Chapter 77: Unraveling Tensions
The information that Kim Jong-un had started to reveal was leaked to the UN.
The countries, including the permanent members of the Security Council, were very satisfied with this information.
It showed how the Kim family had ruled North Korea for so long.
Moreover, the data on the prison camps perfectly justified the unification of Korea led by South Korea.
As a result, the resolution condemning South Korea’s invasion of North Korea, proposed by China, was discarded.
The international community tacitly agreed to the unification of the Korean peninsula.
The inspectors sent by the UN returned one by one, and only the investigation on the human rights of the prisoners and North Korean residents was planned to continue.
Of course, South Korea had already transferred all the prisoners to Terra Island, so there was no suspicion.
They could not investigate Terra Island either, because it was the territory of the United Human Federation.
The United Human Federation did not join the UN, so they had no right to investigate.
Because of this thoroughness, some people in the UN General Assembly wondered if South Korea was abusing the prisoners.
—They must be hiding something.
—The acting president Yu Ji-ha should quickly clarify this.
Unexpectedly, Japan stepped in.
Japanese diplomats testified that they did not find any evidence of prisoner abuse on Terra Island.
“We are currently providing food, medicine, and other supplies for 60,000 people. We receive a similar amount of garbage.”
“The atmosphere on the island is peaceful, and the expressions of the North Korean prisoners who unload the supplies are relatively bright. They seemed to gain weight day by day.”
So far so good, but one diplomat mentioned the facilities on the island.
“Terra Island was discovered only a few months ago, but it had decent facilities. Surprisingly, most of the facilities seemed to be made of black metal.”
China and EU, who could not even see black metal, made prisoner camps with black metal?
The atmosphere in the assembly became uneasy.
The diplomat who made this testimony was immediately recalled by the Japanese government.
It was not known what happened afterwards, but he was sure that he would never work as a diplomat again.
As Japan’s relationship with Terra Island became known to the world, Japanese right-wingers strongly protested.
—Why do we have to provide supplies? This is impossible.
—Let’s strike down the Ozawa regime that only does good things for Korea!
On the other hand, Koreans laughed at them.
—What did they do wrong this time to become suckers who provide supplies and import garbage?
—Those Japanese have always been like that.
—They probably attacked with reconnaissance planes and got hit back. They should learn their lesson after being sanctioned so much.
—Please stop picking fights. We are busy enough dealing with North Korea.
In fact, South Korea was too busy with North Korea’s conquest to care about Japan.
Among them, the northward advance of the 7th Division received the most attention.
This huge mechanized division pushed back China’s 80th Army that entered North Korea and focused on advancing northward.
Commander Li Hua ordered a counterattack after being chased for too long.
“If we hit their salient point, we can slow down their advance! Mobilize all available forces!”
But that was a dream.
The K-2A tanks armed with black metal were stronger than imagined.
They achieved an overwhelming combat ratio against China’s 99-type tanks, not North Korea’s tin cans, and pushed forward.
When two battalions melted away in a small-scale rotation, Commander Li Hua panicked.
“Were 99-type tanks so weak?”
The tanks were weak, but armor-piercing shells had a bigger share.
Armor-piercing shells made of black metal penetrated any frontal armor of existing tanks in one shot.
Even if world-class tanks came instead of 99-type tanks, the situation would not have changed.
As the entire 80th Army faced collapse, Commander Li Hua decided that further resistance was meaningless and began to flee.
Around this time, opinions about the end point of offensive came up in Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
“I think we should stop our offensive at Yalu River.”
“We can’t cross into China…”
But Yu Ji-ha gave a different order after hearing the report.
“We have to go at least until Dandong.”
The generals in JCS opened their mouths wide.
“Are you thinking about war with China…?”
“That’s absolutely impossible!”
“Calm down. I didn’t say we should go to war with China. I just said we should go in because they invaded our land.”
South Korea claims that the entire Korean peninsula and its affiliated islands are its territory.
Accordingly, China’s 80th Army invaded its territory.
Yu Ji-ha looked around at the generals who lost their words and said.
“It’s just a small security force, so go in and come out quickly. I’ll allow some skirmishes, but no escalation.”
Just a little bit of provocation would do.
Meanwhile, Pyongyang, which had a population of nearly 3 million, was on the verge of falling under the joint attack of 100,000 troops and 30,000 drones.
The fall here meant the end of organized resistance.
The northward advance of the 7th Division did not stop.
They completely pushed back the 80th Army and reached the Yalu River.
It was a good performance to fill their canteens with the river water, but some of the units stationed in Sinuiju crossed into China.
They crushed the rice fields in Dandong and a mop-up operation ensued, and the 80th Army was defeated and scattered.
China, who learned that South Korea had entered its land, protested fiercely, but Korea did not care much.
—The 80th Army came all the way to Pyongyang, and they are making a fuss over crossing a little bit of land?
—It was a happening that happened during the battle.
China was very angry, but they could not turn South Korea into an enemy while carrying out the landing operation in Taiwan, so they swallowed their anger.
And the landing operation in Taiwan, which was called the largest in history, failed.
The rear support from the United States and the weapon support from South Korea shone.
In this battle, nearly 30,000 troops and dozens of warships evaporated, and they lost the capacity to conduct naval operations anymore.
The war was not declared over, but it was clear that China had lost its strength to continue its offensive.
There were sporadic naval battles in the Taiwan Strait, but not on a large scale, and there was no air intrusion by fighter jets.
The use of nuclear missiles was considered until the end, but those who held power in China gave up for fear of full-scale intervention by the United States.
