21st century Goguryeo

Chapter 323

September 20th, 2023, 09:30

The North State, Hamkyung-do Wonsan-si, Galma Villa

A week had passed since Kim Jong-un, the ex-supreme leader of North Korea, came to the villa. Numerous reporters from different press agencies quarreled with the military police guarding the facilities in an attempt to capture Kim Jong-un on camera. However, security was heightened and the area within a 3km radius of the villa had been set as a no-fly zone despite Wonsan Airport being only 6.5km away.

Today was the first day Kim Jong-un was allowed to have visitors, so the military police and security guards were on edge controlling the press and citizens gathered around the area.

The visitors approved by Kim Jong-un from the list of thousands were allowed to pass through after a thorough security check. Kim Hyung-won, the previous chairman of the People’s Party in North Korea, was scheduled to visit him at 10:00 am that day.

Now, he was an old man in his 70s, the chairman of the People’s Labor Party and a senator of Corea.

After going through a three-stage retina, fingerprint, and face scan, Kim Hyung-won was able to enter the guest room. When he saw Kim Jong-un, he bowed politely as if he was still the supreme leader.

“Welcome. It’s been a long time. You look well.”

“I am grateful to see you once again. Are you in good health?”

Kim Hyun-won, who bowed so low that his head seemed to touch the ground, got back up and did not move. Kim Jong-un walked up to him and shook his hand.

“Hey, I’m no longer the supreme leader, there’s no need for that. The South Koreans will be suspicious otherwise,” Kim Jong-un shook his hand while joking.

“I knew you would come back to us.”

“Is that so? I guess I woke up thanks to you, comrade Kim Hyung-won. You’re now a senator of South Korea, correct?”

“Yes, I am!”

Kim Hyung-won was from Hamkyungbook-do Hyesan and used a particular dialect while speaking to Kim Jong-un. He still acted as if he was speaking to the supreme leader.

As they exchanged pleasantries and drank tea, Kim Hyung-won put down the teacup and started to use his smartphone.

“What are you doing?” Kim Jong-un asked while pointing at the smartphone.

“There’s no need to worry! It’s an anti-bugging device.”

“Bugging? What secrets do you need to tell me for you to use such devices?”

“Comrade Kim Jong-un! What I am about to tell you is very important!”

Kim Hyung-won attempted to maintain a bright expression on his face in case of hidden cameras. However, his tone was very serious.

“Well, let’s hear it.” Kim Jong-un raised his right hand and waved at Kim Hyung-won to speak.

Kim Hyung-won checked the graph on his smartphone to see if the anti-bugging software was working correctly and continued, “Before I came here, I spoke to Russia...”

Two days before his visit here, Kim Hyung-won had met with a Russian SVR (Foreign Intelligence Agency) agent disguised as a Russian embassy staff member. The meeting was two hours long, and the smartphone with the anti-bugging tech was also from the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Agency).

Senator Kim Hyung-won’s face was stiff as he traveled back to Pyeong-yang in his personal car after his 2-hour long meeting with Kim Jong-un. There was no way to tell what they had discussed due to the anti-bugging device, but it was certainly bad news for unified Corea. There was a black van following his car 100m away.

* * *

September 23rd, 2023, 20:30 (Iran Standard Time 15:00)

The Tehran Sa’dabad Complex (guest room)

After Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei, the leader of the entire political sphere in Iran, passed away in May 2019 at the age of 80, political war between the progressive and conservative parties broke out.

The progressive party under President Hassan Rouhani wanted to put Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatullah Sayyid Imam Ruhallah, ‘the father of the Iranian revolution’ as the next candidate for the presidency.

Meanwhile, the conservatives feared a progressive leader of Iran would increase the influence America had over Iran and cause the national identity of the Shiite Muslim nation to be shaken. Also, the second leader, Ayatullah Sayyid Imam Ruhallah, had always supported the conservative party. Therefore, it nominated the second son, Mustafa Ruhallah, as the next candidate. The political struggle for power for the position of the supreme leader of Iran ended with the conservative party being victorious. There were two reasons for their victory.

First, the members of the national leader’s assembly were mostly conservative, and second, the existence of the revolutionary guards. The revolutionary guards were the personal soldiers of the supreme leader and it consisted of over 130,000 men including army, navy, air force, and special forces. Unlike their original purpose of maintaining the peace, they were abused during the election to pressure the opposing parties.

As a result, Mustafa Ruhallah from the conservative party was elected to become the third supreme leader of Iran, and on June 13th, 2021, another conservative, Avolhassan Rajahi, was elected. When the U.S. sustained heavy damages in 2021 after the war against Corea, it stopped aiding the progressive party, and its influence within the nation was reduced. The party eventually collapsed.

