1953 Bare-handed Tycoon - Chapter 405



Only Krnovel

405 – Let’s meet at Walkerhill

“Don’t step forward recklessly. You’ll get hurt if you do.”

Kim Jong-pil’s low voice, heard with the sound of the cold wind, gave Kijo goosebumps.

When I said I didn’t know what he was talking about, Kim Jong-pil, who had been laughing loudly for a long time, opened his mouth.

“Many people have been hurt because of this CEO. If you bring up this issue in front of the chairman, something like this will happen again in the future.”

Did the rumor spread that he had pushed Jang Gyeong-sun?

The keynote speech was to persuade Kim Jong-pil with words he had prepared.

“I met the chairman… … .”

“I know. You don’t have to tell me.”

Kim Jong-pil cut off the keynote speech.

“But if you have anything to say to the chairman in the future, please convey it through me. That will be good for the president as well.”

The keynote speech was silent.

For now, it was right to follow Kim Jong-pil’s warning.

Although he gave Chairman Park important advice, Kijo knew very well that he was not superior to Kim Jong-pil.

While Kijo was thinking like that, Kim Jong-pil said.

“Minister Ryu Byung-hun received a harsh reprimand from the Speaker.”

Kijo stared intently at Kim Jong-pil.

“The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry?”

“Yes, he said that if you can’t even manage one agricultural cooperative, you should immediately resign as minister and return to the military.”

‘It wasn’t Jang Gyeong-sun’s story… … .’

The keynote speech took a breather.

“After hearing the story, he gave a harsh reprimand to the central government. Did you know that something like this happened? How can you call yourself an intelligence agency after all this? He turned the central government upside down.”

Kim Jong-pil smiled bitterly.

“Perhaps, a few of the local agricultural cooperative leaders were dragged to the central court and beaten to make an example of them. They must have come to their senses.”

“I had that intention… … .”

“I know. This CEO must have been frustrated. He must have appealed to the chairman because he didn’t get any cooperation when it was an opportunity to earn dollars. He must have wanted to help poor rural communities earn money as well.”

Although Kijo was relieved, he was worried about the safety of the union leaders who were dragged to the central government.

Kim Jong-pil read the keynote speech and said with a smile.

“Don’t worry too much. Unless you’re a communist, you won’t get hit that badly.”

Kijo looked down at the Han River while smoking a cigarette with Kim Jong-pil.

Kim Jong-pil took a few puffs of his cigarette and put his hand on Ki-jo’s back.

“If you need help in the future, just let me know. I’ll make it smooth. The problem with running a country is that even if you do the right thing, people can get hurt. And then you end up earning a deep resentment from someone. Just like me.”

Kim Jong-pil smiled bitterly.

“thank you.”

“Thank you. I also owe this boss something and I have to repay it.”

Kim Jong-pil looked at Kijo with warm eyes.

Kijo was glad to be able to confirm that his relationship with Kim Jong-pil had not been ruined.

“You said $375,000? That’s how much you can make selling the soap?”

Kim Jong-pil knew the exact amount.

“Yes.”

“Haha, it’s only a small amount of money, but it must have seemed like a lot to the chairman. It’s not something to be so angry about… haha.”

Kim Jong-pil was describing the nearly $400,000 as pocket change.

Either he has a keen sense of money due to handling astronomical amounts of money due to the Four Major Suspicions, or he has recently handled another large sum of money.

I thought the keynote would be closer to the latter.

If events had unfolded according to the flow of history, it was highly likely that Kim Jong-pil would have met Foreign Minister Ohira Masayoshi while staying in Japan.

The Korea-Japan claims negotiations, known as the , were secretly conducted in Tokyo in October 1962.

The amount that Kim Jong-pil tentatively agreed upon through negotiations with Ohira was $600 million + α.

Having been promised such an astronomical sum, $400,000 might have seemed like a pittance to a child.

Besides, Kim Jong-pil was in his thirties, at the peak of his confidence.

