Empire of the Ring

“Koryoin immigrants here are fortunate ones. Yet, I know there are many Koryoins out there still struggling to live. That’s why I called out this meeting.”

“I understand your concern and intention. But the whole state might suffer while we help them.”

It was cruel, but there was nothing wrong with Park Young-sun’s point.

“Think about the case of Germany. After the unification, the whole country suffered to sustain East Germany. Their economy recessed as a result even though Germany was one of the richest countries back then.”

“But they managed to make a comeback.”

“You can’t ignore the fact that there were social conflicts among German people either.”

“There are not many Koryoins around Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It will be only about 30,000 even if they all moved to our state, and besides the state needs more people.”

It was Kim Chun who made a bold objection to Dr. Park’s opinion because he thought Youngho could somehow make it work.

“That’s why we can’t do it right now. You are asking everyone in our state to suffer poverty. People who contributed and worked really hard to build our state from the beginning will feel betrayed by the state.”

Old Kim Sung-chan, who had been closing his eyes for the entire time, slowly raised his hand to stop the debate. There was no one who knew about Koryoins more than he did.

“They were only stuck in those remote areas because of bad luck. The Koryoin community in Kazakhstan tried to help them several times. If they want to come to our state, those Koryoins must be desperate.”

“Koryoins around Central Asia will want to come here if they know about our state.”

“They have settled there for a long time. They wouldn’t want to come unless they are suffering greatly just like the Koryoins in the middle of a dispute in Kyrgyzstan. There will be no more than a few thousand immigrants. It won’t hurt to take them in. I will help as well.”

Nobody could argue with the old man because he meant to give up the money he had earned from the gold mine in old Koryoin town. It sounded like he was rebuking everyone for not giving up what they had to help others. Then he made a different suggestion.

“Like I told you. If they’re determined to come here, they must be desperate. Mr. Lee has already prepared to accept them in our state. So let’s not talk about it anymore. Instead, how about we discuss how we can help Koryoins who want to stay in Kyrgyzstan? Maybe we can grant a loan for them. A low-interest, long-term loan can be one way. If they want to open a store, we can open one under the name of our state. Or if they want to start a business, we can invest in their business too.”

“Great idea. Then, both their pride and finances would be preserved. Let’s talk about how we are going to loan them money.”

Over time, Youngho learned that Koryoins cared about their pride more than anything, and they would definitely pay it back when they received favor from anybody.

***

“Do we have that many ships that are waiting to be repaired now?”

“They’re from outside. Collisions from icebergs had done damage to many vessels.”

Sturdy ships from the Arirang Autonomous State or Arirang Shipping could handle icebergs without a big problem, but other ships that sailed on the Ural River or the Caspian Sea were not quite sturdy enough. It would probably be more accurate to say that those ships were old since vessels made out of iron plates were damaged by ice.

If the state’s icebreakers had not broken the ice on the waters and cleared out the sea route for them, they would have not cruised around in the cold season. In a sense, the state had fixed a problem that caused another problem for other ship owners.

“It looks like the production of speedboats got delayed because all the technicians are working to repair damaged boats.”

“We’ve got no choice. We couldn’t turn them down.”

“Phew, I guess we shouldn’t have made the path on the ocean for them after all.”

“What are you talking about? They all appreciate our icebreakers. They wouldn’t even make any money unless we made sea routes for them. Besides, we are not even charging them a lot to repair.”

“If they can’t pay right away, give them some time to pay back. We certainly don’t want them to think that we’re taking advantage of them.”

“Boss. You need to show them that we’re not going to be a charity group just earn their trust. If we let them payback later, they will continue delaying their payments.”

Though the ice had not completely melted yet, the Ural River was showing more and more water as the weather got warm.

Since fishers could catch a large number of fish if they threw the net in the water where there was no ice, they were all getting busy. Since people did not prefer fish from freshwater in Central Asia, the river was literally filled with half fish and half water. People rather enjoyed meat from sheep and cattle.

Therefore, the state was the only big market for fish around the area. Though some Koryoin fishers lived in the state, they could not catch enough fish to cover the demand of the state. That was why fishers in Kazakhstan risked their boats to fish in the frozen water since they earned quite a lot of money by selling fish to the state, and it was worth it for them to spend money for their vessels’ repairs.

“That must be the reason why I see fish dishes on my table so often these days.”

“Too much meat will cause health problems. As the commissioner, I can’t let that happen.”

“Hahaha… Have you become a nutritionist now?”

“Didn’t you say the commissioner had to know everything that went around in the state?”

“Of course. I am glad you are our commissioner. I can count on you and travel to wherever.”

“I guarantee you. In a month, bigger size bulk freighters will be coming into our shipyard for repairs. I spread the news about a huge ship repair shop when I visited the Port of Atyrau last time. Soon, we’re going to need another dock.”

