Dear Comrade

Chapter 11. Military and civilian (2)

Chapter 11. Military and civilian (2)

open-ended.

Even by the North Korean standards, where profane language is often used in official announcements from the agency, it was a harsh word (not to mention the general secretary of the party), but it was hard to find a word that spoke well of Jeong Hwan’s feelings now.

Fortunately, there is only one person in this clerk’s office who can hear him now.

“……Is it that serious? Comrade general secretary?”

“Yeah, I knew it was bad, but I didn’t know it was this serious, Lieutenant Yu. And more than that…”

Jeonghwan nodded at the words of Senior Ani and Yoo Hye-rim, who were also sitting next to him and helped Jung-hwan review and organize documents and mark important parts.

And he showed a tired smile at Yoo Hye-rim, who looked at him with a worried face.

If I hadn’t learned how to navigate the waves of statistics, reports, and data from numerous government agencies at the Korea Development Institute in my previous life, I would have collapsed sooner.

The difference is that there was my friend Kyungsoo by my side back then, and now Hyerim Yoo was there.

“When there are only the two of you, you can just call me comrade Jeonghwan. How much has Lieutenant Yoo and I have gone through so far, but he should be able to do that.”

In fact, what Jeonghwan said was not only humane consideration for Yoo Hye-rim, who was the closest to him, but also had a deeper meaning.

As always, close associates of the most powerful will enjoy the halo of that power.

And the closer the distance to the person in power, the stronger the halo.

Even if such a title is allowed only when the two of us are alone, the rumor that Hyerim Yoo is a close aide to Comrade Kim Jeong-hwan, the new general secretary, must quickly spread in North Korea, which is more sensitive to the transfer of power than anyone else.

As soon as he took office as general secretary, he was raised to the rank of major, but he said that he wanted to give Hye-rim Yoo, who had no power or organization of her own, even her own doorknob power (to serve Jeong-hwan herself better in the future), but surprisingly, she was adamant. .

“It is an act that disturbs the order of the party. Comrade general secretary. Since you just took office as general secretary, there must be many people inside and outside the party who look down on you, should you give them an excuse?”

“……The lieutenant is right. I made a mistake.”

‘Is this the atmosphere like my mother’s?’

Jeonghwan smiled bitterly at her older sister-like tone, as if she was lightly scolding her younger brother, and leaned back on the Italian chair in the secretary’s office.

It seemed that Hyerim Yoo had no interest in enjoying power at all.

“But still, I can’t undo the word shoddy. No, to put it bluntly, to say that this is a bullshit is a very polite expression.”

Jeonghwan narrowed his eyebrows as he recalled the reality of the Republic that he had just seen through the documents.

The reality of the republic contained in the report posted by each Cabal Committee, farms, and corporate officers was more than what Jeong Hwan had seen and heard (across a bridge) from the KDI North Korean Economic Team before his reincarnation.

“Look at this, our republic must produce at least 5 million tons of food to avoid starvation. But do you know how many tons were produced last year, that is, in 1987, Major Yu?”

“…After listening to what the general secretary is saying, it seems certain that it has not been reached.”

“4.3 million tons! It is said that only 100,000 or 200,000 tons can be purchased abroad, but where and how do you get 700,000 tons? It’s only been once or twice that we have reached out to our socialist comrades, the USSR and China…. How can we get rice with the help of our ancestors? But how are we going to deliver it to the people?”

Even Jeonghwan, who is rarely excited about the stage beyond imagination, had no choice but to let out a voice full of anger without knowing it.

Even so, no matter how much he came from the 21st century and had some preliminary knowledge about the poor environment of North Korea, in reality he was much more than that.

“Rice, shoemaking, clothing, coal, there is nothing lacking. No, even if there is, the fundamental problem is that it is stagnant near the production site or in the port where imported goods are brought in, so it is less than half the time to go to the place where you really need it. Even if you say that it is an industrial product, food such as fish cannot be stored for a long time, so it cannot be transported, and there are a lot of cases where everything rots in the production area.”

As Jeonghwan said, the most serious was transportation and logistics, and ultimately the transportation environment.

Transportation in North Korea was largely divided into two major categories: railroads and highways.

The highways, such as the Pyongyang-Nampo Expressway, and the Pyongyang-Wonsan Expressway, were well taken care of considering that they were in the late 1980s.

The problem was that, due to the nature of North Korea, which has a lot of mountainous terrain, the slope was steep and poorly managed, so accidents often occurred due to poor pavement.

In addition, some lines or sections have not progressed due to lack of materials and equipment even after several years have passed since construction started, and there were even places where construction was abandoned because it was left unattended.

Then, if the railroad, which is another axis of transportation, is in good condition… it wasn’t (of course) either.

“Chief Lieutenant Yu, did I read this report of the Ministry of Railways correctly? So… the power of this locomotive called ‘Myohyang’ is…?”

“……It’s a steam locomotive.”

“What the hell.”

in 1988? Toh X Sn?

As much as this question, Hyerim Yoo was too pathetic to answer, so she just avoided Jeonghwan’s gaze and looked at a distant place.

While staying in Japan, the country of railroads, with Hagiya Jeonghwan for three years, every morning I watched the bullet trains run vigorously on the railroad, but I couldn’t help but sigh at this situation in my country.

