Free Web NovelWithout Daehyeon Group, it was impossible to conduct business in North Korea.
The accumulated know-how Daehyeon Group had built up by reviewing numerous North Korean projects over the years was indispensable.
“However, President.”
After I finished outlining everything Daehyeon Group would be responsible for, Chairman Song Chanwoo called out to me cautiously.
His expression looked rather grave.
“My father, about that······.”
Song Chanwoo hesitated and glanced sideways at Kim Byungwoo and Lee Sanggeun.
“It’s fine. These two are completely my people. No matter what’s said here, nothing will leak outside.”
I reassured him firmly. Kim Byungwoo and Lee Sanggeun quietly nodded as well.
Only then did Song Chanwoo continue.
“What happens to the agreements my father made with the North Korean government? At the time, we agreed to proceed with Mount Kumgang tourism and various economic cooperation projects. Everything was halted when inter-Korean relations deteriorated, but······.”
During his lifetime, Chairman Song Youngju had agreed to quite a few joint projects with the North Korean government.
That had nearly caused problems at one point.
Ideally, it would be best if things proceeded according to the agreements, but······.
“They probably won’t proceed as originally promised.”
“But under the condition that those projects were approved, several hundred million dollars went to the North Korean government.”
Kim Byungwoo and Lee Sanggeun’s eyes widened slightly. They hadn’t known this.
Or rather, it seemed they were shocked that what had circulated as rumors in business circles was actually true.
And since Song Chanwoo himself, the party involved, had said it outright, it was all the more startling.
“Hm······.”
I rubbed my chin, sinking into thought.
At the time, Daehyeon Group had transferred a total of 450 million dollars to North Korea, including 100 million dollars in policy support funds, in preparation for the inter-Korean summit and economic cooperation.
They had even taken out loans from a state-run bank arranged by the government.
This was a matter that implicated both Daehyeon Group and the government.
‘Ah, come to think of it, this is around the time Chairman Song Chanwoo died.’
In my previous life, I remembered that Song Chanwoo had committed suicide by jumping from his company building while under prosecutorial investigation over the North Korea remittance issue.
In this life, there hadn’t been a prosecutorial investigation yet, but various suspicions had already been raised.
All kinds of rumors were circulating—claims that the government had given hundreds of millions of dollars to Kim Jongil for the inter-Korean summit, and that Daehyeon Group had also handed over hundreds of millions to Kim Jongil.
But this time, it hadn’t drawn much attention.
Unlike before, inter-Korean relations had sharply deteriorated, bringing all projects to a complete halt. As a result, public interest quickly drifted away from the issue.
Of course, if the President ordered it, an investigation could proceed—but Yoon Changho had no intention of doing so.
And even if he did, I was prepared to stop it.
“North Korea isn’t exactly a country that operates on common sense, is it? Even French and Chinese companies have had their money swallowed by the North Korean government—what special recourse would Daehyeon Group have?”
“This is······.”
Whether he regretted the money or the lost opportunity, Song Chanwoo let out a long sigh.
I smiled and tried to soothe him.
“Instead, you’ll be signing a new contract with Jang Songthaek. You’ll be able to carry out many of the projects Chairman Song Youngju once dreamed of. And I’ll do my best to ensure that Daehyeon Group takes the lead in Mount Kumgang tourism.”
Song Chanwoo finally gathered himself and nodded.
But he couldn’t quite hide the sigh that escaped as he continued.
“Thank you. But it’s troubling······. In addition to the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Mount Kumgang tourism, the North Korean government had agreed to grant exclusive rights to seven SOC projects. That’s why my father went so far as to give money to Kim Jongil.”
The projects over which Daehyeon Group had secured exclusivity were related to social overhead capital.
Railways, telecommunications, power—core social infrastructure construction and operation were the main goals.
But I had no intention of giving those to Daehyeon Group. I had already finished discussing that with Jang Songthaek and decided to take them for myself.
“There’s no chance Jang Songthaek would honor that, is there?”
“I’ve already finished discussing it with him. He’s entrusted North Korea’s infrastructure projects to me. In return, he’ll be handing over various other projects to Daehyeon Group, so don’t be too disappointed.”
“I understand.”
Song Chanwoo knew well that once I had secured the rights, there was no way to take them back.
He nodded in acceptance, but the regret in his voice was unmistakable.
To comfort him, I deliberately softened my tone.
“I know the Group Chairman’s dream was North Korea-related business. Daehyeon Group will be at the core of this upcoming economic cooperation with the North.”
Of course, I would be taking most of the spoils—but there would be plenty of profit for Daehyeon Group as well.
“Daehyeon Group already has all the plans for constructing the Kaesong Industrial Complex, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“And the construction period?”
“It’s planned at around two years.”
“Two years? That’s longer than I expected.”
Perhaps because Song Chanwoo had overseen North Korea-related projects since Chairman Song Youngju was alive, he answered every question promptly.
“Construction personnel deployed to Kaesong would have to return to South Korea every evening, wouldn’t they? That’s why we set a longer construction period.”
“Then if South Korean personnel could stay in Kaesong and construction continued at night, could the complex be completed within a year? The main reason Jang Songthaek is visiting Seoul is the rapid completion of the Kaesong Industrial Complex.”
Song Chanwoo paused and lowered his gaze slightly.
After a moment, as if he had sorted out his thoughts, he nodded.
