1953 Bare-handed Tycoon - Chapter 398



Only Krnovel

398 – Susemi

January 4, 1963, the first day after the New Year’s holiday.

The keynote speaker met with Jang Ki-young, who is now a member of the National Assembly, and spoke with him at the Hankook Ilbo.

Jang Gi-yeong’s election as a member of the National Assembly was an unprecedented event in Won’s history.

However, the keynote speech was that he had a high chance of being elected when he was nominated in the Seongdong-gu Gap constituency in Seoul.

The 5th electoral district of Seoul, which includes Sindang-dong, Sangwangsimni-dong, Geumho-dong, and Oksu-dong, was an area where the two opposition candidates had 100% support.

In the original history, Democratic Party candidate Yoo Seong-kwon and Democratic Justice Party candidate Kim Je-yoon came in first and second place with a difference of only 192 votes.

Although Jang Gi-yeong was the ruling party candidate, he was a person with opposition party leanings and was the owner of the Hankook Ilbo, so he was trusted and was expected to be able to attract votes from opposition-leaning voters.

The result was that he narrowly defeated Democratic Party candidate Yoo Seong-kwon by 82 votes and was elected.

“Brother, it’s late, but congratulations again.”

“Why did you send so many congratulatory messages? You even sent a wreath and called me.”

“You weren’t able to come see me in person?”

“Haha, this guy. Would a newspaper owner write about a first-term congressman visiting him?”

Jang Gi-yeong laughed heartily, then straightened his expression and took Gi-jo’s hand.

“Keynote, you should take charge of the Hankook Ilbo for a long time.”

“I am ready to step down from the Hankook Ilbo at any time. Please don’t say that.”

“No. That won’t do.”

Jang Gi-yeong let go of Gi-jo’s hand and made a slightly bitter expression.

“The Hankook Ilbo reporters congratulated me on my visit earlier, but they looked burdened. Didn’t you read that?”

“What do you mean? Everyone was genuinely happy and welcomed your visit.”

“Hehe… No. The reporters will be confused because I became a Republican congressman. My former boss became a politician, so if he comes back, how will they write articles in the future… I could see them thinking like that.”

Kijo also agreed with Jang Gi-yeong’s words in his heart.

Hankook Ilbo reporters said that when Jang Ki-young took office as the Deputy Prime Minister of the Third Republic, it felt like he had sandbags on his legs.

As a result, the number of cancellations of subscriptions to the Hankook Ilbo increased and sales also plummeted.

It is true that many intellectuals who read newspapers were negative toward President Park Chung-hee.

“Brother, come back anytime. It is true that there are many difficulties for someone like me who has no education to take charge of the Hankook Ilbo.”

“Oh, that’s a joke… … .”

Jang Gi-yeong praised the keynote speaker for holding a meeting that brought together Chairman Park, Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung, and Jang Jun-ha.

“I read the article you wrote. It was very well written. And the response was good. Keep doing that. You’re doing a great job.”

In fact, thanks to that article, sales and subscriptions increased.

The keynote speaker changed the subject and asked briefly about the state of affairs in the Democratic and Republican parties.

I was curious about how the party would run without Kim Jong-pil and without an internal center of gravity.

“Jung Gu-young is doing a good job as the party leader. And Chairman Park also gave strength to Jung Gu-young at the congratulatory party for the elected officials.”

Jeong Gu-yeong was a lawyer who had a reputation since the Japanese colonial period.

He also served as the president of the Gyeongseong Korean Bar Association, but his lawyer license was revoked due to his uncooperative behavior with the Japanese.

After that, he continued to resist Japanese imperialism and engage in anti-Japanese activities such as refusing conscription, and after liberation, he engaged in anti-government activities during the Liberal Party’s rule.

I also took on the defense of the Kyunghyang Shinmun closure case, but it was a case that no one would take on because they were afraid of Syngman Rhee.

He was a strong opposition figure who strongly demanded the resignation of this president during the April 19 Revolution, so everyone was surprised when he joined the Democratic Republican Party and took office as its president.

The early Republican Party was so reformist and progressive that it had such a figure as its president.

But the keynote speech did not anticipate that Jeong Gu-yeong would remain the Republican Party’s leader for a long time.

