Dear Comrade

Dear Comrade the Leader Episode 249

As Hyun-Chang Lee went straight to the point, Yoon-Hyun Noh closed his mouth like a toad as if he had been hit with a preemptive attack, sighed that the ground should be gone, and sat down in the seat in front of Hyun-Chang Lee.

It was an attitude of ‘what more should I say?’

“The North Korean Hakchongryun people… … The media called them refugees, but what is the official position of the Blue House on the refugees’ requests? Even if you don’t hear anything, you can tell… … .”

“Oh, then we can’t talk for a long time. Already at the cabinet meeting, we have decided to push forward with the statement, ‘We cannot respond to requests from forces other than those representing North Korea.’

“Can I know if there was any communication with the Blue House from the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the general secretary?”

“I will inform the press soon, but I just got a call just telling them to repatriate the refugees because they are criminals, there was no other talk. I don’t know if they’re confused or just thinking about our reaction… … But in the first place, there is nothing to worry about, is it?”

President Lee Hyun-chang’s tone as if the answer had already been given, and Noh Yun-hyun’s thick eyebrows soared into the sky.

“It looks like that too.”

“It’s already the United States, and all the countries where their friends have asked for help, the media and the government are either refusing or not responding at all. No wonder. Is it a reasonable request to believe in the words of those few and introduce democracy and to invade North Korea in common sense? I really want… … In fact, to talk about that today, I made President Roh walk all the way to Sangchunjae here… … .”

At this point, Lee Hyun-chang’s eyes, who grumbled, ‘Fools who do not know anything about the world’, shone slightly.

“… … By the way, how are the Democrats doing? No matter how much the yangbans hated me and the Saenara Party, there was no way they would have taken the USFK and ROK troops to North Korea and seriously said that they would fight a war… … President Roh cannot hold the presidency in this election, right?”

“As you might have guessed. Anyway, I’m on my way under tacit pressure to quickly express my position on this matter in any way before I come here today. If you are going to lose the horse, you have to find another candidate, so do it quickly before the election, something like this.”

“… … And will the other candidates be chosen among them? I thought that this was only our Saenara Party primary, but the Democratic Party is also tough. Yes, after defeating President Roh, who is there who can fight well with me in the finals and win?”

Strictly speaking, when Lee Hyun-chang, the leader of the opposition, said this as if he was worried about it, Noh Yun-hyeon sighed as the ground went out again after the first time.

If the previous sigh was just a sigh of half resignation and fatigue, this one was a sigh of disappointment and, above all, of anger.

“Well, what do you think of the President? As for the Saenara Party candidate, I have a rough outline, but from the perspective of the president, is there anyone who can come out in the main election in our Democratic Party and fight the Saenara Party candidate and bring the regime back to the democratic camp?”

“ha ha ha. This is a difficult question to answer, but… … To be honest, I don’t see anyone else except for President Roh.”

“That’s the problem, isn’t it? Without any alternatives, they fight over their rice bowls, fire inside, and then they are devastated… … . With no vision, no alternatives, and unproductive political struggles that have no sympathy for the people, it is already clear that this election is being passed on to the Saenara Party as well! Tttttttt… … You should be ashamed… … .”

As if the anger he had been putting up with was finally over, Noh Yun-hyeon burst into anger in front of the incumbent president, Lee Hyun-chang.

In fact, in mid-2007, even with the presidential election just around the corner, the reality was that there were hardly any candidates within the Democratic Party who could predict the odds of winning against the Saenara Party in the presidential election than Roh Yoon-hyun, either in terms of approval rating or in opinion polls.

Of course, there are many ambitious people who want to go out and fight as the Democratic presidential candidate, but most of them are small candidates who are difficult to win the support of the entire nation, or people who want to use this opportunity to call their political weight class and make their name known.

Roughly, but to be honest, the current situation is that the ‘dumbs’ who are not enough to fight the giant ruling Saenara Party are using exiles to drive out the No. 1 candidate in the party, namely Noh Yun-hyeon, a common enemy.

“I’m not doing this because I don’t want to quit my job as a sleazy governor, Democratic presidential candidate! What good is a place where you have to fight every day when it’s hard… … .”

Read at readwn.com

Noh Yun-hyeon had been vigorously complaining for such a long time, but to Lee Hyun-chang, it was more of resentment against the helpless Democratic Party that there are almost no Democratic candidates worthy of running for the election except for him, rather than anger against the forces trying to drive him out. .

Either way (even though his term of office was short) was not what the opposition leader would show in front of the incumbent president, but Lee Hyun-chang was just listening to it.

There was no way of knowing whether it was because of his personal liking for Noh Yun-hyeon or because he had something different inside him.

