Chapter 42:
Chapter 42
“Are… are you ready?”
“Yes, Comrade Secretary. But… this is unprecedented!”
Molotov looked pensive.
Even though it was my direct order, he must have been afraid to go against the line that Stalin had maintained for so long.
But… if I have to do it, I have to do it.
“Think in terms of the big picture, the big picture. If you paid any attention to history… or rather, current affairs, you would know how important that peninsula is in the Far East.”
“I’m… I’m sorry, Comrade Secretary.”
I felt sorry for Molotov, who was trembling so much.
To be honest, I didn’t have any grand plan for doing this.
Historically – or rather, in Stalin’s time, which he had lived through – Russia, a continental power, had always sought a way out to the sea.
Since the era of Peter the Great, they had built St. Petersburg to reach the Baltic Sea, and in the 19th century, they had competed with Britain in the Great Game to expand to the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Far East Pacific.
In the process, they clashed with Japan, Britain’s Far East partner, in the Russo-Japanese War.
Japan, who won the Russo-Japanese War and colonized the Korean Peninsula with the recognition of the great powers through the Katsura-Taft Agreement, eventually destroyed Joseon and trampled on the peninsula under their military boots.
“Hoo…”
I straightened my clothes and took a deep breath in front of the door of the ‘conference room’.
My heart was pounding for some reason.
I calmed my nervous mind and fingers, and opened the secret meeting room.
A cozy space appeared.
Just enough for four people to talk together.
It would have been nice if there was one more person here… but unfortunately, that proposal was rejected without a word.
There was also the influence of Jiang Jieshi’s mother-in-law, who opposed it vehemently.
“Comrades, nice to meet you!”
“Ah!”
The three people who had already arrived and were chatting with each other stood up from their seats.
Familiar but slightly younger faces.
I shook hands with them politely and bowed back.
I could tell by their expressions that they were surprised.
Ah, I must be Stalin indeed.
The people I had only seen in textbooks were alive and breathing in front of me and showing me respect.
It was a fresh shock.
“Mongyang Ye Unhyeong Comrade, Yaksan Kim Wonbong Comrade, and… Deokyeong, Deokyeong Bak Heonyeong Comrade. Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you. Was your journey not too hard? I have heard a lot about your heroic anti-imperialist and anti-fascist struggle. I am sincerely glad to meet you like this.”
They all gasped as if they were surprised.
How did I know their nicknames?
And how did I pronounce them so well?
A Soviet-born from a faraway land. ‘I’ knew it of course.
“No, Comrade Secretary. Thanks to your special care, we had a very comfortable time. But… how did you know our names like this?”
Bak Heonyeong, who spoke Russian most fluently among them, glanced at the other two and answered me.
Kim Wonbong and Ye Unhyeong probably didn’t speak Russian very well. But I couldn’t suddenly start talking in Korean without caring about others’ eyes.
I was the secretary of the Soviet Union after all.
“How can I not know those who will become the leaders of the Korean nation? Hahaha.”
Bak Heonyeong translated “the leaders of the Korean nation” for them.
And their expressions changed strangely.
Oops, did I say something wrong?
If they heard it wrong, it might sound like the Soviet Union was trying to manipulate them and make Korea their satellite state.
Ye Unhyeong teacher, who had both socialist and nationalist tendencies, might find it unpleasant to hear that.
I waved my hands and tried to smooth things over.
“The Soviet Union fully supports and helps the self-reliance and independence of the Korean people. The heroic anti-fascist struggle of the Koreans is also an inspiration to the Soviet people. We want to make liberated Korea our national partner in the future.”
“…”
Kim Gu teacher rejected this proposal outright.
He was an anti-communist and distrusted the Soviet Union until the end.
He believed that this contact was a diplomatic trick of the Soviet Union.
Jiang Jieshi’s biggest partner Zhang Xueliang also intervened.
Of course, we couldn’t do anything more on our side either.
Everyone questioned and opposed helping a hardcore anti-communist.
And there was someone else who could replace him?
Why abandon the socialist organizations that still exist in Korea?
But not everyone in the Provisional Government agreed with Kim Gu’s line.
We were able to invite Kim Wonbong, a member of the Korean Volunteer Army affiliated with the Provisional Government, to Moscow.
“But… aren’t the Soviet Union and Japan currently allied countries that have signed the Non-Aggression Pact? And, in the conflict between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in China, you have supported the Kuomintang before. Do you intend to support the Communist Party in the future?”