Iran had gone through numerous political changes and was now full of alt-right conservatives. When the Republic of Kurdistan declared its independence and claimed some of Iran’s territory as their own, the citizens of Iran were full of rage. The national sentiment was like a powder keg about to go off. However, the newly emerged power, Corea, had supported the republic’s independence and started to aid them financially and send over military aid as well. The Iranian government quelled its citizen’s anger and used the Basij militia to attack the borders along the Republic of Kurdistan.

*Basij militia: The organization started after Iran hired multiple mercenary groups during the war against Iraq. After their feats during the war, the nation founded a militia and used them as reserve forces. There were over 1.5 million soldiers within the militia.

The Iranian government feared the Corean military power that had fought a war against the U.S., the world’s military power, China, which ranked 3rd, and Japan, which ranked 8th, simultaneously and won.

President Abra Evren of Turkey had made a shocking national address and now, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the other Middle Eastern nations were surprised by it as well.

Every nation within the Middle East and others around the world were shocked by Turkey’s declaration to support the Kurdish declaration of independence despite it being the nation that was the most oppressive to them. The fact that Turkey also would hand off part of its territory to the Republic of Kurdistan was also shocking as well. Every news channel across the world had carefully speculated that Corean diplomacy affected the nation’s decision.

As time went on, the political outlook of the Iranian government looked worse. However, it wasn’t as if the government could ignore the national sentiment and the complaints coming from within its political sphere. If the anger of the Iranian people were left unchecked, then it could lead to another Iranian revolution that had already happened in 1979. When the Iranian government had their hands tied, a savior arrived. It was Russia.

Two days ago, the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Agency) agent who landed in Iran extended an unexpected offer to the Iranian government. The agent said Russia would provide the latest weapons to Iran if the government would stop the independence of the Republic of Kurdistan. Also, Russia would continue military activity along the Manchurian states so that Corea could not deploy reinforcements to the Middle East.

Russia’s offer to Iran seemed like a rainstorm in the middle of a drought. If Russia’s latest weapons could be used by the Iranian military, then they might have a fighting chance against the Corean peace-keeping forces inside the Republic of Kurdistan. The Corean peace-keeping forces’ combat units only consisted of two mechanized infantry brigades and one marine mobile brigade. As a result, Iran would only have to face off against three brigades in battle.

“These are the lists of weapons Russia will provide for the Iranian government.”

Director Bahid Jahanbakhsh from the MOIS (Ministry of Intelligence and Security) met with the Russian agent himself and read over the documents one by one before handing them to president Avolhassan Rajahi.

“Hmm, it’s hard to believe Russia would provide us with weapons free of charge.” President Avolhassan Rajahi shook his head after seeing the unexpectedly large volume of weapons being offered to the nation.

“Minister Ansari, please take a look at this and give me an answer. Do you think it would be enough to win the war against the Corean forces?”

“Yes, sir. This would be more than sufficient,” Minister of Defense Hamed Ansari answered the president and started to slowly read over the documents. After some time passed, Minister Hamed Ansari closed the documents and his face seemed optimistic. “Based on this list I think we will have a chance to be victorious, provided Russia gives the weapons.”

“Truly?”

“Yes, that’s right. If Corea does not send any additional troops.”

“Didn’t Russia already promise us they will handle that? They will prevent Corea from sending reinforcements to the Republic of Kurdistan.”

“Isn’t that hard to guarantee, sir?”

“If we start worrying about that, then we cannot resolve the issue. I would like you to notify the military commanders to establish a strategy to reclaim the western regions near our border with the assumption we have received the weapons from Russia.”

“Yes, sir. Right away.”

* * * action

September 24th, 2023, 18:50

The North State, Hamkyung-do, Wonsan-si, Galma Villa

Kim Jong-un started his day at the terrace being greeted by the cool fall breeze from the sea and ended the day by watching the sunset along the Nangrim mountains. He would spend his morning and nights at the terrace every single day.

Kim Jong-un met three visitors from the list and looked at the sunset while leaning on the wooden fence at the terrace made out of high-quality wood.

“The sunset is quite beautiful! It just makes me sad that it resembles how I am!” Kim Jong-un muttered to himself after seeing the setting sun at the horizon that reminded him of his status.

Soon, the sun set behind the mountains and it became dark. Kim Jong-un finished his glass of wine and turned on the TV in the living room.

The 62-inch TV lit up and the news channel started to report about him. Kim Jong-un sat on the sofa and muttered to himself after changing the channel, “I can’t believe they don’t get tired of talking about me. Why are they so interested?”

Kim Jong-un flipped through hundreds of channels, but none of them seemed to have caught his interest, so he flopped down to the sofa after tossing the remote onto the table. Then, he recounted the conversation he had had with his visitors earlier that day.

He had met with over 20 visitors. Among them were the senator and chairman of the People’s Labor Party, Kim Hyung-won, the governor of the South Manchurian State, Kim Chun-won, and ex-director of the Reconnaissance General Bureau who had risen to the ranks after gaining his favor. Kim Jong-un recounted the conversation he had with these men while sinking into thought.