My Peninsula 2007

Chapter 471 Distribution
Outside Baek Geun-jung's office, Jung Joon-nam, who had just placed his umbrella and briefcase in the lounge across the street, straightened his suit jacket in front of the door. After making sure he was dressed neatly, he gently knocked three times on the door.

"Come in," Bai Genzheng's voice faintly came from inside the door, his tone carrying a hint of joy, indicating that he was in a very good mood.

Zheng Junnan raised his hand and rubbed his cheek, putting on a smile before turning the doorknob and pushing the door open to enter.

To demonstrate a clean and honest approach to office work, the offices of the top officials in the Ministry of National Defense are not very spacious. For example, Pai Gen-cheng's office is a simple single room of less than 40 square meters. Apart from a desk, a coffee table, and a sofa, there is nothing that can be considered luxurious.

When Zheng Junnan pushed open the door, Bai Genzheng, dressed in military uniform, was sitting on a sofa in the middle of the office, talking to a middle-aged man opposite him, also dressed in military uniform and wearing the rank of major general, across the marble-topped coffee table. Hearing Zheng Junnan enter, the two looked towards the door.

"Junnan, you're here," Bai Genzheng said first. He didn't get up, but just sat on the sofa and waved to Zheng Junnan, saying, "Come, come and sit down."

Zheng Junnan bowed politely at the door before quickly walking to Bai Genzheng's side.

"Let me introduce you first," Bai Genzheng said, not directly inviting him to sit down, but instead gesturing to the middle-aged man opposite him, "You should know this general, right? He is our department's Deputy Director of Legal Affairs, General Song Xianrong."

The "department" he mentioned naturally refers to the Ministry of National Defense. In other words, General Song Xianrong is the Vice Minister of Legal Affairs of the Ministry of National Defense.

The Legal Affairs Officer is the highest-ranking officer in the Ministry of National Defense specifically responsible for military legal affairs. In the prosecutorial system, this is equivalent to the role of the Minister of Justice. In other words, the military prosecutor's office is actually under the jurisdiction of the Legal Affairs Officer. However, like the Minister of Justice, the Legal Affairs Officer is usually very busy and unlikely to personally oversee all the day-to-day affairs of the military prosecutor's office. Therefore, below the Legal Affairs Officer are several Deputy Legal Affairs Officers, who are the ones who truly manage the affairs.

Therefore, Zheng Junnan, as a military prosecutor, naturally knew about Song Xianrong. However, General Song Xianrong was the youngest of the several legal management vice ministers in the Ministry of National Defense, and he was less than ten years older than Zheng Junnan. This meant that when Zheng Junnan's father was still working at the military prosecutor's office, Song Xianrong had not yet entered his current position. Therefore, Zheng Junnan could not learn more about Song Xianrong through his father.

Zheng Junnan's only knowledge of General Song Xianrong was that he was just over fifty years old, and his "Song" belonged to the Song family of Ruichuan, and he himself was also from Ruichuan.

As mentioned before, the South Korean military has publicly stated that it does not participate in domestic partisan politics, and its generals are loyal only to the Republic of Korea and do not belong to any party.

But this claim is misleading. In countries like South Korea, where partisan politics are deeply divided, anyone in power has to consider their political stance, and Song Sun-young is no exception.

As far as Jung Jun-nam knows, Song Seon-yong, a native of Seocheon, has a close relationship with Lee Hoi-chang, the former party leader who left the Grand National Party last year. After Lee Hoi-chang officially left the Grand National Party under the pretext of retiring from politics, he formed a "Liberty Progressive Party" with the "Chungcheong Party" as its core, and is currently actively preparing for the parliamentary elections.

The so-called "Chungcheong Party" consists of a group of politicians from the northwestern part of Chungcheongnam-do. Seocheon is located in the northwestern part of Chungcheongnam-do, which is a poor area. A characteristic of South Korean public opinion is that the poorer the area, the more support there is for conservatives.

Looking at Song Xianrong's smiling face, Zheng Junnan had a lot of thoughts flashing through his mind in an instant. However, on the surface, he still bowed respectfully to the other party and greeted him, "General Song."

Song Xianrong didn't say anything, but still smiled and nodded at him.

“Sit down, sit down and let’s talk,” Bai Genzheng said.

After Zheng Junnan sat down somewhat awkwardly, he continued, "Junnan, do you currently have any cases you're handling?"

