1953 Bare-handed Tycoon - Chapter 406



Only Krnovel

406 – Two-person triangle

A back alley in Jongno 2-ga.

Between the second and third floors of the Jeil Pawn Shop building, there was a sign that said .

Kijo went up to the second floor, knocked, and opened the door.

In an ordinary office, office workers were working.

As Kijo came in, a person who appeared to be an executive stood up and greeted Kijo.

“Please go to the third floor. The boss is waiting for you.”

The man guided the keynote to the third floor.

When I went to the third floor, I saw office workers there too.

When the man who guided me to the president’s office knocked on the door, a familiar voice was heard.

-Come in.

“Come in and take a look.”

The man opened the door.

Kim Jong-pil was sitting in the president’s office.

“Welcome, Mr. President.”

Kijo was not surprised that Kim Jong-pil had an office in a back alley in Jongno 2-ga.

was the place where Kim Jong-pil operated the Information Department’s party organization team when he founded the Democratic Republican Party.

After returning to the country, Kim Jong-pil used this place as his office, and when Ki-jo said he had something to discuss, he called him there.

“Isn’t it great? I live close to the boss’s house, so I can come and go without worrying about what other people think.”

Kim Jong-pil laughed heartily.

“You said you wanted to discuss something with me?”

The keynote speech was to use Kim Jong-pil as a gateway to meet Chairman Park.

There was also anxiety over the appointment of Jang Gyeong-sun, and it was because Kim Jong-pil had told Chairman Park on the rooftop of Walkerhill that if he had anything to convey to him in the future, he should go through him.

When Kijo stated his business, Kim Jong-pil nodded.

“So, you’re saying that you need someone from the general ranks to look into the local situation before advancing into Vietnam?”

“Yes. There is a guerrilla zone in the construction area, so we are looking for a way to protect the workers. We need someone to advise us.”

Kim Jong-pil made a face that said he understood at the keynote speech.

The keynote speech did not leave everything to Kim Jong-pil, but demanded the person he wanted.

“The person I want is an officer with a lot of experience in guerrilla warfare. It would be good if he had experience in operating a division in a large construction area. He needs to have a broad perspective.”

“Let’s just stay still… If you’re talking about someone with a lot of experience in guerrilla warfare and a former division commander, the first person that comes to mind is Senior Chae Myeong-shin.”

Kim Jong-pil recommended Chae Myeong-sin, who had experience in guerrilla warfare against North Korean troops while operating the ‘White Bone Corps’ during the Korean War.

“It just so happens that Director Chae Myeong-shin will soon step down from his position as chairman of the inspection committee.”

Kim Jong-pil gave a sneak peek into the news of high-ranking public officials that only those in power would know about.

“Is that so?”

“Yes, the Board of Audit and Inspection is scheduled to be launched by merging the Audit and Inspection Commission and the Board of Audit and Inspection, but it seems that Senior Chae has told the Chairman that he has no intention of taking on the position of Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection.”

“I see. That’s a good thing.”

“Do you know Senior Chae?”

“Yes, I have met you several times since we became friends. I also saw you when you were serving as the division commander in charge of the Yeoncheon area.”

“That’s great. I will convey the president’s intentions to the chairman.”

The keynote speech thus placed Kim Jong-pil between himself and Chairman Park.

Kim Jong-pil’s office was close to his house, and he felt much more comfortable hanging out in the back alleys of Jongno 2-ga than hanging around the Blue House and being noticed by others.

A few days later, I received a call from Kim Jong-pil.

– Mr. Lee, please come to Hannam-dong.

Kijo drove to the address that Kim Jong-pil had given him.

The place Kim Jong-pil told me to go was a foreigner’s residence in Hannam-dong.

The keynote speech speculated that the place might be one of the safe houses run by the Central Intelligence Agency.

When I rang the doorbell, a man who appeared to be a central security agent came out and guided me through the process.

“Come in.”

Chairman Park was at Anga.

Kijo greeted Chairman Park with a surprised expression and made a face to Kim Jong-pil, who was with him, as if asking what was going on.

Then Chairman Park smiled and said.

“Ah, this is a place I often visit. It’s where I have a drink with my staff and sometimes sleep.”

The keynote speaker went to what appeared to be a conference room with Kim Jong-pil and Chairman Park and began talking.

“You’re going to Vietnam?”

Chairman Park asked.

“Yes, I need help signing the main contract… … .”

“Oh, I already heard about that. I’ll take care of Chae Myeong-shin.”

Alcohol was brought into the conference room.

Chairman Park smiled broadly, as if he was in a good mood at the thought of drinking outside with his partner.

“Don’t you want to have a drink with me here too? This isn’t a bar, it’s a place I use like my home. So why don’t you have a drink too?”

