My Peninsula 2007

Chapter 437 Who are we opposing?

In the chairman's office on the second floor of NGN Company, An Rusong stood expressionlessly in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, a cigarette tucked between his right fingers, his gaze fixed on the gray dust outside through the glass.

This is the second time Seoul has been hit by a sandstorm this year, and its scale and intensity seem to be no less than the last one, and perhaps even greater.

Whether it was psychological or not, An Rusong felt as if he could hear the "rustling" sound of sand hitting the windowpane when he stood in front of the window.

There was a soft knock on the door behind him. Without turning his head, An Rusong said, "Come in."

He assumed the person knocking was Jiang Xiuyuan, but after she said "come in," he suddenly remembered that the girl had taken the past two days off to accompany the family of that guy named Jiang Youli who had come from his hometown.

"President, here's the financial statement for this month," came the soft sound of the door being pushed open behind us, followed by a woman's voice.

An Rusong still didn't turn around. He had a cigarette in his mouth and stretched out his free right hand, gesturing for the other person to take the report.

The clicking sound of high heels on the floor grew louder as it approached, followed by a faint, pleasant scent of gardenias that soothed the soul and stirred the imagination.

Feeling something rest on his hand, An Rusong picked it up, brought it to his face, and examined it carefully.

Even today, NGN's corporate structure has not been fully established. This is not because An Rusong did not consider these factors, but because the company's office space is severely insufficient. Before the new headquarters is built, An Rusong's primary concern is to strengthen the technical department, as this is the core of NGN's operation.

As for other administrative departments, the company can currently only maintain a minimum level of operation to ensure its continued functioning. Perhaps for this reason, the company's monthly financial statements are relatively simple.

After carefully reviewing the financial statements from beginning to end and confirming that there were no problems, An Rusong turned around and looked at the woman standing next to him.

The woman delivering the reports was young and beautiful. Although petite, she had a perfect figure with a prominent bust and buttocks. She had long, straight hair that reached past her shoulders, wore a white shirt and a black fitted pencil skirt, and the top two buttons of her shirt were undone, exposing her slender neck and a large expanse of snow-white breasts without any cover.

Seeing An Rusong turn around, the woman pushed up her black-rimmed glasses, revealing her beautiful eyes staring directly at An Rusong's face without any hesitation.

An Rusong's gaze lingered on the woman's face for a moment, then fell on her chest, before returning to her face. He smiled and said, "A pen."

"Ah!" The woman seemed to have just come to her senses, and she awkwardly handed a pen to An Rusong.

Holding the pen, An Rusong signed his name at the bottom of the financial statement, then handed the pen back to the woman, saying, "Xin Suyuan, right? This is your name."

“Yes, President,” the woman nodded and said.

“Okay, tell Director Luo to prepare the car for me,” An Rusong said with a smile, patting the woman on the shoulder.

“Yes, President,” the woman replied, then turned and walked towards the door.

Watching the other person's graceful figure sway away, An Rusong raised his hand and rubbed his chin. Only after the other person left did he click his tongue in admiration twice and walk towards his desk.

This woman named Shin So-won is currently an accountant at the company. He doesn't know if it's just his imagination, but he can sense that this woman is always trying to seduce him. However, although he's not exactly a saint, he still tries his best to avoid having any ambiguous relationships with women like Shin So-won within his own company.

Don't compare her to Jiang Xiuyuan; that girl is an exception.

Back at his desk, An Rusong stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette, took out his phone, and then took out a mask and a baseball cap from his drawer. He covered himself up completely before leaving the office and going downstairs.

Downstairs, Luo Minzhi had already driven the car to the company building entrance. Seeing him come out of the building, she immediately opened the car door for him and helped him into the car.

“Satang-dong,” An Rusong said to Luo Minzhi after starting the car. Satang-dong in Dongjak District was where Li Shiying lived. To be more specific, it was a place called Chengyu Residence in Satang-i-dong. Not long ago, An Rusong had paid for a house there for her. Min Xiujin had also lived there when she came to stay with her.

As the car slowly started moving, An Rusong casually picked up a newspaper from the seat next to him—it was today's edition of the Central Daily News.

Upon seeing the masthead of the Central Daily News, An Rusong couldn't help but think of a recent rumor: it was said that Chairman Hong, who was in charge of the Central Daily News, clearly expressed his disapproval of Lee Jae-yong at a family dinner hosted by Chairman Lee of Samsung. This led to a very unpleasant argument between Chairman Hong and Chairman Lee.