“If that were possible, it wouldn’t even take a year. Daehyeon Construction’s ability to shorten construction timelines is known worldwide, isn’t it? Of course, we’d have to calculate the details separately, but it should be feasible.”
Daehyeon Construction’s reputation for fast and sturdy work was already well established. That was why I’d posed the question.
“Is that so? That’s a relief. Vice Chairman Jang Songthaek will be pleased. He’s emphasized several times that he wants the Kaesong Industrial Complex to start operating as soon as possible. If construction is completed within a year, the complex should become active quickly as well, right?”
Song Chanwoo shook his head in response.
“That will be difficult. Just selecting tenant companies would take over a year. Even previously, when the government and we worked tirelessly, we only managed to fill about half of the slots with SMEs. And after the Kaesong project was indefinitely postponed, those SMEs abandoned their plans to build factories there and instead built new ones in China.”
“Even when the government and Daehyeon Group gave it everything they had, you only filled about half?”
Now that he mentioned it, I recalled reading an article saying that fewer than half of the companies had actually moved in when the Kaesong Industrial Complex was first completed.
If I hadn’t intervened, things would probably have followed a similar course in this life as well.
“Yes. For companies, moving into North Korea—and Kaesong in particular—doesn’t create a very positive image. The government offered various tax incentives, and Daehyeon Group presented favorable conditions to its partner companies to secure tenants.”
I couldn’t help but nod.
Even if various policies were offered and inter-Korean relations improved at the time of entry, there was no guarantee it would last forever.
If relations deteriorated, companies operating in Kaesong faced the risk that the North Korean government could seize expensive machinery and materials brought in to run their factories.
“That’s also because relations with the North can’t stay good forever, I suppose.”
“That’s right. While the profits are significant, the risks are substantial as well. This time, it will probably be even harder. The Kaesong project has already fallen through once, hasn’t it? Since it’s happened before, just finding tenant companies will take quite some time.”
Unless given major incentives, most companies wouldn’t willingly move into Kaesong.
I began to worry about how to untangle this.
‘Jang Songthaek has very high expectations for the Kaesong project······. If it goes awry from the start, it’ll inevitably deal a blow to his policies as well.’
The longer I thought, the more the sound of my fingers tapping the table echoed.
After a long silence filled only with contemplation, Kim Byungwoo finally spoke.
“President, how about this?”
I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at him. Meeting my gaze, he continued.
“There’s an FKI meeting next month.”
I asked, puzzled by the sudden mention of the Federation of Korean Industries.
“Chaebol can’t move into the Kaesong Industrial Complex. So what does an FKI meeting have to do with Kaesong?”
Tenant companies in Kaesong were limited to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Because of the various tax benefits, large conglomerates had been excluded from the outset.
It was legislation enacted during the Kim Hakgwon administration, making it difficult to amend.
Kim Byungwoo nodded as if he already knew.
“I’m aware. At an FKI meeting, all the chairmen of Korea’s top twenty business groups gather. And most of their partner companies are SMEs. Didn’t Daehyeon Group also fill tenant slots back then using its partner companies? How about asking them for cooperation?”
Filling tenant slots with partner companies of top twenty conglomerates?
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As if he had guessed my thoughts, Kim Byungwoo added,
“North Korea-related business can’t be handled solely by Daehyeon and Joongwoo. It has to be carried out at the national level. I don’t know your entire plan, President, but North Korea practically has no basic infrastructure. Even where it does exist, it’s so outdated that repairs will be unavoidable. How about distributing various projects that aren’t particularly lucrative among them? Each group pushes a different core business, doesn’t it? For groups with construction companies, you can toss them a few large projects. For those without, compensate them in other ways.”
Ideally, it would be wonderful if everything could be handled by Joongwoo Group and Daehyeon Group alone.
But North Korea-related business, aside from the leased city of Nampo, was a massive undertaking requiring trillions of dollars over decades.
And that wasn’t the only issue.
“If we dropped everything else and focused solely on North Korea, it might work. But postwar reconstruction projects are just as massive as the North Korea projects.”
Joongwoo Group and Daehyeon Group were currently involved in reconstruction and development projects in Afghanistan.
On top of that, once the Iraq War ended, they would also have to take on the Iraq reconstruction projects allocated to me.
No matter how many seasoned technicians Daehyeon Construction and Joongwoo Construction had, there was still a limit.
“I’ll think about it some more. When exactly is the meeting?”
“It’s scheduled for the first of next month.”
I nodded.
“Give the detailed schedule and location to Manager Ma later. I’ll either attend in person or make arrangements.”
“Understood.”
After further organizing the projects Daehyeon Group would handle, we moved on to Joongwoo Group.
Joongwoo Group was entirely my company.
As such, it was already handling most of the largest projects on my behalf.
“Chairman Kim, you’re familiar with the Ryugyong Hotel, right?”
“You mean the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang? That half-finished hotel. Yes, I know it well. When Joongwoo Group considered acquiring the project rights, I personally reviewed it.”
“Is that so? Then you’d know better than anyone.”
“Yes. I’d dare say I know it better than even the French construction firm that originally took on the project.”
There was confidence in Kim Byungwoo’s voice. I nodded and asked,
“So what do you think of the Ryugyong Hotel?”
“······It’s complete garbage.”
It was a short, blunt verdict from Kim Byungwoo.