“I’ll just have one drink.”

“People are stubborn, so let’s just have one drink today.”

Chairman Park seemed happy to be drinking with Kim Jong-pil and the keynote speaker.

Chairman Park, who had finished his first glass, asked the keynote speaker.

“What do you mean, USOM is interested in your business? We are not doing construction work with American money, and why would they want to get involved in a construction project that our company is doing overseas?”

In response to Chairman Park’s question, Kijo talked about the recent battle of Ap Bac.

“I heard that story. The US military advisory group fought with the best South Vietnamese soldiers, but they got beat up by the Viet Cong.”

“Yes.”

The keynote speaker said that the South Vietnamese government’s projects are also being carried out with aid funds from the United States, and that the United States seems to be considering paving branch lines connecting South Vietnamese National Highway 1 and South Vietnamese military units.

“I see… … .”

Chairman Park nodded and pointed out the reason why South Vietnam has been struggling with communist guerrillas recently.

“That’s because the South Vietnamese president has no military experience. And he suppresses Buddhism for no reason, so he loses the people’s support.”

The keynote speech agreed with Chairman Park’s analysis.

Ngo Dinh Diem participated in the Vietnamese independence movement, but had no experience in armed struggle.

It was similar to President Syngman Rhee.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Kim Jong-pil answered Chairman Park’s question.

“This president wants help in expanding Korean Air into Vietnam. He says that if ground transportation in Vietnam is blocked, he will build trust by using air transportation.”

“okay?”

“I think Hanjin Transportation, which operates Korean Air, is planning to import several used transport aircraft from the United States.”

“Okay, I’ll make sure that doesn’t go wrong.”

Kijo felt a sense of security when he saw Kim Jong-pil relaying the business he had requested on his behalf and Chairman Park agreeing to it.

The love triangle with Kim Jong-pil was functioning properly.

After the keynote speech’s request was resolved in no time, Chairman Park began to drink and chat.

“Hey, did you tell the boss about what happened in Japan?”

“We haven’t talked about it yet.”

“Tell this to the CEO. I also find it interesting and want to hear it again. The CEO should listen carefully too. This person came back from Japan with a promise of over $600 million in claims funds.”

Chairman Park said cheerfully.

Kim Jong-pil started by telling the story of the hotel he stayed at in Japan.

“I stayed at the newly built New Palace Hotel in front of the Tokyo Imperial Palace. After dinner, I went up to the rooftop and saw that the Japanese roads were filled with car headlights. It was a spectacular sight. And when I looked out over the neighborhood of Odaiba, there were TV antennas on every house, so it looked like a huge forest.”

Kim Jong-pil seemed deeply impressed by Japan, where cars and TVs were widely distributed.

“I thought that no matter what difficulties there were, we had to create a country like this.”

Kim Jong-pil, who began the story with a Tokyo landscape, brought up the story of meeting Japanese Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda.

“I was invited to a local event attended by the Japanese Prime Minister, and after the event, I had the opportunity to have a cup of tea with the Prime Minister. While drinking tea, I raised the issue of ‘Japan’s responsibility for the division of Korea’ to Prime Minister Ikeda.”

Kim Jong-pil said that if the leaders of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union had accepted the unconditional surrender of Japan when they met in Potsdam on July 26, 1945, there would not have been a division of Korea.

“When the Japanese army was making useless remarks like ‘Let’s all die,’ ‘Let’s fight with spears,’ and ‘100 million lives,’ if there had been a leader in Japan who had foresight, they would have accepted the demands of the Allied Forces immediately. That’s right.”

*Makeoshimi (まけおしみ) – To refuse to admit the truth and force it.

“And then he said, ‘If you had surrendered then, Korea would not have been divided. The fact that two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan was all your own doing.’”

Chairman Park looked relieved at Kim Jong-pil’s words.

“Then Prime Minister Ikeda just listened with a bitter smile. So I continued speaking.”

“Because of you, Korea was divided into two countries and a tragedy of fratricide occurred. So when Korea and Japan normalized diplomatic relations, you asked for a lot of money. That’s what I said.”

Chairman Park laughed heartily.

The keynote speech also smiled.

“Prime Minister Ikeda didn’t say he would give me a lot of money, but asked, ‘Excuse me, but how old are you?’ I said I was thirty-six, and he said yes.”

Kim Jong-pil said that Ikeda was impressed, saying, “He seems to be a patriot from the Meiji Restoration era.”

“So I asked him which of the Meiji Restoration leaders I resembled. He said, ‘Toshimichi Okubo.’”

“I later found out that ‘Okubo Toshimichi’ was one of the three great figures of the Meiji Restoration in Japanese history. He was the same age as me when he took part in the Meiji Restoration.”