The former was Ye Unhyeong’s question, and the latter was Kim Wonbong’s question.
Their questions revealed their tendencies so well that I couldn’t help but smile inwardly.
“First of all… we are currently in an unavoidable alliance with Japan due to the urgent situation in Europe, but as you well know, we can never coexist with the fascists, the imperialists. By… by 1945 at the latest, we will enter the war and liberate the Far East.”
As it was in actual history, it was too much for the Soviet Union to wage war against Japan at this point.
If the Lend-Lease Pacific Route was cut off, it would have a huge impact on the production of war materials.
I understood why the independence activists and the Chinese side wanted immediate war, but I didn’t have the luxury to do that yet.
Do you think I want to prolong the suffering of our people? But the Japanese army was not yet weakened to the level of 1945 in actual history.
Moreover, the war with the United States had not started yet. It would be possible if the Soviet Union and the United States teamed up against the two powers – Germany and Japan – but it was hard for the Soviet Union to maintain a two-front war alone. The intelligence agency assessed that.
“And the second question. The relationship with China… this is very complicated.”
“It seems so.”
Bak Heonyeong chimed in.
Not only the Soviet-Chinese relations, but also the relations between Kim Wonbong and the Chinese Communist Party were quite complicated.
In the Nanchang Uprising of 1927, the Chinese Communist Party launched a rebellion without the instructions of Comintern and failed.
The CCP tried hard to commemorate this event as the founding day of the People’s Liberation Army and glorify it, but it was undoubtedly a failed uprising.
Anyway, at that time, the CCP betrayed the Koreans, and many socialists, including Kim Wonbong, were angry at their treacherous behavior.
Of course, many people were also disappointed with the line of the Provisional Government, which could not engage in armed struggle and kept retreating after following the Kuomintang.
They joined the CCP, which was conducting guerrilla warfare on the coast, in the 1940s when the Sino-Japanese War intensified.
“First of all… we are very wary of China’s apparent and potential hegemonic behavior. The Chinese Communist Party does not follow Comintern’s line and insists on its own line, showing a possibility of right-wing deviation. As for Kuomintang, there is no need to say anything. They may be our allies now against Japan’s imperialism, but don’t think they will always be like that.”
It was like that in actual history too.
A united China always wanted to expand outward and maintain their ‘heavenly order’.
Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, etc. were their victims.
The Chinese Communist Party and Kuomintang were no different in that regard.
As a Soviet secretary or a Korean,
I didn’t like China’s line.
Comintern, which advocated one country one party, did not intend to recognize any other hierarchy than Soviet Union as a homeland of all proletarians and a ‘group’ of socialist states.
“We think that Koreans are very important as a means to deter such right-wing deviation of Chinese Communist Party.”
“Hmm…”
Those who knew and those who didn’t know about future had different directions of thought.
No one would think at this point that all of China would fall into Mao Zedong and CCP’s hands in 15 years.
It might sound ridiculous to say that CCP would show reactionary behavior when they already had hegemony. But they wouldn’t dare say that in front of Stalin.
Anyway, it seemed that I had appealed that Koreans were necessary for Soviet Union to check China and Japan.
Either be swallowed up as a colony of red imperialism or be a good neighbor as they said.
That was the problem.
“We have supported and will continue to support liberation of oppressed nations more than anyone else. As Comrade Lenin said.”
I was thirsty. I gulped down water from a cup on the table. Yeah, of course you should doubt me.
Would you believe me if I told you I was a Korean college student from 80 years later?
“We hope you understand our desire for independence of Korea. You may doubt that Soviet Union wants to influence Korea. No, you can doubt it.”
My throat was dry.
I drank water from a cup on the table.
Yeah, of course you should doubt me.
Would you believe me if I told you I was a Korean college student from 80 years later?
“We want to have thirty million people of Korea as our dear neighbors. It is better to have thirty million friendly neighbors than thirty million resentful people. Isn’t that what an independence activist from Korea said?”
By now, all three seemed genuinely surprised.
I don’t know where I heard it from, but maybe they would trust me a little more if I used it like this.
Bak Heonyeong was a pure-blooded internationalist and socialist, so he would follow me completely, but it seemed to be quite persuasive to Ye Unhyeong and Kim Wonbong.
“We have Vladivostok in the Maritime Province, so we can reach the Pacific. Japan will soon start a war with the United States and cause a war in the Pacific.
We, Soviet Union, plan to divide and occupy Japan with the United States. We don’t need to swallow Korea. We just want… Korea to lean more towards us between divided China and Japan.”
