the future of inter-Korean relations, no, the entire republic for 10 years, so we must not miss this opportunity.”

“You are right, Comrade General Secretary!”

And the basic agreement between the two Koreas, which was carried out in an instant due to the political needs of both sides, was concluded with just over a week left before the regional parliamentary elections.

It took less than half a year from the proposal to the working-level talks and conclusions to the actual entry into force. It was a lightning-fast settlement, but there were no outward complaints from both sides, because each of them had already made their own calculations.

＜Reconciliation, non-aggression, and economic exchanges between South and North Korea. Agreement on Capital Cooperation＞

Chapter 1. North-South reconciliation

1. South and North Korea recognize and respect each other’s system.

2. The South and the North shall not interfere in each other’s internal affairs.

3. South and North Korea slander each other. I don’t slander….

“Come on, Chairman Kim Young-nam, I wish you all the best in the future. And our president also said hello to the supreme leader and general secretary.”

“Heh heh heh… Our republic just wants to open up a future of shared prosperity with the South. Comrade General Secretary also expects many things from exchanges with others.”

‘Looking at what you’re saying, this is what I expected. They say oil is coming out, but it doesn’t happen overnight… You’re going to dig it out with us in US money until we can make a living by selling it, right? Ttt, at any rate, the rednecks know the taste of money quickly…’

Kim Young-nam, who signed the agreement at the high-level inter-Korean summit held in Seoul, and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea shook hands with each other smiling faces, but they were busy digging into each other’s feelings.

The newly signed Inter-Korean Basic Agreement contained more and more specific provisions on economic exchange than in the original history.

– I’m sure of this. They are trying to create a reform and open market economy system. Maybe oil is coming out. But it won’t happen in a year, so we’ll borrow US capital with our companies.

– Really? Why leave China and the Soviet Union alone…? When it comes to oil mining, the technical know-how isn’t that great.

– I’m afraid of losing it. These days, Chinese kids are also spreading rumors about what they are doing in the Middle East, right? It’s like entrusting fish to a cat. North Korea recently launched a new intelligence agency, so they probably won’t listen either. So, they’re trying to get the Americans into the Gulf War as a hostage.

– But will the Blue House pass this agreement as per the agreement? If oil is developed over there, isn’t it like using our own money to only make money to maintain their weapons buying system?

Surprisingly, the South Korean government passed the seemingly talkative agreement without saying much.

Among the reasons for this transition, the first is to defeat the progressive camp (of course, in the eyes of the current ruling party and the Goryeo Ilbo, they were ignorant gangsters) and win the local council election, which is currently repeating political defeat and losing its cause. it was for

And the second and true reason was that while the progressives were going through such internal strife and the process of rebirth, the opposition camp, the South Korean conservatives, were also studying and changing a new stance on the great transformation of the existence of North Korea.

The most sensitive reaction to this transition, which took place more than a year ago, was the market conservative force consisting of the Korea Daily and exporting conglomerates, which had a strong influence on the Blue House and policy makers.

– oil! North Korea is running out of oil! Ha ha ha… This is from heaven helping this Republic of Korea. Now all you have to do is climb up and grab it. I can already see Japanese people dying from stomach ache. Anyway, these days, the Nikkei index has plummeted, so they’re talking about the 2nd defeat…

– No, Chairman, don’t play golf, but what kind of visit to Namsan Mountain… Are you saying that you and Taehwa Group will go to North Korea to do business? What would it be like with a bunch of rednecks who don’t even know what a bank is?

– General, what else can’t you do? How hard has our country suffered because of its lack of resources and oil? Besides, Americans now want to do business with those bastards. So now these bastards… No, why shouldn’t we earn some money with these North Koreans? I can speak.

– That’s right… Chairman, it’s still…

– Aren’t tanks and fighters going to run on oil after all? Even the textbooks at the children’s elementary school say that oil will run out in 30 years and that’s a big deal… Then why don’t we start with the Chinese and go get them before we move on to other places! In that sense, the inter-Korean exchange project seems to be a hot topic soon. Did you say that the general’s second son-in-law works for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Can I get some information?

Just as the forces that make up the progressive camp are divided into several branches, from the centrist progressives who follow the United States and put democracy and human rights as the main emphasis, to the main faction, which is based on anti-Americanism under nationalism, the conservative forces in Korea are also divided into two camps. was divided into

Among them, one camp was a security conservative, anti-communist, and pro-American, which had been raging for over 40 years with its origins in the Korean War and division. As the confrontation between the two Koreas cooled down, this power met with a frost.

Interestingly, this security conservative camp was a force that used North Korea as its political driving force in the past, just like the radical liberals facing the crisis of collapse, but now they are in crisis.

It was the same principle as if there were no enemies, the war would not last, and arms dealers had to go out of business.

And with the collapse of such security conservatives, the forces that newly took over the hegemony of the conservative political forces in Korea are the ‘market conservatives’, who grew their numbers at a tremendous rate along with economic growth during the third boom boom, a more nuanced expression. They were ‘growth-first’.

In terms of being pro-American, they were in the same vein as the security conservatives, who had been representative of Korean conservatives during the Cold War, but they had a slightly different perspective on the market economy.

– Patriotic conservatives defending this Republic of Korea! This basic agreement between the two Koreas is North Korea’s traditional slash-and-burn tactic, a tactic of deception! Kim Jung-hwan is no different from his older brother Kim Jong-il and his father Kim Il-sung, the leader of North Korea who tries to swallow up our free Daehan whenever he has a chance…

– Come on, pastor, calm down for a moment and listen to me. The priests and elders there, please listen to my story. That’s what patriotism means. As you can see from the Goryeo Ilbo economy these days, it’s not patriotism to insist on killing rednecks unconditionally. No, after all, aren’t we all one nation?

– president! What kind of people we are with those redheads…

– Look at the table here. This is a report on the aftermath of inter-Korean economic exchanges published by our group’s strategic planning office. Do you know what would be possible if 23 million North Koreans were incorporated into our market? Have you heard of Economies of Scale?

– Scale… What?

– Economies of scale. Well, to put it simply, if you make a lot of everything at once, it will be cheaper, and then all consumers will be happy and the company will earn 10 won or 20 more won and so on. No, before that, even if those North Koreans bought only one car, how much could our group sell? Do you understand what I mean ?