“Common sense, are all our people stupid assholes? Even if I, as the president, make an announcement with a gun, every time I see the Democratic Party, I would think that it is a party that wants to start a war on the side of the children who have fled from North Korea, but the people… … In particular, what do male voters in their 20s and young people in their twenties, who have to raise their guns in the event of a war, think?”

“By the way, even within the Democratic Party, President Roh was kind to North Korea. All the Democrats thought that a dictatorship would cause the economy… … .”

“Ah, that’s what Kim Jung-hwan and the previous presidents did… … No matter how much Kim Jung-hwan is a dictator, at least he is not a human being who uses the Republic of Korea as a means of dictatorship. And why don’t Democrats understand that the dictatorship that speaks today is 100 times better than the dictatorship that doesn’t speak the same language before?”

“Actually, during the last great North-South compromise or the permanent visa for separated families, the Democrats took the lead in congratulating them. Now, unification is at hand.”

“If it wasn’t for that Kim Jung-hwan, would it have been possible for the separated families of North and South Korea to meet and see each other at any time and live together? I don’t want to see that high school graduate Noh Yun-hyeon sitting in the president’s seat, so let’s kick him out. ttt.”

Hyeonchang Lee, watching Noh Yunhyeon who was grumbling like this, quickly threw the bait.

“Then, what are you going to announce in the end? If you oppose the words of the refugees, you will get a lot of swearing inside the party, and if you agree, you will get a lot of swearing outside the party… … .”

“Anyway, wherever I go, I will die according to my beliefs, without political calculations, and I will come down with a cool thing to say.”

“What do you mean?”

“It is difficult to listen to what those people called Hakchongryon and refugees say about liberating North Korea by mobilizing force, but I will express my stance that I will oppose repatriating those people to North Korea in accordance with North Korea’s demands.”

At Noh Yoon-hyun’s resolute words, Lee Hyun-chang bit his tongue and frowned slightly.

“Ttttttt… … President Noh. I have to advise you that it is a handshake. That’s neither a two nor one, a gray molecule, bat-like, and both sides will swear by it. Or maybe they should get support from the party ahead of the election, but if they go to the finals, they will be stoned for whether they should cross their legs for fear of being disliked.”

“Gray molecules or whatever, this is what I want to say and this is my conclusion. Those refugees, if sent to North Korea like this, will die horribly, at least. Am I wrong?”

“that… … Yes.”

In response to Noh Yoon-hyun’s questioning, Hyun-chang Lee muttered, avoiding his gaze for the first time to see if something was stabbed.

It is a fact that the current conservative media and the Blue House are consciously ignoring it, but considering the fact that the current Hakchongryon asylum seekers are committing the crime of attracting foreign exchange in Korea very seriously, it was clear.

Read at readwn.com

No matter how far the current North Korean leader Kim Jung-hwan is from crazy dogs like former Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, he cannot afford to let those who openly throw filth into the system he has established.

“okay. I’m not sure. Even if there are many problems with the method, is it the Republic of Korea, a democratic country, to capture those who fled to our country while resisting the dictatorship and fight for democracy as it is, tie them up and hand them over to the North Korean general secretary? I don’t think that’s it. Realistically, even if you don’t agree, shouldn’t you at least protect the lives of those people?”

“President Roh, no matter how much it is, there is a real national interest, and besides, the exiles who were in the democratic movement are a bunch of people who, in my view, cannot understand the harsh reality of the international situation at all… … .”

“I know, you know! It’s nobody else, I know it all too well! But before that matter, the president said that the North Korean dictator should not send anyone who is now clearly living in South Korean territory… … Don’t you think that it is a matter of the sovereignty and national pride of the Republic of Korea to obey what they are told?”

“… … .”

“Of course, I can say this because I am the leader of the opposition party and not the current president, but no matter how big the high-speed rail is, I don’t think it should be. What is still written in our constitution? North Korea is an anti-state group, and the residents of half of the Korean peninsula that North Korea occupies are abducted by North Korea, isn’t this the official position?”

“… … So, are you saying that you are going to take a stand that is neither he nor me?”

‘Is this a statement made on the basis of the calculation of securing competitiveness in the finals while promoting survival within the party? Was the Noh Yun-hyeon I knew such a political person?’

Hyunchang Lee said that outwardly, but inside he questioned himself.

However, he soon denied this idea.

He is a person who drank politics for a long time to the point where he finally rose to the presidency after hearing the sarcasm of ‘I try everything in politics except for the president’, but from that point of view, the Democratic Party’s president, Noh Yun-hyeon, in front of me is a political strategist. It was a calculation, not a person who gave it.