This was because once Kim Jong-pil returned and the presidential election date was set, Chairman Park Chung-hee would become the leader of the Democratic Republican Party.

“By the way, Keynote. I was in contact with Kim Jong-pil, who was overseas… … .”

Jang Gi-yeong spoke carefully, lowering his voice.

“Mr. Kim Jong-pil will be returning to Korea soon. He wants to meet you. I heard a lot of news from him while he was away, and he seems to be very interested in your activities.”

“Is that so?”

The keynote speaker nodded.

As the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, there was no way he would have been in the dark about news in Korea.

Even though Kim Jae-chun said he was cutting off his intelligence line, there must still be intelligence agents following him and providing him with information.

“I also want to meet Mr. Kim Jong-pil when he returns to Korea.”

The keynote speaker answered nonchalantly.

Kim Jong-pil was a person that Kijo absolutely had to meet.

There was a lot to be done to meet him and ask for his cooperation.

“And this is a secret that only you should know… … .”

Jang Ki-young lowered his voice even further and spoke.

“A by-election will soon be held in Buyeo County, the hometown of Kim Jong-pil. The police have reportedly obtained information on the election fraud committed by Cho Nam-soo of the People’s Party, who was elected this time… … .”

Kijo kept his mouth shut and nodded.

There was no way Kim Jong-pil would give up the Democratic Republican Party he had created.

It seemed that even though Cho Nam-soo, who was elected in his hometown, had not committed any election fraud, they were trying to find fault with him somehow to get him kicked out, hold a by-election, become a member of the National Assembly, and return to the party.

In Won history, Kim Jong-pil was elected with overwhelming support in his hometown of Buyeo.

“Just know that.”

“All right.”

After talking with Jang Gi-yeong, Ki-jo headed to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

I met and greeted Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Ryu Byung-hyun.

“Hello, Minister. This is Lee Ki-jo, the CEO of Cheongsan Group.”

“Nice to meet you. I’ve heard of this name a lot. But why have you come to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry at the beginning of the new year?”

Ryu Byeong-hyeon was a former military man and had a connection with Chairman Park. He was a member of the Supreme Council (in charge of agriculture and forestry) and was later promoted to Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.

He was also someone who would later become associated with Kijo.

During the Vietnam War, he took over as division commander of the Tiger Division in Vietnam in place of Chae Myeong-sin, so they would meet often in the future.

“I came here because I wanted to do contract farming with farmers all over the country.”

“Are you a slushie?”

Minister Ryu Byung-hyun looked at the keynote speech as if he had heard the sound of a gong being struck.

However, as expected from someone who was evaluated as a wise general, he showed curiosity and asked the reason.

“Why are you looking for Susemi?”

“I’m telling you this because I think it might be possible to export Susemi overseas.”

“Do you export sesame seeds? Do many foreign countries use sesame seeds for food?”

Ryu Byung-hyun asked with a smile.

“We do not intend to export the sesame seeds for consumption. We intend to boil the ripe sesame seeds, peel them, extract the fibers inside, and sell them.”

“Oh, I know. When a dishwashing sponge is fully ripe, doesn’t its insides become like a sponge? We use it for washing dishes at home.”

The keynote speech explained the intention to export the rice.

“As I was doing import and export work, I saw that a lot of susan was used as a filling material for goods coming from overseas.”

“Well, it seems that the dishwashing detergent is also used to prevent items from breaking inside a box.”

“Yes, and when we were building factories in Korea and installing machines, foreign technicians tried using the dishwashing sponge to wipe off the oil on the machines and were very surprised and praised its quality.”

“is it so?”

“Yes, I heard that in foreign countries, washcloths are also used as bathing tools.”

“Is it possible to develop overseas sales channels?”

“Of course. Hyosung Trading investigated the demand for Korean sesame in Hong Kong and Japan. They also helped me find a broker who could sell in the US and Europe.”

The keynote speech was to proceed with the export business of Susemi with Jo Hong-jae.

“The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs should actively cooperate since the water mill is helpful in earning foreign currency. How can we help you?”

“The fastest way is to contract with farmers and grow rice through the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation. If the Minister just gives instructions to the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, things will go smoothly.”

