My Peninsula 2007

Chapter 451 Two Messages
As I said before, money is truly a wonderful thing; it's not to say that everyone loves it, but it's pretty much true.

General Thurman went to great lengths to come to South Korea to take up his post, and in addition to his own efforts, he had a large number of people behind him who rallied and supported him.

Is all this effort solely for the interests of the United States in East Asia? Or is it simply to test the waters against political rivals?
The real answer is certainly not like that. General Thurman and those who supported him behind the scenes may indeed have their own political ideals, but in addition to political ideals, what they wanted to obtain was a large sum of money, money that would make anyone drool.

Just two months ago, Kim Kwan-jin, who had recently been promoted to Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Korea, signed an agreement with General Thurman, who had also recently taken office. According to the agreement, the troop stationing agreement signed between South Korea and the United States in 2004 was abolished, and the total number of US troops stationed in South Korea will remain at the base of 28500.

According to the Special Measures Agreement on Defense Cost Sharing signed between South Korea and the United States in 1991, South Korea alone has to pay 9200 billion won annually to the U.S. forces stationed in South Korea, which is equivalent to more than 6 million US dollars.

This defense cost, shared by South Korea, is paid directly to the U.S. Forces Korea Command. According to the agreement, this money is used to pay the salaries of South Korean employees of the U.S. Forces Korea, as well as to build military facilities and procure military supplies.

In other words, these defense costs do not include the salaries and basic expenses of American soldiers stationed in South Korea, which are paid by the US government, at least in 2008, according to the special agreement.

In addition to these defense expenses, South Korea also needs to allocate more than 70% of its military budget each year to purchase and maintain various types of equipment from the United States. This amount is even greater, sometimes reaching several billion US dollars.

In such defense procurement, the U.S. Forces Korea Command has always played a crucial role. For example, during the negotiations in April, General Thurman made new demands of Kim Kwan-jin, such as strengthening the "information, communications, command and attack system" and enhancing the combat capabilities of the Apache Longbow battalion and air defense fortifications.

Strengthening systems and enhancing capabilities—how to strengthen them? In the end, it all boils down to one method: investing money. According to the agreement between South Korea and the United States, these two projects alone will require a massive investment of $110 billion, while South Korea's total military expenditure for the entire year is only 26.7 trillion won, which is roughly $190 billion.

Although these two investments are to be completed over five years, they still represent a significant burden on South Korea's military spending.

If we also take into account the US investment in US forces stationed in South Korea, the amount of money that the US Forces Korea Command can handle each year would be an astonishing figure. Considering that the use of funds by "Yongsan" is not transparent, who knows how much profit people like Thurman can gain from it.

To be honest, compared to Thurman and his group, Leonard receiving a few million dollars in kickbacks is really nothing. Of course, considering the close relationship between Leonard and Thurman, the colonel must have also been able to extract a lot of benefits from "Dragon Mountain".

Seeing that An Rusong gave a perfunctory reply and then fell silent again, Jenny assumed that he was unwilling to take out such a sum of money.

She shifted her position, got off the table, took a step to the side, and stood next to An Rusong. Then, with one hand, she pushed the back of An Rusong's chair, making him turn half a circle so that he was facing her directly.

“Honey, don’t be stingy with this money,” Jenny said, straddling An Rusong’s lap with her arms around his neck. “You can think of it as an investment, a medium- to long-term investment. Trust me, investing in someone like Leonard will definitely benefit you.”

An Rusong smiled but didn't say anything. He didn't need to explain further to the other party. The reason he hadn't spoken earlier was simply because he had been lost in thought, not because he was reluctant to spend an extra $200 million.

“Well, maybe we don’t have to wait until later,” Jenny said, as if she had thought of something. “The benefits are here now.”

"Oh?" An Rusong reached out and put his arms around Jenny's slender waist.

“I have two pieces of news that you might be interested in,” Jenny said.

An Rusong met her gaze, waiting for her to continue.

“The first piece of news,” Jenny said, releasing her arms from An Rusong’s neck and placing a hand on his chest, gently stroking it as she spoke, “is about the beef import issue.”

“Isn’t the Blue House still negotiating with the Department of Commerce?” she said. “We have received information that the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Commission has submitted a trade proposal to the White House, outlining the bottom line for this negotiation.”