Once again, all three seemed shocked. The Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941 was not far away.
The madness of Japan that would drag East Asia into the madness of the Pacific War was hard to predict even for the perpetrator, let alone China and Japan being divided.
That was the plan that Soviet Union had.
To divide China and Japan and make them the front line of a possible confrontation in the future.
In the process, Korea was a heavy weight that could sway both ways.
Actually, I just emphasized this point because it was my hometown, my country.
“We have supported and will continue to support liberation of oppressed nations more than anyone else. As Comrade Lenin said.”
“Thank you!”
Bak Heonyeong bowed his head deeply to me first.
I bowed back and saw tears welling up in his eyes.
He must have felt Soviet Union as a light of salvation, who had been hiding in some mountain valley and trying to rebuild the party organization under the harsh oppression of Japan.
The other two seemed similar, but they were suspicious of the too good conditions.
“You can doubt us, as I said before. But please accept the ‘gifts’ we give for the Korean people. First of all… Comrade Kim Wonbong!”
“Yes?!”
As I tapped the table, my secretary came in with a swoosh.
He was holding three envelopes.
Each envelope had one of their names written on it.
I handed out the envelopes to each of them.
“First of all… Comrade Kim Wonbong. We have prepared funds and supplies for the Korean Volunteer Army, who are fighting with arms. The envelope contains the amount of funds and supplies we want to support, and how to contact us. The support will be done through the Mongolian Republic.”
Kim Wonbong’s eyes widened.
Even if Soviet-made weapons were crappy, they were different from Chinese-made ones, especially those made by hand by them.
He took out the list with trembling hands and saw all kinds of vehicles, guns, and military supplies written on it.
A thousand new assault rifles made by Kalashnikov and hundreds of thousands of bullets, thousands of anti-tank rocket launchers and 500 armored vehicles.
There were probably hundreds of trucks waiting for my order near the Mongolian border.
“Also, if you want, you can train the Korean Volunteer Army with the support from the Far East Military District. About… 5,000 people? Wouldn’t it be better to have 5,000 tank soldiers or 5,000 pilots than 5,000 infantrymen? It doesn’t matter if they are not socialists, just organize a Korean army and participate in the liberation operations in Manchuria and Korea. We will take care of all the support.”
The division of our nation was partly due to our failure to achieve independence by ourselves.
France had the Free French Army liberate Paris by themselves, but we got independence when Japan surrendered unconditionally because of the US atomic bomb. We had no choice but to obey them.
But what if we took the lead in liberating Manchuria and Korea as a vanguard?
We could establish an independent regime that could speak for ourselves.
Kim Wonbong nodded vigorously.
Jiang Jieshi or Mao Zedong did not want an independent ‘faction’ under them.
The Korean units had to always be checked and watched by them.
He had never dreamed of such a scale of support.
The Korean Volunteer Army members who left the Provisional Government that couldn’t even go near armed struggle and went to the coast would probably come this way if Soviet Union gave such support. Or we could pressure CCP if not.
What if we deployed 5,000 people or 8,000 people at their peak to the Chinese front where there were not many decent tanks? If we armed a Korean tank division with T-34/85 or Object 240 medium tanks that we produced by thousands, they would be no match for even the elite units of the Japanese army.
A Korean tank division flying the Taegeukgi would enter Seoul proudly and receive Japan’s surrender from the Governor-General’s Office and liberate Seoul!
Kim Wonbong seemed moved by such a plan.
“For Comrade Ye Unhyeong and Comrade Bak Heonyeong… we will give you funds to operate your organization and a route to send students abroad. Comrade Ye Unhyeong, I know that even Japanese respect you. In case of emergency, after Soviet Union occupies Japan, how about creating a ‘Preparatory Committee for Independence’ to take over the administrative system from the Governor-General’s Office? You can cooperate with nationalists or conservatives in Korea for this purpose. You can do as you wish in that regard.”
“Comrade Bak Heonyeong, I want you to regroup your comrades in Korea and gather socialists from Japan and Manchuria to form an organization that covers all of Japan’s imperial territories. They will play a central role in launching a revolution after Japan’s collapse.”
You would need a lot of money for that. Quite a lot.
And thanks to a secret project that succeeded recently, we had a lot of money. And when I say a lot as Soviet secretary, it’s so much that most people would flip their eyes when they see it.
They looked at the amount written on it with their eyes wide open.
I smiled involuntarily as I saw them.
I suppressed my urge to shout out loud.
Long live Korean independence!
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