“Okay, let’s do that.”

“Thank you, Minister.”

After talking with Ryu Byung-hyun, Kijo returned to the Hankook Ilbo.

When I called Cho Hong-jae and told him that the susanmi export business seemed to be going well, he was delighted and said,

―We have also distributed samples of the acrylic washcloths produced by this CEO to Japan and Hong Kong, and the response has been good. The product is worth the price, so I think we will soon receive a test order.

“Is that so? That’s good.”

– But I think the brand name doesn’t really fit overseas. The word ‘clearance’ doesn’t seem to fit well with household goods.

Kijo thought about Jo Hong-jae’s point for a moment, and then remembered the pilgrimage’s words about using Young-jun’s face as a brand.

“How about a Prince sign? I would like to use Prince in English and a boy’s face as the brand name.”

– It looks better than Cheongsan. If a child’s face is used as a brand, it is familiar and good for housewives.

The keynote was that Jo Hong-jae and Jook were a perfect match.

Cho Hong-je’s management philosophy was to promote harmony between people and benefit the country and the people, so it was bound to fit well with the basic principles.

As Kijo was happily hanging up the phone with his new partner and drawing the Wangja logo on paper, Political Bureau Director Kim Ja-hwan came to give him some breaking news.

“Sir, I heard that the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Kim Jae-chun, has resigned.”

“I see? Has a successor been decided?”

“There is no news of a successor yet. The Blue House announced that it has not yet decided on a successor.”

“Okay, let’s do some research to find out who the successor is.”

“All right.”

Kijo was lost in thought after Kim Ja-hwan left.

It seemed that Kim Jae-chun, who opposed the Democratic Republican Party and was at odds with Kim Jong-pil, could not stand it anymore and stepped down from his position.

First of all, he must have felt embarrassed because his proposal to Chairman Park to disband the Democratic Republican Party was not accepted and the Democratic Republican Party won a landslide victory in the election.

And the fact that the investigation into Kim Jong-pil’s four major suspicions was transferred from the Central Intelligence Agency to the prosecution and remained stagnant may have also been a factor in his decision to resign.

The fact that Chairman Park is not pushing hard to investigate the four major suspicions shows that he does not want to kill Kim Jong-pil like this.

In that situation, he was saying that if Kim Jong-pil returned to the country, his own situation would be in danger.

If he had a strong will to power, he would have maintained his powerful position as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and somehow prevented Kim Jong-pil’s return, but Kim Jae-chun was not that kind of person.

He was the kind of person who would give up his seat before he saw anything more dirty.

“Ah… this is going to be a headache… .”

Kijo knew very well how important the position of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency was in modern history.

In particular, I got goosebumps thinking about Kim Hyung-wook, who will succeed Kim Jae-chun as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Kim Hyung-wook was a figure who brought notoriety to the Park Chung-hee regime by committing all sorts of evil deeds, violence, and abuse of power during the Third Republic.

Such a person served as the longest-serving director of the Central Intelligence Agency for 6 years and 3 months and contributed to Chairman Park making wrong decisions.

Although he was sometimes called by ridiculous nicknames such as ‘Flying Pork Cutlet’ and ‘Namsan Wild Boar’, his cruelty and recklessness tore up modern history and created countless victims.

I absolutely wanted to prevent him from being awakened from his current position as a ‘sleeping boar’ with little real power in the Supreme Council and from ascending to the position of the Central Intelligence Agency Director, who would dominate modern history.

For that to happen, Kim Jong-pil had to come to Korea.

In the history of the Yuan Dynasty, the person who recommended him to the post of Minister of the Interior was Kim Jong-pil.

He may have felt reassured because Kim Hyung-wook has a simple personality and they are both graduates of the 8th class of the Korea Military Academy, but in the end, that decision was a bad move that ruined both himself and Chairman Park.

But that also means that the only person who can stop him is Kim Jong-pil.

If it weren’t for Kim Jong-pil’s recommendation, another person would have been appointed as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Kijo let out a long sigh.

Kijo pondered deeply over how to prevent the Namsan Wild Boar from taking office as the Chief of the Central Government.