They were already condemned by various countries for North Korea’s nuclear missile launch, and public opinion was completely tilted towards Korea.
If they used nuclear missiles and failed to occupy Taiwan, then China itself would shake.
Those who held power in China shed tears and quietly withdrew their troops.
The cross-strait war that broke out in October 2027 ended in July 2028.
Economists calculated that both countries suffered huge losses.
China alone spent more than 10 trillion yuan on war expenses, and the actual damage was dozens of times that.
The war continued for several months and civil unrest continued because of it.
The riots of the discriminated farmers spread from coastal cities to inland cities, and China had no power to suppress them.
The Chinese economy collapsed due to the prolonged war and riots.
The world no longer treated China as G2.
And Taiwan’s damage was much worse than China’s.
Most of the cities were bombed and industrial bases such as semiconductor factories were brutally destroyed.
They managed to block it, but they were in a mess.
The UN and the United States promised support, but it did not bring back the cities that turned into ashes.
As such, when three countries in East Asia were involved in a war, the world economy swayed and a crisis hit.
It was not panic, but an economic crisis worse than the subprime crisis swept the world.
Japan achieved a huge amount of exports due to war speciality.
They said that Japan would make money when there was a war in Korea, but East Asia as a whole was swept away, so the profits were enormous.
They offset the economic sanctions of various countries and still had enough left over, so Japan enjoyed prosperity.
Taking advantage of this gap, extreme right-wing remarks began to pour out.
They lost their reconnaissance plane and could not say anything. They should not be like that.
—Article 9 of the Constitution should be amended and re-armed. They lost their reconnaissance plane and could not say anything. They should not be like that.
—China has lost its strength, and Korea is at war. Japan can be the leader of East Asia.
The popularity of the Ozawa regime was at its worst, and extreme right-wing parties gained popularity by raising their voices.
They claimed that Korea should be held responsible for shooting down their reconnaissance plane.
Korea could not care much about them because they were busy with internal crackdowns.
It was not easy for a country with a population of 50 million to absorb 20 million people.
Nevertheless, the economy did not collapse because the exchange rate was maintained somehow.
The won-dollar exchange rate, which soared to remind people of IMF in early stages of war, gradually stabilized over time.
This was a very unusual thing, and economists issued a report that Yoo Ji-ha played a big role in it.
—Korea’s creditworthiness is maintained and investment is not withdrawn because Yu Ji-ha is there.
—Solar fusion succeeded in operating ion beam fusion reactor for 300 seconds. It will achieve results comparable to commercial operation by the end of the year.
—Dozens of countries are seeking to buy drones that showed their power in Pyongyang street battles. In local wars, how many high-tech drones you have determines the winner.
—Starfield launched a commercial ion thruster. Now all aircraft and ships have to be redesigned for ion thrusters.
— SouthKorea will not sink easily as long as Yoo Ji-ha is there. The only variable is North Korea, which has a high possibility of holding back until the end.
Most economists were concerned about the North Korean risk.
South Korea only declared that it would absorb North Korea, but it did not even solve the debt of 16 billion dollars.
However, since Yu Ji-ha was the acting president, many expected that he would have something.
Thanks to this, the price of North Korea’s bonds in the international futures market was close to face value.
Of course, this amount was enough for a country like South Korea to handle.
But China pushed in a new bill.
They were in urgent need of money after spending a lot of war expenses.
—China has provided a lot of aid to North Korea since the 2000s. Most of it is free, but loans are also included. If Korea wants to absorb North Korea, it must also inherit this 10 billion dollars.
The fundamental reason why North Korea could maintain its extremely closed economic system was here.
It was a valid claim, and the acting president Yu Ji-ha agreed.
—Wait a little while I compare the data inside North Korea.
—The payment deadline has passed. Declare default if you don’t pay right away.
The relationship between the two countries deteriorated to the worst as he refused Kim Jong-un’s interview on top of the bad feelings.
Yu Ji-ha demanded that Kim Jong-un liquidate his assets in China, and China refused.
—We can’t give it unless it’s Kim Jong-un himself.
But bringing him to China was impossible in the first place.
Everyone thought that this time Yu Ji-ha had no choice but to bow his head.
Where would he get 10 billion dollars all of a sudden, unless he was hit by a money bomb?
China seemed to have been waiting for this situation and suggested that they would delay the repayment if they lifted all sanctions.
Of course, Yu Ji-ha rejected this offer.
Russia and Germany readily lent him money.
—Russia is ready to help South Korea anytime.
Germany not only lent money on the condition of installing a prototype fusion reactor of solar fusion, but also decided to buy North Korea’s bonds.
Yu Ji-ha formally expressed his gratitude to Russia and Germany.
—We will build a full-scale economic cooperation with Russia and Germany.
As soon as this declaration came out, the stock markets of both countries, which had been falling underground, stabilized considerably.
On the contrary, China, who received 10 billion dollars, was gloomy.
They completely severed their relationship with South Korea and had to let go of North Korea.
Some people said that they got the money, but in the long run, it was rather a loss.
—They should have used Kim Jong-un as bait to improve relations with Korea, but they were too hasty.
—Commissioner Zhang Min is too angry and does not help China’s interests.
Thus, under the leadership of Wang Xian, Commissioner Zhang Min was ousted.
He proposed anew.
—I will liquidate Kim Jong-un’s hidden assets and return them to the Korean government. Please visit China to discuss the Dandong invasion incident as well.
Yu Ji-ha’s reaction was this.