“I’m looking forward to it. I see now why the technicians from Batumi looked so happy these days.”

“I will appreciate it if you tell Lieutenant Commander Jun to wait for the speedboats until summer. He’s been pushing me lately.”

“Don’t worry about it. We will have numbers of new ships for the state by summer.”

“Good to hear that. Finally, we are getting new patrol boats. I can’t wait to tell others about it.”

“Whoa. You better not. You know what they say. You need to hide at least 30 percent of your military force to expect a victory. These new patrol boats are going to be our secret weapons. I placed a very special order to the Korean Navy. We need to make sure that no one knows about our three new secret boats including the disguised boats we are planning on getting from Russia in the autumn.”

Chun’s face turned serious as he listened to Youngho talking about military force.

“Don’t be too shocked. I am just following an old saying, ‘prepare for war in the time of peace’.”

“Then, I wish we can bring all of the Koryoins in Kyrgyzstan. What good are those ships and boats when we have no soldiers to run them? Isn’t it the fastest way to recruit soldiers?”

Chun was hitting the most painful spot. The low population of the state was always the problem.

***

A few days ago, Suh Min-seok freaked out because a Korean strategy research department wanted to talk to Youngho. Min-seok could not make a connection between the Arirang Autonomous State, and the Korean strategy research department. If Youngho told him he was an agent of the CIA, Min-seok would have passed out in shock.

The research department called to let Youngho know that the anti-ship missiles called Haeseong were not to be exported to other countries. When he heard the news, Youngho felt something was fishy. The Navy had not said anything when Youngho requested ships and while the ship was being built, but now he was being informed that he could not get the missiles.

“I know it’s a Korean product, but the anti-missile is not a new technology. I’ve heard it was an upgrade version of the previous technology. Why has this become a big deal now?”

“We own the patent of the technology. We’ve come to the conclusion that we’d be risking that our technology will be leaked if we export this. Our research department cannot approve to send you a vessel equipped with an anti-missile.”

“I understand this is a foreign country. But as you can see on the contract, this place is called the Arirang Autonomous State. We are not an enemy of Korea. You know… only Koreans would use Arirang to name a state.”

“Yes, sir. I understand that. Still, it is true that the Arirang Autonomous State is a foreign country to us.”

“At the point when we settled and signed the contract, we received an agreement from the Korean Navy. The shipbuilding process was based on that agreement. Not to mention, we already made our down payment. We have no reason to buy the ship without the anti-ship missile on it.”

Youngho requested two anti-missile vessels in the 500-ton class. But, without those anti-missiles, those vessels would be nothing but passenger ships. Youngho thought about equipping French or Norwegian missiles instead, but it seemed to be too much work.

“To tell you the truth, Congress has decided to restrict every military deal with other countries because of a recent national secret that was leaked. Our facility cannot do anything about this.”

“You know you are about to face an international lawsuit, right?”

After going through quite the trouble, the chief of the research facility finally approved the exportation of the anti-missile. It was probably because he did not want to go through an international lawsuit.

It was such nonsense because the technology was not even secret to other countries.

In the beginning, Youngho wanted to request the vessels from a Norwegian shipyard if it was not for Lieutenant Commander Jun. Though the quality of the ships from other countries was not much different compared to the ones from Korea, Jun had a fanatic belief that Korean products were the only best ones. Youngho did not want to be seen as a sellout who betrayed his own country for better products in Jun’s eyes, so he agreed to buy ships from Korea. It was not a great choice after all.

“What did the Kazakh Navy say about this?”

“I heard that everything went well between the Korean Navy and Mr. Lee.”

“What are you talking about? They kept talking nonsense about a national secret. I threatened them with an international lawsuit.”

“We thought that anti-missile was not a brand new technology.”

“Well, it’s true that theirs have an outstanding performance. I’ll give them that much.”

Youngho was embarrassed to even talk about the Korean military’s attitude, so he only complimented the weapon’s performance.

“Are you traveling to Korea to pick them up?”

“No. I’m going to have the Korean military deliver them here. I couldn’t find a team to go to Korea to pick them up.”

“I guess it would be only us traveling there for our training for the new vessels in Korea.”

“How about we include a few maritime guard agents with you?”

“That is highly possible except we need to get approval from the department of defense to take care of their expense. It might take some time.”

“Don’t worry about the money. If some of our Countryside Force guards could come along with you, we will pay for all of the Kazakh Navy soldiers’ food expense in Korea.”

“I appreciate that, Mr. Lee. If we go to those developed countries, our budget is not enough to enjoy our free time there.”

Youngho felt proud of his country all of a sudden since Korea was considered a well-developed country for Kazakhstan’s Navy. Though there was some trouble earlier, it was more favorable to hear good things about Korea.