Although he was hit once by the four major suspicions, he was still achieving everything he wanted.

And the amount of compensation he was promised by Japan was truly astonishing.

There was no gain from the normalization talks between Korea and Japan since 1951.

The amount of compensation that Japan has offered to the Korean government negotiation team so far is 30 million dollars.

The amount was so absurd that neither the Syngman Rhee government nor the Chang Myon government could conclude negotiations.

Since it was obvious that if a settlement was reached for 30 million dollars, people would call him a “traitor” or “the second Lee Wan-yong,” no one actively stepped forward.

Kim Jong-pil turned the tables on everything that had been going on.

This is more than 20 times the amount Japan had previously proposed.

Of course, Japan also had the benefit of having achieved economic growth and having a lot of money.

If the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan had taken place sooner and compensation had been received, the amount would not have been so large.

Still, $600 million + α was a huge burden for the Japanese government.

At the time, Japan had foreign exchange reserves of $1.4 billion, so giving half of that to Korea was by no means an easy decision.

The keynote speech praised Kim Jong-pil’s negotiating skills.

It was seen that Kim Jong-pil was the only person who could maintain good relations with Japanese government officials until the negotiations were concluded and thus have the potential to increase the compensation amount.

There was no one to replace him.

“Ha… It’s so cold. The cold wind gets into my eyes and tears keep coming out.”

Kim Jong-pil took out a handkerchief and wiped his eyes.

“Let’s go somewhere warm. I came up here to check out the progress of the Walkerhill construction, and I’m glad it seems to be going well.”

The keynote speech moved to Euljiro together with Kim Jong-pil.

I entered the office of the ‘Walkerhill Corporation’ located in the Dongnam Building in Euljiro 3-ga and received a briefing from Lieutenant Colonel Lim Byeong-ju.

Kim Soo-geun, the architect who designed Walkerhill, was also there.

“Up to now, 4,158 pieces of heavy equipment and 24,078 personnel under the command of each military engineering officer have been deployed. The construction progress rate is 80%, and interior work is currently underway.”

The keynote speech was astonished at the equipment and personnel mobilized by the revolutionary government.

Rumors went around that even prisoners were mobilized for the construction, but in fact they were soldiers.

A large number of soldiers were deployed who did not need to be paid, and their hair was short, so they looked like prisoners from a distance.

It was a project in which private companies also participated.

Large construction companies that had been prominent in government projects since the Syngman Rhee administration, such as Samhwan, Dong-A, Daerim, Hyuphwa, and Shinhung Construction, participated.

The liquidation of Kijo and Chung Ju-young’s Hyundai did not participate.

Keynote speech was burdensome to be briefed with Kim Jong-pil on a project in which he had no involvement.

It seemed that Kim Jong-pil wanted to show off that his influence had not yet diminished.

After the briefing, Kim Jong-pil stood up from his seat after ordering that Walkerhill’s April opening be prepared without a hitch.

After parting ways with Kim Jong-pil in front of the Dongnam Building, Kijo headed to the USOM building.

I had a lunch appointment with Frank.

Kijo went to Frank’s office and chatted while eating the orange marmalade sandwich he had made.

“Frank, how long are you going to put orange marmalade on your sandwiches?”

“It will go on until I die or the oranges become extinct. It’s a game that won’t end until someone gets there first. Haha.”

While having lunch and joking with Frank, Kijo told the story of his trip to Walkerhill.

Then Frank said,

“I expect a bloody Korea-Japan war to come.”

“Is it a Korea-Japan match?”

“Do you know how many US soldiers stationed in Korea go on vacation to Japan each year?”

Frank answered himself, holding up three fingers.

“30,000 people go there every year. They go to Japan because there are no proper entertainment facilities in Korea. The 8th Army General Meloi was not happy about that, so he told JP to build some entertainment facilities in Korea. He said that if a war suddenly breaks out, how can we call up the soldiers who went on vacation to Japan?”

“So that’s what you built.”

The keynote speaker pretended not to know.

