My Peninsula 2007

Chapter 473 August
In An Rusong's previous life, the grudges and entanglements between Li Minbo and President Lu and President Wen were interpreted into many versions of the story, such as unbreakable friendship and passionate revenge, etc., and the legendary nature of the stories could even make people feel excited.

After being reborn into this time and space, as someone who was almost "inside" it, An Rusong's perspective on this issue undoubtedly became much clearer.

As the current head of the Blue House, Lee Min-bo faces a complex situation that forces him to take drastic measures against the former president who seems to be living a peaceful and comfortable retirement in the countryside.

Over the past few months, Lee Min-bo has been overwhelmed by a dispute over a South Korea-US beef import agreement. His plummeting approval rating is only one aspect. In reality, for Lee Min-bo, who has already taken office as president, he wouldn't care about the issue of public opinion support if he weren't considering the parliamentary elections.

The key point is that the progressive faction seized the opportunity presented by the controversy surrounding the South Korea-US beef import agreement and used every available means to launch attacks on Lee Min-bo, who was sitting in the Blue House, on all fronts.

Although there is no clear evidence, some rumors are circulating that when the Farmers' Cooperative and the Korean Beef Association held their "candlelight vigil," they received strong support from a series of progressive political parties.

Indeed, in the presidential election at the end of last year, the progressive coalition suffered its first crushing defeat in more than a decade, handing over the opportunity to retake the Blue House to the conservatives, specifically to Lee Min-bok, who represents the Grand National Party.

But just like the conservatives of the past decade, the progressives who lost their ruling position did not become despondent, and of course they were even less likely to surrender – isn't that how party politics works? The emperors take turns, one leaves the stage and another takes the stage.

In the past six months, the progressive party caucus has undergone a series of complex mergers and reorganizations. In February, 29 progressive members of parliament who had just left the Open Kuomintang last year formed a National Unity New Party, which then merged with the Democratic Party to form a new United Democratic Party.

Then, in July, after incorporating four small progressive caucuses, it changed its name again to the Democratic Party.

Through this series of alliances and maneuvers, the new Democratic Party has greatly increased its influence, now holding more than sixty seats in Congress, accounting for one-fifth of the 300 seats.

This is a very dangerous number. If the Democratic Party gains a certain number of seats in the upcoming congressional elections and also wins over some small and medium-sized parties, it will be able to exert a strong restraint on the Grand National Party within Congress.

Therefore, if Lee Min-bo does not want to become a "lame president" during his more than four years in office, or even face the humiliating situation where his decrees cannot leave the Blue House, he must help the Grand National Party to strike at the Democratic Party and curb their rapidly growing influence.

So, given the current situation, what choices does Li Minbo have? And what choices can he make? Clearly, the simplest choice he can make is to use his power to directly suppress the Democratic Party.

What does suppressing the Democratic Party have to do with investigating those around President Lu?

This brings us to the important role President Lu played in organizing the Democratic Party.

Yes, don't assume that President Roh really retired to the countryside and settled down to enjoy his retirement. As a veteran politician, his influence in South Korean politics remains substantial.

A key figure in the formation of the Democratic Party was Kim Han-gil. A writer, journalist, and media personality, he was a household name in South Korea. After entering politics, he leveraged his fame, coupled with the support of Kim Dae-jung, to quickly become a prominent figure in the political arena.

He has served as a spokesperson for the Open Kuomintang, the chief policy planning officer at the Blue House, and the minister of culture and tourism. He not only has a profound influence in the political arena, but also has close ties with some of South Korea's major conglomerates.

Kim Han-gil played a significant role in President Roh's election victory, and the two were truly close friends.

In the past few months, Kim Han-gil has been very active. He has not only been in frequent contact with various progressive political parties, but also with people from the Agricultural Cooperative and the Korean Beef Association. Most importantly, he has visited President Roh almost every two weeks.

Therefore, it's reasonable to assume that anyone would question the connection between President Roh and the candlelight vigils. Consequently, it's not surprising that Lee Min-bo targeted President Roh under these circumstances.

