The Second Kaesong Industrial Complex (2)
The presidential office briefing room.
Minister of Unification Kim Do-gyun stood at the podium.
Click, click, click—
A storm of flashes poured over him. Kim Do-gyun gripped the microphone for a moment, then began reading from the prepared statement in front of him.
“Respected citizens, I am Kim Do-gyun, Minister of Unification. We are aware that public interest is high regarding the inter-Korean railway and the newly reported economic cooperation zone, the plan to create a Second Kaesong Industrial Complex. Today, I would like to present the government’s official position.”
The new economic cooperation zone had already been reported in the press. The government had not even requested an embargo. Like kindling catching fire, talk of a Second Kaesong Industrial Complex spread, and before long it had become a national issue.
“The government has recently held multiple working-level meetings with the North and reached agreement on several matters.
First, let me speak about the inter-Korean railway.
The government has organized a separate survey team for the railway, and we have agreed that the team will visit North Korea next month.
And as has already been made public in the press, the two sides have also agreed to establish a new economic cooperation zone.
We understand the concerns many citizens have.
That is why the government has put in place thorough safeguards to ensure that, unlike in the past, the project will not be suddenly halted by political circumstances.
We have introduced a jointly operated inter-Korean system, along with a transparent structure in which the international community will also participate, so that companies can invest with confidence.
The location and scale of the complex are still under discussion, and we will disclose them transparently as soon as the matter is finalized.
Citizens, this Second Kaesong Industrial Complex is not simply an industrial park.
This complex will become a new turning point for peace on the Korean Peninsula and economic cooperation.
The government will continue to work with the people to open a new era of sustainable peace economics.”
After the briefing ended, the government moved swiftly.
Kim Jin-cheol invited the heads of major conglomerates to the presidential office, and every business leader who received the invitation said they welcomed the inter-Korean railway and the creation of the new economic cooperation zone.
It was not empty politeness. The conglomerates operating construction companies had already assembled dedicated teams of their own. And, just as Ko Jeong-un had said, a working delegation for the Second Kaesong Industrial Complex was formed.
Kim Jeong-min, who had recently been promoted to head the Crisis Management Center of the National Security Office, was appointed as its leader.
Personnel were drawn from the Ministry of Unification, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, the National Intelligence Service, the National Security Office, and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong were also assigned to the task force.
The task force headquarters was set up at the Government Complex Gwacheon, and Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong began commuting there rather than to the presidential office in Yongsan.
* * *
The Future Korea Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul.
The Future Korea Party spokesperson stood before the reporters and began reading the prepared statement.
“The government’s recent push for a Second Kaesong Industrial Complex is nothing short of an irresponsible idea that tramples national security underfoot!
The projects being driven by the Kim Jin-cheol administration are a path to reviving North Korea’s nuclear and missile funding once again, and a fatal mistake that will undermine the international sanctions on North Korea!
We cannot help but ask: whose national interest is the Kim Jin-cheol administration actually serving?”
The opposition was not about to sit still either. They launched a relay hunger strike starting with the statement, and appeared on terrestrial and cable news programs to sharpen their criticism even further.
* * *
A samgyeopsal restaurant near Indeogwon Station in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province.
Office workers who had finished for the day were drinking at their tables, and Kang-hae was busily turning slices of pork belly as they sizzled on the grill.
Across from him sat Lee Min-su, who had once led Tianjin Team 1.
Unable to remain in field operations any longer, Min-su had been reassigned to Intelligence Command headquarters.
The headquarters was in Anyang, only fifteen minutes by car from the Government Complex Gwacheon.
This meeting had been Min-su’s idea, and Kang-hae had come over to Anyang as soon as he got off work.
“Let’s have a drink.”
Min-su picked up the soju bottle, and Kang-hae quickly raised his glass.
“Khh……”
After tossing back the soju, Min-su made a satisfied face. “You know what I missed most while I was in China?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Soju. Soju. I was afraid I’d draw suspicion if I drank Korean liquor, so I kept forcing down that nasty Chinese stuff instead.”