Whether this rumor is true or false is still hard to say, but in An Rusong's view, it's probably true that the relationship between Chairman Hong and his nephew-uncle Li Zairong is not harmonious. After all, Chairman Hong has never hidden this point, and the Central Daily News, which he controls, has criticized Li Zairong quite a bit.

Unfolding the newspaper, An Rusong used the dim light inside the car to browse its contents.

In the past two days, An Rusong has been paying attention to quite a few news stories. The first one on the list is the scandal of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac falling into trouble due to the subprime mortgage crisis.

The reason why Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's predicament is considered a scandal is that just over two weeks ago, both companies claimed that their profitability was good and that the subprime crisis would not have a direct impact on their operations. However, just two weeks later, both companies reported huge losses, and their financial situation had even deteriorated to the point of bankruptcy.

Currently, the global economic community's attention is focused on Washington and the US government, as reports indicate that the US government will not stand idly by and allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to go bankrupt, and the White House will formulate policies to provide financial assistance to these two companies.

Because the White House has been slow to make a decision, global stock markets have been fluctuating recently. However, this has not had a significant impact on An Rusong. On the contrary, with the news of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac suffering huge losses, An Rusong has already made money, and quite a lot of money at that.

The second news item that An Rusong was paying attention to was the consultation between the Blue House and the White House on the agreement for the import of South Korean beef with the United States.

To be honest, although the previous "horn-sounding protest" incident caused considerable trouble for the Agricultural Cooperative and the Korean Beef Association, and allowed Lee Min-bo, who was in the eye of the storm, to catch his breath, the negative impact of the Korea-US beef import agreement on the Blue House still exists.

How significant will the impact be? According to data from polling agencies, President Lee Min-bo's approval rating plummeted by nearly 13 percent due to the signing of this agreement. As a result, the Grand National Party may also be greatly affected in the subsequent parliamentary elections.

If the Grand National Party and its ruling coalition lose their majority in parliament, Lee Min-bok's subsequent administration will face the same awkward "lame" situation as President Roh, making it difficult to implement many of his policies and strategies.

Therefore, in order to salvage public opinion to some extent and prevent a backlash from the progressive faction, Lee Min-bo must adjust the South Korea-US beef import agreement, at least to get some concessions from Washington, in order to quell the surging public opinion in South Korea.

In addition to this, Li Minbo must also do some practical work in other areas, on the one hand to gain public support, and on the other hand to divert public attention.

So the question is, as a "newcomer" who has only been in office for less than two months, what kind of practical work can Lee Min-bo choose to do? This practical work must be able to achieve remarkable results in a short period of time; otherwise, it will not have any effect.

After taking office, Lee Min-bo's work plan mainly included three aspects: economy, diplomacy, and anti-corruption.

Economic work is a long-term endeavor. From policy formulation to promulgation and implementation, and then to the realization of its effects, it is destined to be something that cannot be completed in a short period of time. Therefore, this task was certainly not among Li Minbo's options.

Diplomacy is a rather taboo topic for South Korea, because South Korea's main diplomatic focus, or rather, the main diplomatic focus that South Koreans pay attention to, is only four: South Korea-US relations, South Korea-China relations, South Korea-Japan relations, and South Korea-Russia relations.

In Lee Min-bo's work plan, economic work was actually the top priority. Based on this, he had to take a pragmatic approach to foreign relations. For South Korea, to pursue pragmatic diplomacy, it was necessary to manage all four relationships well.

However, South Koreans have a very distorted view of diplomacy. As mentioned before, both progressives and conservatives in South Korea are, in essence, pro-American. The difference is that the former want to recognize the United States as their godfather, while the latter regard the United States as their biological father.

Whether they consider the US their godfather or their biological father, they all look down on China, are hostile to Russia, and compete with Japan for favor. Therefore, apart from the ROK-US relationship, the other three diplomatic directions are all difficult to navigate.

The problem now is that the South Korea-US beef import agreement makes it difficult to manage the South Korea-US relationship. Therefore, what Lee Min-bo needs to do is avoid diplomatic issues, rather than using this aspect of the agreement to cause trouble.

Therefore, in the final analysis, the only direction Li Minbo can choose is anti-corruption.

(End of this chapter)