Kim Jong-pil, who had received a drink from Chairman Park, began to speak again.

“The Japanese Prime Minister asked me to meet with Foreign Minister Masayoshi Ohira and tell him how much money I want. So I went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and asked Foreign Minister Ohira directly, ‘How much do you think your country should pay us as a claim fund?’”

Then, the Japanese Foreign Minister hesitated and then offered $30 million.

“Even after talking for three hours, the amount didn’t seem to go up. So I gave the Japanese Foreign Minister a hard time. I asked him how he could not give me a cup of coffee after talking for three hours. How could Japan be so stingy? He seemed embarrassed and gave me a cup of coffee.”

After drinking coffee, Kim Jong-pil said he was disappointed that the compensation was raised to $50 million, but that it was still too little.

He said that Korea-Japan diplomatic relations will be normalized only if the compensation amount is confirmed, but that Korea and Japan will never be able to establish diplomatic relations with that amount of money.

“You are not the Minister of Economy, but the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan is worth more than 1 billion dollars politically and diplomatically, so let’s establish diplomatic relations without considering money like the economic affairs. Give us the money we ask for. That’s what I said.”

He said that he then mentioned an old Japanese story.

Kim Jong-pil said that he knew the three heroes of Japan’s Warring States period, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, and suggested that we follow the method of Toyotomi Hideyoshi among the ‘methods of making a cuckoo cry’.

“Nobunaga said, ‘Kill the cuckoo that doesn’t sing.’ Ieyasu said, ‘Let’s wait until the cuckoo sings,’ but we said, ‘Let’s follow Hideyoshi’s method: ‘Let’s make the cuckoo sing somehow.’”

The cuckoo’s cry refers to the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan.

“Then Ohira was surprised and asked how I knew that.”

Kim Jong-pil told Ohira that he had learned Japanese since birth and that he knew all about their country’s history by reading books published in Japan.

“When I suggested that we somehow reach a settlement by talking about our history, Foreign Minister Ohira honestly revealed his true feelings. In fact, he said that Japan was considering up to 500 million dollars.”

Kim Jong-pil said that it was a mistake for Ohira to confess that he had prepared $200 million in grant aid and $300 million in paid cooperation funds.

“I guess he thought I’d be grateful if he said that much. I think he expected me to hold out for three hours and make $500 million, so he got even angrier and jumped up.”

Kim Jong-pil said, “You gave 800 million dollars to the Philippines, which you exploited for a short time, but how can you give 500 million dollars to our country, which you exploited for a longer period?”

“The Philippines was not even divided as a country. Because of you, we were divided as a country and even went to war. So who would want to give you a mere 500 million dollars?”

“Ohira said, no matter what I say here, I will have to report to the council. From your perspective, the more the better, but if I do this wrong, I will be kicked out. But after hearing your story about the ‘cuckoo’s cry,’ I changed my mind. I lost. That’s what I’m saying. Hahaha.”

In the end, the two agreed on a total of $600 million + alpha, including $300 million in free support, $200 million in paid support, and $100 million + alpha from the Export-Import Bank of Korea, and exchanged notes, Kim Jong-pil said.

The keynote speech highly praised Kim Jong-pil for his negotiating skills.

Chairman Park, after hearing Kim Jong-pil’s words, smiled bitterly and stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray as he spoke.

“Put it up higher.”

“You want me to raise it more?”

Kim Jong-pil’s eyes grew wide.

“We need to get at least $800 million. We need to get at least $100 million from the Philippines.”

“But Mr. Chairman, Japan’s foreign exchange reserves are $1.4 billion.”

Kim Jong-pil was annoyed.

Kijo smiled faintly at the sight.

It was reported that the instructions Chairman Park gave to Kim Jong-pil were 800 million dollars.

That was happening right before Kijo’s eyes.

“Do whatever you can. If you don’t raise $800 million, you’ll be accused of selling out the country.”

“It’s not easy, Mr. Chairman.”

“Do it even if it’s not easy.”

Chairman Park said that and looked at the keynote speech.

“President Lee, please go to Japan and participate in the negotiations.”

“yes?”

The keynote speech was frozen like Kim Jong-pil.

“By what qualifications do I have… … .”

“If you need the qualifications, I can give them to you. I’ll even give you a special ambassadorship, so let’s work together.”

Kijo and Kim Jong-pil broke out in a cold sweat as they listened to Chairman Park’s demands.

When I made eye contact with Kim Jong-pil, his eyes seemed to be saying this.

‘If you tell us to do it, what can we do? Shouldn’t we do it?’

As Kijo nodded, Kim Jong-pil also nodded.