An Rusong raised his eyebrows. Although the issue of the South Korean-US beef import negotiations was not his concern, he was still very concerned about it because the negotiations had directly affected Lee Min-bo's public support, and thus the situation the Grand National Party might face in the parliamentary elections.

Today, Ahn Yeo-song and his NGN company are on the same side as Lee Min-bo's interest group. As long as Lee Min-bo's position is secure, Ahn Yeo-song can reap even more benefits. The "IT Korea Future Strategy" plan developed by the Blue House is the best proof of this.

“The current White House official, who is about to leave office, doesn’t want to get bogged down in the South Korean issue and therefore intends to conclude negotiations on the US-South Korea beef import issue as soon as possible,” Jenny continued. “Therefore, the Commerce Department’s bottom line for negotiations is relatively lenient. The basic condition is that South Korea must lift import restrictions on beef from cattle under 30 months old.” An Rusong nodded. In his previous life, the final agreement reached between South Korea and the US in 2008 seemed to be similar, although he certainly couldn’t remember the exact date of the negotiations. Now that the US is prepared to make concessions, the relevant agreement should be reached soon.

To be honest, even if we talk about the bottom line that Jenny mentioned, the concessions that the US can make are actually limited. However, as long as the US makes some concessions, Li Minbo will have room to maneuver.

An Rusong considered that he should leak this news to the Blue House as soon as possible, because it would be beneficial to him.

What are the benefits?

It's very simple. Once the Blue House learns about the US's bottom line in the negotiations, a final agreement should be reached very quickly.

Now that the final signing of the agreement is imminent, what Lee Min-bo needs to do next is to quickly take control of the domestic media, whether it's KBS, MBC, or even SBS, he needs to keep them firmly in his hands.

Only by controlling these mainstream media outlets can he, after the final agreement is signed, shape it into a personal achievement through public opinion guidance, thereby boosting his previously plummeting public support.

As for An Rusong, only if Li Minbo completely controls the three major television stations can he help Han Meiyan successfully acquire the online copyrights of their works, thus resolving the copyright acquisition issue as soon as possible.

Unconsciously, An Rusong drifted off into thought again until he felt the front of his bathrobe being pulled open and something strange happening to his lower body, which snapped him back to reality.

At this moment, Jenny, who was sitting on his lap, had already put one hand between his legs and was shamelessly teasing him.

"What's the other message?" An Rusong lifted her up and asked.

"What's the rush? Can't we talk about it later?" Jenny was a little out of breath, and her tone carried a hint of resentment.

An Rusong stood up from the chair, then stepped forward and placed her on the desk, after which there was no further movement.

“The other message is from Leonard,” Jenny said, biting her lip. She leaned back, half-lying on the table, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked at An Rusong. “He asked me to remind you that the situation within the Grand National Party has changed.”

"What changes?" An Rusong paused in his work and blurted out the question.

“Park Hee-tae has already gotten together with Park Geum-hye,” Jenny said. “Our people not only confirmed this information, but also monitored that Park Hee-tae provided bribes of no less than 300 million won to each of the 19 Grand National Party lawmakers, including Ko Sung-deok.”

Hearing her say that, An Rusong couldn't help but frown.

The Park Kim Hye that Jenny mentioned is naturally Miss Park, while Park Hee Tae is a senior member of the National Assembly in the Grand National Party. He is a prosecutor by profession and appears to be a respectable person, but in reality, he is a lecherous man with no bottom line.

In Ahn Ju-song's previous life, this Congressman Park Hee-tae caused far too many scandals. While playing golf, he actually groped a female caddie's breasts, and then turned around and defended himself to the public, saying that he didn't touch her with his hands, but only poked her with his fingertips. What a bizarre thing to do.

However, even so, Representative Park Hee-tae is a veteran politician in South Korean politics, and he is currently the chairman of the campaign policy committee within the Grand National Party.

In the past period, the political forces within the Grand National Party have split into three main groups due to the struggle between Ms. Park and Lee Min-bok: those who support Ms. Park, those who support Lee Min-bok, and those who are relatively neutral.

With Lee Min-bo's victory in the presidential election and his entry into the Blue House, the factional divisions within the party are not as obvious as they used to be, but the divisions still exist.

This isn't hard to understand. After all, although Ms. Park lost the presidential election this time, she still needs to make a difference in the next election. And although Lee Min-bok can't run for president next time, he is very likely to put forward his favorite candidate.

(End of this chapter)