“It’s not that there aren’t electric locomotives, there are quite a few, but the problem is that they don’t produce enough electricity. Even in steam locomotives that do exist, coal is not distributed on time, so firewood to be used as fuel is always in the car in case the carriage stops on the railroad track… It’s kicking!”

In a socialist country, like a socialist country, the railroad was in fact responsible for the transportation of the republic.

Although it had the advantage of being able to transport goods and manpower on a large scale and quickly even in mountainous areas, this is only a case in which it is operated well.

Aside from the problem of double-tracking, there was no heavy wagon to transport a lot of cargo at once, and there was no heavy track to receive the load, so it was impossible to transport cargo through railroads properly.

Then you might say that it is okay to transport even a little at a time, but the bigger problem was fuel.

Most of the North Korean locomotives were electric locomotives, but the coal was not supplied properly because the highways and railway depots were open.

‘In a word, it’s a vicious cycle.’

While reading the traffic situation, which is such a total mess, Junghwan even discovered a record that once again made his eyes suspicious after ‘Tox’s Steam Locomotive’.

“’The railroad and the vehicle were not available, so we had to transport the goods in a horse-drawn carriage.’ That cow with horns on its head and weeping and crying?”

“……Yes…”

“I am not blaming you, Lieutenant Yu. I was so excited that I was arguing for nothing. Apologize.”

But no matter how much I thought about it, it was a situation where I couldn’t fly unless I was angry.

Read at readwn.com

No, at this point, I wasn’t angry, I was about to lose my mind.

Jeonghwan, who held his forehead with his hand for a moment, then closed his eyes and spoke to Hyerim Yoo as if muttering.

“Major General Yu, do you know what is one of the root causes of all the atrocities that are taking place in the Republic?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know, Comrade General Secretary.”

“It’s the military. Exactly the size of the oversized army. Have I explained it once? At the Koryo Hotel three years ago, Director Baek Seung-cheol…. At that time, he was the pedestal. In front of Baek Seung-cheol’s pedestal.”

When she brought out her nostalgic memories of the past, Hyerim Yoo shook her head with a faint smile as if she remembered it.

At that time, Jeong-hwan had openly criticized President Kim Il-sung’s economic and defense strategy in front of Baek Seung-cheol, but now that he has become general secretary, looking back, the memories of that time cannot but be revived.

Read at readwn.com

Now, in front of this tragedy, I think I should say ‘It hurts’ rather than ‘new’.

‘However, there will be no problem if only a small amount of resources and manpower are used to maintain the army. Now, 20%, or broadly, 30% of this republic’s national GDP is devoted solely to maintaining the People’s Army. Should I say that I am fortunate to have seized power before the military-first policy was introduced?’

In any country, strong military power comes from wealthy economic power.

It is because of the great wealth of the United States that the United States, the world’s most powerful country, can maintain and develop its military power, and the Soviet Union’s huge army (though it is now collapsing) has exerted its power only when economic power supports it.

However, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il had been maintaining a policy line that separated the military economy from the civilian economy to the level of almost separation.

In the end, as you can see now, the result is a downward leveling of both the military and the civilian economy.

‘Damn, should I have started the coup sooner? 5 years… No, if I had been reincarnated 10 years earlier…’

“Comrade General Secretary, do you mean… Do you think the size of the military should be reduced? But if that’s the case…”

“I know, I’m not going to stand still on Frunze’s side, led by Hong Gye-seong. What we need now is a cause. The justification that no one opposes the reduction of the military.”

The funds that Junghwan has collected in Japan are still asleep, almost unused.

With that money, he could form the initial capital and lay the foundation for rebuilding the republic through transport capacity enhancement projects, thereby strengthening Jeong-hwan’s own (still very unstable) voice and power within the party… It’s not money that can last long.

In addition, to take advantage of the bubble that has not yet been extinguished, you need initial funds that can also be used for investment, but the question was where to get that money.

“Chief Lieutenant Yu, Kim Jong-il, who was managed by Party Room 37…. So, how far did the investigation of the slush fund created by the former general go?”

“Thanks to General Kim Jong-il’s documents brought by Comrade General Secretary, things went smoothly. If you add up the money hidden in Europe (Europe) and Southeast Asia… it’s about $4 billion so far.”

‘Still not enough. Should I also open up my hands overseas?’

When Korea developed its economy, the first thing it did was improve the logistics infrastructure representing highways and ports.

It is light industry, technology accumulation, and it is possible only to transport materials, but the problem was that the cost of this huge business would easily exceed tens of billions of dollars in the long term, even without an estimate.

Moreover, even at this very hour, the greatest calamities to befall North Korea, the march of hardship, and food shortages were still approaching.

Read at readwn.com

No matter how expensive the best medicine, if the treatment time is missed, it will be of no use.

According to Jeong-hwan’s knowledge, after the hard march has passed, North Korea will become a living hell, not just a rebellion.

“Whew……”

At the moment when Jeonghwan sighed in a desperate situation, an unexpected breakthrough fell in front of his eyes.

The phone on the desk in the secretary’s office was ringing loudly.

When I looked at the blinking back, it was a call from the general secretary’s office.

Beep………….!!!!!!

click.

Yoo Hye-rim tried to answer the phone first as a secretary, but Jeong-hwan, who was closer to the phone, picked up the receiver first.

“This is the secretary’s office.”

“General Secretary. Chinese embassy. The Ambassador would like to meet with the Secretary-General to discuss the future of the DPRK-China friendly relations and the future of the two countries. When are we going to make an appointment ?”