However, President Roh was, after all, the former head of the Blue House who had just stepped down, and his reputation for integrity during his tenure was known throughout the country. If his successor, Lee Min-bo, were to launch an investigation against President Roh without any evidence, it would inevitably give the impression of being extremely ruthless. Therefore, according to the common logic of political struggle: if you want to get rid of someone, it's best to start with those around them—a strategy of encircling the cities from the countryside—and Lee Min-bo clearly did just that.

However, Lee Min-bo was clearly too hasty. He signed a presidential decree to launch a special investigation into Lee Hae-chan, Lee Byung-wan, and Kim Byung-jun. His intentions were obvious to everyone. As a result, the release of this presidential decree instantly ignited public opinion in South Korea.

For the progressives, especially the newly reorganized Democratic Party, Lee Min-bok's presidential decree was tantamount to digging up their "foundation," because if the Blue House directly targeted President Roh in the investigation, the Democratic Party's image among the public would inevitably suffer a heavy blow.

No, to be precise, the image of the Democratic Party was already damaged the moment Lee Min-bo signed the presidential decree, since both Lee Prong-wan and Kim Byung-joon were members of the Democratic Party.

Therefore, the Democratic Party had no room to back down in the face of this presidential decree. Starting in mid-August, a "battle" began between the progressive and conservative factions in South Korean public opinion.

Starting in mid-August, the Hankyoreh newspaper published editorials almost daily, specifically criticizing Lee Min-bo for persecuting democracy and attempting to restore dictatorship in the Republic of Korea. Among the examples cited were Lee Min-bo's signing of presidential decrees to persecute progressive politicians and his "violent policies" against the three major television stations.

Since the special investigation into Kim Byung-joon and others has not yet officially begun, and the prosecution does not have evidence of dereliction of duty or bribery, the media supporting the conservatives have not directly targeted the corruption issues of the progressives. Instead, they have been praising the "civil servant integrity reform" promoted by Lee Min-bok and have been linking the presidential decree to this reform, implying that the investigation into Kim Byung-joon and others is also part of the "civil servant integrity reform".

In short, this back-and-forth war of public opinion is quite lively, but it's impossible to see who wins or loses in the short term. We'll only know who the ultimate winner is after the parliamentary elections.

Dazaodong, Enping District.

Wearing a hard hat, An Rusong walked out of the construction site material yard, his face covered in sweat. When he saw the cars parked on the road in the distance, he slowed down a little, let out a breath, and said, "Brother Shanyong, the project is still a bit slow. It would be best to ask the construction team to speed things up."

As he spoke, his gaze swept across the road ahead. Right there on the roadside, directly in the direction of the construction site, were numerous banners. Most of these banners were torn white cloths, while others were cardboard or similar materials, all bearing texts accusing the construction company of forcibly demolishing the buildings.

"Besides, haven't these land acquisition disputes been resolved yet?" He paused, then continued, "Why are these old guys still causing trouble?"

Besides the banners hanging on the road, there was a group of elderly people with red ribbons wrapped around their foreheads. There were old men and old women, and their average age looked to be over fifty. There wasn't a single young person under forty, but there were a few children with runny noses.

Two people followed An Rusong. On the left was Thomson, a lawyer who was also wearing a hard hat. He was also sensitive to heat and was holding a handkerchief in his hand. He would wipe his forehead with the handkerchief every few steps.

To his right was Liu Shanyong, who wasn't wearing a hard hat. An Rusong had come to check on the construction of the new NGN company building, and Liu Shanyong had specially put aside his work to come and accompany him.

“You don’t need to pay attention to those guys,” Liu Shanyong said with a look of disgust after hearing An Rusong’s question. “The land expropriation compensation contract was fulfilled long ago, but as you know, there are some greedy people in this world. If you give them one dollar, they want five dollars; if you give them five dollars, they want more. In short, no matter how much you give, you can’t satisfy them.”

Having said that, he pointed to the elderly people and added, "Let's put it this way: these people who are still causing trouble aren't even from Enping District, and they don't own any land here. To put it bluntly, they're just hired by others. If you compromise with them, the trouble will never end."

As he spoke, he reached into his pocket and took out his phone, dialing a number as he said, "If you don't want to see them, I'll have Shen Xiangji come over and drive them all away."

Shin Sang-gil is the person in charge of the construction here. On the surface, he is the chairman of a construction company, but in reality, he is involved in the underworld.

(End of this chapter)