“So it seems like Japan doesn’t like the construction of Walkerhill. Would you like to see this?”

Frank handed Kijo a Japanese magazine.

The keynote speaker was reading a Japanese magazine.

『The military regime in Korea is building a huge entertainment facility near Seoul. This facility, which targets vacationing American soldiers, focuses on alcohol, women, and gambling. When it is completed, it is clear that American soldiers stationed in Korea will become corrupted by sex and gambling.』

“And read this too.”

This time it was the American weekly news magazine Newsweek.

『The Walkerhill construction project was conceived by South Korea’s leader Kim Jong-pil to correct the tilted balance of payments, and is expected to bring in $1.7 million annually. Kim Jong-pil boasted, in a tone that seemed to be benefiting Americans, that “we want to do something for American soldiers. If they go to Walkerhill, GIs can send telegrams to their mothers in America and make phone calls to their families.”』

Japanese magazines were wary of the construction of Walkerhill in Korea, while American magazines were slightly sarcastic about Kim Jong-pil boasting that international telegrams and phone calls were possible from Walkerhill.

The argument was that I don’t know if that’s something to be proud of.

The tone of the American and Japanese magazines was slightly different, but they implied that Korea was trying to take away the dollars Japan was earning because of Walkerhill.

“There are Japanese magazines that criticize Walkerhill even more harshly, but I won’t show you those for your own good.”

“What does it say?”

“If I may put it in a more refined way, I wrote that if Korea started a national prostitution business in Walkerhill and Japanese prostitutes didn’t lower their wages, American soldiers wouldn’t come to Japan.”

“Is this purified?”

“There are more serious contents, but most of them are hidden.”

“Please give it to me. I’ll read it.”

Frank didn’t show me the magazine, saying he had left it at home.

After dinner, Frank asked the keynote speaker.

“Are you going to Vietnam soon?”

“That’s right. I’m going to go and get a contract for road construction.”

“I’ll go with you. Reserve a seat on the plane for me. If possible, next to you.”

“Why, what business do you have in Vietnam?”

“I’d like to introduce you to someone. Someone from our side.”

By ‘our people’ I assume he means the CIA.

The keynote speech was curious as to why the CIA was interested in the Tsingsan Consortium’s project to paving Vietnam’s National Route 1.

“Frank, the situation is not so difficult that we need your help. The governments of both Korea and Vietnam are pushing for it.”

“Actually, it’s because we’re having a hard time.”

Frank talked about a fight that had happened a few weeks ago.

“Actually, there was a battle on January 2nd at Ap Bac, Vietnam. While capturing 200 Viet Cong, five US helicopters were shot down and three armored vehicles were destroyed.”

Frank said with a look of disbelief on his face at the outcome of the battle.

“The South Vietnamese Army suffered close to 200 casualties, while the Viet Cong suffered only about 60 killed or wounded. This was despite the heavy firepower of the US and South Vietnamese armies. Three US soldiers were also killed in the fighting… ”

“It’s a pity.”

The keynote gave Frank a sense of why he wanted to help in Vietnam.

The Battle of Ap Bac on January 2, 1963 was a small but shocking event for American forces.

In the mountainous and poorly road-ridden environment of Vietnam, the US military was devising tactics to use helicopters to conduct mobile warfare.

However, the cutting-edge strategy attempted by the US military for the first time in the world was thwarted by a group of guerrillas called the Viet Cong.

The US military realized that they could not rely solely on helicopters.

The slow helicopters were vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire, and the South Vietnamese army, which was supposed to cover the American troops, was reluctant to come forward, citing the poor local road conditions as an excuse.

This seemed to anger the American military, who wanted to improve Vietnam’s roads to increase ground mobility.

“The road project in Vietnam is also being carried out with American aid anyway. I will go and introduce you to the local aid agency people so that the Vietnamese government can easily carry out the road paving project.”

“I would appreciate it if you could do that.”

The keynote speech was eager to accept Frank’s help.