In other words, it would be correct to say that those words are not political calculations, but genuinely honest remarks that he thinks like that.

“President Noh, listen to me. In this Korean political world. There is no middle. On our side or on someone else’s side! Blue or red! What could be the reason why the Third Zone did not appear in this Korean political history? President Roh’s position right now could be both sides, but on the other hand, it’s much more likely to upset everyone.”

“Thank you very much for your concern, but that has nothing to do with it. So now I guess I’ll have to stop. If you delay making a statement any longer, you will get more scorn within the party for being confused about ticket calculations.”

“haha… … Oh yeah… … .”

Having said that, Lee Hyun-chang, who stood up from his seat and looked at Noh Yoon-hyun for a long time as he headed for the exit, threw a word to his back, who had just closed the door and was about to disappear.

“President Roh, did you say earlier that you can roughly guess who our Saenara Party presidential candidate will be?”

“Yeah, well, it’s not that difficult, is it? In fact, the most certain thing anyone can see… … .”

“I don’t like him either. That is why I am calling the opposition leader, President Roh, here today and saying these things.”

“… … ?”

The meeting with Sang Chun-jae was ended that day with Lee Hyun-chang’s sweet remarks.

And soon after, Noh Yun-hyeon publicly responded to the pressure to ‘disclose the exact position on the refugees as the representative of the opposition party’.

-I oppose the remarks of the refugees asking for the mobilization of the ROK military to change the regime in North Korea, a sovereign state, from the standpoint of supporting stability in Northeast Asia and peace on the Korean Peninsula, but it is my position that I cannot comply with the North Korean request to repatriate them.

– President! There is an opinion that the president’s remarks are a political foundation to attract the middle class. What do you think?

– Oh, I’m just saying what I want to say. Now I have nothing more to be obsessed with. Would you like to be separate? If the party tells you to fight in the presidential election, you will go out and fight with your best, but if you just ask to go out, you will leave.

Read at readwn.com

Noh Yun-hyeon, who had said this far, remained silent for a while, and then left a single word that has been circulated by the population (positive or negative) for many years.

– It’s been a long time… … Just because I’m talking about what I want to say… … Somehow, hey, it feels good.

* * *

“In the end, this is what happens. Good.”

“Your comrade doesn’t like that person named Yunhyeon Noh, do you?”

“Oh, you’re an idealist.”

After Noh Yun-hyeon’s official position was announced, Jung-hwan and Yoo Hye-rim shared these words while watching Korean current affairs TV analyzing the truth of his remarks.

In fact, Noh Yun-hyeon was not a very suitable person for the next 17th South Korean presidential candidate that Jung-hwan deeply hoped for.

‘It’s not like I don’t have any personal grudges. Because of that yangban real estate policy, my family suffered a little when I was young.’

Of course, the resentment of childhood, whose memory is now faint, was just a secondary reason or a sacrifice for eating rice cakes, and the reason why Jeonghwan didn’t like Noh Yunhyeon was elsewhere.

However, things don’t always go as planned.

And the variable that deviated from that plan started to come out in earnest that evening, when Jeonghwan was having dinner with Hyerim Yoo at his place.

That evening, I was enjoying Jeonghwan’s favorite stir-fried pork, but as soon as he saw the Korean news on the TV screen, he felt like he was eating rice as it is.

Clink!

“Oh my gosh, damn it.”

“Why do you throw your spoon on the floor after eating? I’m out of luck.”

“It doesn’t matter now. Look at that.”

Yoo Hye-rim’s gaze turned to the TV, surprised by Jeong-hwan’s sudden rebellion and throwing a spoon on the floor.

On the screen, a middle-aged woman wearing a ‘symbol No. 1 Saenara Party’ belt was giving a speech.

– Today, President Park, the most likely presidential candidate and incumbent president of the ruling Saenara Party, has publicly expressed his views on the issue of repatriation of North Korean refugees, which has become one of the hottest issues in the current December presidential election.

“Gentlemen, North Korea’s General Secretary Kim Jeong-hwan is a reliable leader. So, I, Saenara Party President Park Geum-hye, will join hands with General Secretary Kim and start removing obstacles that stand in the way of the Korean people on the Korean Peninsula from today!”

Hyerim Yoo, who had been watching the scene blankly, looked back at Jeonghwan, who had a disappointed face with an expression that she still did not understand the English language.

“Why? Do you have any big problems with that comrade named Park Geum-hye? Although she is the daughter of the South Korean military president, I know her as a cooperative person to our republic… … .”

“Don’t have a problem! Damn, now I have to help Noh Yun-hyun win the election!”