Kang-hae watched him in silence. When he had seen Min-su in Tianjin, the man had seemed to have no openings at all, not a single crack in his armor. But now, after stepping back from the field team, he looked like nothing more than a chatty middle-aged man.
Min-su took a bite of the samgyeopsal Kang-hae had grilled and then went on. “So you’re working out of Gwacheon now?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What do you do there?”
“Nothing’s been decided yet, so I’m not entirely sure.”
Tracking down Ri Yong-sik was the main mission, but Kang-hae kept that to himself.
“Damn masochist.”
“Yes, senior.”
“When you run covert ops overseas, you end up tangled up with all sorts of freaks. But you know who we watch out for most?”
“Who?”
“Civilians.”
“……?”
“More precisely, civilians with money. Those bastards are the worst.”
“Why?”
“Guys with a solid sense of national identity—people like us in the intelligence business—are simple. Russia, Japan, China, doesn’t matter. Those bastards move only according to orders. And those orders are usually in their own country’s interest. So no matter how complicated the case gets, you can still find a thread to pull.”
Min-su stopped there and took another drink of soju before continuing.
“But guys whose only goal is money—especially business types—those bastards will throw away their country, their wives, even their own kids if there’s money in it. They’ll do absolutely anything for cash. That’s what makes the job so damn complicated.”
“……”
“You said it was a working-level task force for the Second Kaesong Industrial Complex.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then businesspeople are definitely going to be involved.”
“Yes.”
“Never underestimate corporate bastards. For money, they can do anything. And they’re the kind of people who can veer off in any direction.”
“Thank you for the advice.”
“Advice, my ass. Drink.”
Min-su held out his glass again, and Kang-hae refilled it with soju.
He felt genuinely grateful to Min-su for offering him advice.
It was already night by the time they finished drinking, and after seeing Min-su off first, Kang-hae waited for a taxi.
That was when Seong Ha-yeong called.
“Yes?”
[Mr. Kang-hae, where are you?]
“I’m in Anyang right now.”
[That’s close, then. Are you busy?]
“No.”
[Could you come here, then?]
“Is something wrong?”
[Nothing serious. The people who worked late are going out for a simple dinner together, and I thought it’d be nice if you came too. We’re going to be seeing each other a lot from now on, after all.]
“Understood. I’ll head over now.”
As Seong Ha-yeong had said, they were going to be people he kept seeing, and it seemed wise to get familiar with their faces.
Kang-hae headed for the taxi stand on the other side of the street, and before getting in, he bought a box of doughnuts from a nearby doughnut shop.
* * *
In front of the Government Complex Gwacheon.
Since Minister of Unification Kim Do-gyun’s announcement some days earlier, companies that had moved into the Kaesong Industrial Complex and later gone bankrupt had been pitching tents in front of the Government Complex Gwacheon building and staging protests.
-They’re talking about a Second Kaesong Industrial Complex while turning their backs on the companies ruined by Kaesong?
-What do they mean, a Second Kaesong Industrial Complex?
-We demand compensation for the companies harmed by the Kaesong Industrial Complex!
-A murderous government that pretends not to know about companies buried under debt!
Kang-hae stared at the placards beside the tents.
Every morning, as he came to work, whenever he saw people holding signs, he thought of his parents. After his older brother died, his parents had staged protests in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Blue House, the Prosecutors’ Office, police stations, and the courthouse, demanding that his unjust death be brought to light.
It had always left a bitter knot in his chest.
Before taking the taxi back here, he had bought the doughnuts for them.
Kang-hae quietly approached the tent with its lights on and set the box of doughnuts down in front of it. Then he happened to hear voices coming from inside.
“The lawyer said this was all for the sake of the Republic of Korea. He said your resolve would change the country, too.”
It was a man’s voice around his own age, probably in his late twenties to early thirties.
“After the complex shut down, I was buried in debt…… I even used money from my wife’s family, and now both my wife and my sister-in-law have ruined credit…….”
This one was an older man in his sixties, and his voice sounded like someone standing at the very end of despair.
The younger man spoke again, but Kang-hae, uneasy now, turned away.