Jung Joon-nam hesitated for a moment. Currently, he only had one case on his hands: Jung Se-jik's. However, this case was simple and straightforward, and insignificant. Even if he proved Jung Se-jik's involvement and the other party admitted it, it wouldn't have a significant impact; at most, it would just make Jung Se-jik lose face. But besides Jung Se-jik's case, what Jung Joon-nam currently wanted to do, or rather, what he was doing, was investigating An Ru-song's connection with the "Military House." In his view, if he could implicate a public figure like An Ru-song, a public figure hailed as the "conscience of the Republic of Korea," in a military corruption case, it would greatly boost his personal reputation.

Military prosecutors actually have many similarities with ordinary prosecutors, namely, a good reputation recognized by the public, which is often more important than the specific position.

So where does a good reputation recognized by the public come from? Undoubtedly, it can only come from handling cases, especially major cases that attract widespread public attention. The higher the status and the more prominent the reputation of the person involved, the greater and higher their influence and promotion on the prosecutor handling the case. Of course, there is a prerequisite: the case must be handled well and successfully.

In the world of An Rusong's previous life, how did President Yoon, a middle-aged man who had been unsuccessful for half his life, manage to rise from obscurity to prominence in just over a decade, and even win a presidential election? In the end, it was simply because he handled several major cases that shook the entire country of South Korea, thus cultivating an image of fairness and impartiality in the public eye.

The path that President Yoon can take, other prosecutors can naturally take as well. However, to succeed on this path, one must first have enough luck, and secondly, one must have enough luck.

Zheng Junnan's problem now is that he only knows that An Rusong is very rich and has close ties with Americans. As for other things, he doesn't know much. Therefore, he feels that he can try to take a risk and get a lot of honor points from Chairman An.

“Junnan, it’s not that I want to interfere in your case,” Bai Genzheng said, his smile fading slightly as he saw him remain silent. “It’s just that Vice Minister Song has a task he wants you to handle, so he needs to temporarily transfer you over there.”

"Oh?" Zheng Junnan was taken aback and subconsciously turned his head to look at Song Xianrong next to him.

“It’s like this,” Song Xianrong smiled and continued, “Have you heard about the trouble that K-55A1 has caused?”

Zheng Junnan frowned. He knew that "K-55A1" was actually the 359th Artillery Battalion under the "Bear" Artillery Brigade, which was stationed in Xinxili, Lianchuan County. Just recently, an incident occurred in this unit: a sentry, while on duty, used a rifle specifically issued to sentries to kill three veterans who had bullied him.

The reason this incident did not cause a public outcry was that the artillery brigade kept the whole thing a secret after it happened. Apart from the military, or more precisely, the Ministry of National Defense, no information leaked out.

Of course, even if it leaks out, it probably won't cause a big public reaction. After all, these kinds of things happen too often, and the South Korean public is probably already numb to them. Just like how US troops stationed in South Korea occasionally commit criminal cases, isn't that normal?
"Is the Deputy Minister referring to Choi Hyun-cheol's case?" After a moment's thought, Jung Joon-nam asked.

“Yes, it’s Choi Hyun-cheol’s case,” Song Xianrong said with a smile on his face. “This case is very serious and has a very bad impact. Currently, not only is the prosecution team paying close attention to this case, but Minister Kim has also been keeping a close eye on it. Therefore, we need to send a capable and decisive prosecutor to handle it properly in the shortest possible time.”

Zheng Junnan fell silent. He wasn't stupid; he naturally knew what Song Xianrong's true intentions were.

The K-55A1 shooting incident was indeed heinous, and its impact would certainly be very negative if it were to spread. However, Jung Joon-nam absolutely did not believe that the prosecution team or Minister Kim Kwan-jin would pay attention to such a case. As for the claim that a "highly capable and decisive" prosecutor would be assigned to handle this case, that was utter nonsense. If nothing unexpected happened, Jung Joon-nam believed that this case was merely a pretext used by Song Seon-young; his real purpose was to exile him.

Having served as a prosecutor for over a decade, Zheng Junnan was all too familiar with this kind of discussion. Within the military prosecutor system, military prosecutors like himself did indeed possess independent prosecutorial power, and their autonomy in handling cases was free from external interference. However, while the higher-ups might not have the authority to interfere with his case-handling, they certainly had the power to adjust his work.

Just like now, they'll kick him out of Seoul and send him to Yeoncheon County to handle a case. Once he's in that remote, impoverished place, it'll be hard for him to come back. After he finishes the case, Song Xianrong can easily give him a new position and let him live out his days in Yeoncheon County.

After figuring all this out, Zheng Junnan panicked a little. He looked at the smiling Song Xianrong, then at the calm Bai Genzheng on the other side, and vaguely guessed where the problem might lie.

(End of this chapter)