He left the box of doughnuts in front of the tent and walked off.
The next morning, the protest resumed, and YouTubers with strong political biases gathered there with cameras in hand. So did the most extreme supporters of the opposition. Of course, they were not there for the companies ruined after moving into the Kaesong Industrial Complex. They were there for the views.
And Kang-hae stood by the window, watching them in silence.
“Mr. Kang-hae. What are you thinking about?”
Seong Ha-yeong came over to him and asked as he looked out the window.
“I was just watching the people protesting.”
Seong Ha-yeong followed his gaze and looked out at the sign-holders and protesters, too.
“I understand how they feel, too. It’s hard not to feel terrible……”
Her voice sank.
So did Kang-hae’s feelings.
“Ah…?!”
Then both Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong saw something.
The sixty-year-old man who had been protesting took something out of the tent.
Two two-liter water bottles.
And Kang-hae was seized by a bad feeling.
The liquid in those bottles did not feel like water.
The man poured the liquid over his body, and a moment later his body caught fire.
The instant Kang-hae saw it, he grabbed the fire extinguisher in the office and sprinted outside.
Then, the second he burst through the entrance, Kang-hae saw the man, engulfed in flames and writhing in agony.
Kang-hae sprayed the burning man with the extinguisher.
And then he heard it.
“Aaaaaaagh!”
Along with the man’s screams as he burned, he also heard the voices of YouTubers brimming with delighted excitement.
“Hey, turn off the livestream first. Get it on video!”
“Okay, okay.”
“What kind of windfall is this?”
“This is insane—our views are going to explode. Kim Jin-cheol, you son of a bitch, you’re screwed!”
* * *
The sixty-year-old man who had attempted self-immolation was the owner of a textile company that had moved into the Kaesong Industrial Complex. After the complex was shut down, he was buried in debt.
After the self-immolation attempt, he was immediately rushed to the hospital and underwent emergency surgery, but his life remained in critical danger.
The police launched an investigation, and everyone who had been on the scene was questioned as a witness.
The police had heard that someone had handed the man a lighter before he tried to set himself on fire, but they could not determine who that person was.
There was another suspicious point.
They checked the man’s movements through his phone, but no place where he might have been able to purchase gasoline could be identified for the two weeks before the incident.
Son Hyeok-su, a police officer dispatched to the Second Kaesong Industrial Complex task force, shared the investigation findings with the task force, and Kang-hae and Seong Ha-yeong came to know about it as well.
“Surely someone didn’t encourage him to attempt self-immolation, did they……?”
Seong Ha-yeong hoped desperately that wasn’t the case, but inside, she thought it might have been possible.
Kang-hae felt the same way.
He remembered the conversation he had heard inside the tent the night before the incident.
“Ha-yeong.”
“Yes?”
“About the night before the incident.”
“Yes?”
“I also left a box of doughnuts in front of the tent then.”
“……?”
“I heard a little of the conversation coming from inside. A man in his twenties said something like, this is all for the Republic of Korea. Your decision will change the country.”
“Then……?!”
“Someone probably pushed him toward it.”
“What kind of garbage would do something like that…….”
Seong Ha-yeong’s anger cut off her words before she could finish.
“I still don’t know who it was.”
“Then are you going to look into who it was……?”
Seong Ha-yeong asked him back.
Kang-hae did not answer, but Seong Ha-yeong understood anyway.
She knew Kang-hae was going to do something.
“Still…… shouldn’t we leave this to the police……?”
She spoke again.
Kang-hae thought she was right. He also thought he was being far too emotional right now. As Seong Ha-yeong had said, this was something the police should investigate. The man who had attempted self-immolation was a complete stranger.
But……
Every time Kang-hae thought of the man who had burned himself, he saw his parents overlapping with him, and he could not forget the voice he had heard from inside the tent.
A helpless voice, swallowed by despair.
If he had not heard that voice, he might have been able to let it go. But once he had heard it, he could no longer pretend nothing had happened.
“Someone pushed a man standing at the edge of a cliff.”
“……”
“And I’m the only witness.”
“……”
“So I need to know.”