Korean TV series: King of Peninsula 1997

Chapter 640 Breaking the Road
The politicians who caused the chaos began to disappear.

Cho Tae-seop and Park Geum-sun found a balance point on the issue between the Grand Unified Democratic Party and the Grand National Party, and the two sides reached a consensus.

But it is not so easy for the people who support them to reach a consensus. The supporters of both sides can be regarded as their "vote bank". These voters who will vote for the Grand Unified Democratic New Party and the Grand National Party firmly believe in the political ideas of both sides. They are even more tit-for-tat and divided into two factions confronting each other outside Gwanghwamun.

In this case, even if the top leaders have reached a consensus, it cannot be made public.

Otherwise, wouldn't it be like 'I wanted to fight to the death, but Your Majesty surrendered first', which would be driving away one's own supporters.

In addition, media practitioners whose interests will suffer greatly after the passage of the amendments have joined in to fan the flames, making it possible for quarrels and throwing eggs and vegetables at each other across Gwanghwamun to happen at any time.

If it weren't for the large number of police officers holding hands and trying to maintain order, a large-scale fight would have started long ago.

Under such circumstances, no one cared about Roh Moo-hyun's little affair, and the prosecution successfully passed the case. In the end, the case was closed quietly on the grounds that Park Won-chil had made groundless accusations and that the two parties actually had an agreement to borrow money.

Not everyone was fine. Lu Wuxuan's brother Lu Jianping really accepted bribes. Lu Wuxuan ignored this elder brother who always caused trouble for him, meaning that he should go to jail and Li You didn't need to worry about it anymore.

"President Li," Lu Wuxuan came to visit Li You. After the two entered the study, Lu Wuxuan bowed deeply, "Your help to me, Wuxuan will remember it in his heart."

"Minister Lu, you don't have to be so polite," Li You asked him to sit down, and the two drank tea in Li You's study. "The past is the past, and now we should work together to deal with those guys with wolfish ambitions."

"I believe Minister Lu is now clear about what Cho Tae-seop wants to do."

Li You smiled and said, "I had a good relationship with him before, and I knew his ability better. After all, he was just a member of the Grand National Party at that time. What about now?"

Roh Moo-hyun said in a deep voice: "Jo Tae-seop will not succeed."

Li You laughed and said, "What's wrong? Minister Lu refuses to admit defeat?"

"I'm not dissatisfied," Roh Wu-hyun paused, "If it weren't for Chairman Li, my political career might have ended here. He is indeed a very capable person."

“But what he wanted to do was something that was even less acceptable to the people.”

"Compared to the chaebols secretly controlling the country through money," Roh Moo-hyun said frankly: "Politicians control money through power and then control the country."

"That would create a new President Park."

“What if Cho Tae-sub can reshape the country?”

"What if?" Roh Moo-hyun shook his head. "Chairman Lee, the word 'what if' should not appear in politics. No one should take the country and all the citizens to be a crazy gambler."

Not long after, Wen Zaiyin also rushed over. It was the first time that the three of them were in the same room together.

Li You continued to talk about the attack on Zhao Taixie, "Chairman Jin of Tianxia Group cooperated with me tacitly before and destroyed DH Financial Holdings, which was gradually becoming self-sufficient for Zhao Taixie, but we can no longer count on him after that."

Lee Woo told the two of them, “Kim Gun-young’s purpose was only to cut off Cho Tae-seop’s claws that shouldn’t have been extended, and he had no intention of chopping off his head.”

"He will have to continue to use Cho Tae-seop's current political power," Moon Jae-yoon nodded and praised Cho Tae-seop, "He is indeed an outstanding politician. In just over a year, he has gone from an ordinary congressman to the leader of the largest opposition party, and it seems that he has consolidated his power."

"It's not that stable," Li You poured him a cup of tea, "Didn't you tell Councillor Wen about Zhang Shuozhou last time? How's the contact going?"

"Yes," Wen Zaiyin took the teacup with both hands, "I came here just in time to talk to President Li about this matter."

"Looking at Zhang Shuozhou's attitude, he can indeed be brought to our side," Wen Zaiyin frowned slightly, "but the problem is that this person is ambitious and I'm afraid he is not a politician who will yield to others."

"If I want him to abandon the Grand Unified Democratic New Party, I'm afraid I'll have to pay an unknown price," Moon Jae-yoon paused for a moment, "I'm afraid I won't be able to keep my position as party leader."

"There's no need to unite them," said Roh Moo-hyun, a politician with more experience than Moon Jae-yoon. Although he has a stubborn temper, he still has the necessary political wisdom. "We can just adopt the old way of uniting them."

"He will take his people out to form a separate party, and then join forces with you in Congress. As a result, you will be able to control some power in Congress."

"Tempt him to form a new party with his congressmen." Wen Zaiyin frowned and thought for a while. After a while, he looked at Li You, "But if that happens, I'm afraid Chairman Li will have to pay for it."

"This guy is a guy who won't release the eagle until he sees the rabbit."

"It's just a little money," Li You shrugged. "Shouldn't Councillor Wen also give up some of his political interests to him?"

"After what happened this year, the GUP still has 107 members, including 54 reformists," Moon Jae-yoon recalled the data, "but the number of members who have left the GUP is still increasing, and the same is true for the Grand National Party."

"Our People's Power Party also absorbed some of the resigned members and occupied nearly 40 seats," Moon Jae-yoon certainly would not deny that he benefited from the two-party struggle, "but I don't know how many reformist members of the Grand Unified Democratic Party were able to follow Zhang Shuozhou to break away and form a new party. I met with him several times, but I couldn't find out at all. He is very tight-lipped."

"All the legislators have to focus on the future and their own interests. I'm afraid only half of them will follow Zhang Shuozhou," Roh Wuxuan said, "otherwise, politics will just become a game of playing house."

"Half is not a small number," Li You calculated the numbers. "If he can bring half of the people to form a coalition with the People's Power Party, then you will be able to have nearly 70 seats in the National Assembly, which is not much different from the weakened Grand Unified Democratic Party."

"If he can really pull together such a group of people to become independent, it will have a huge impact on Cho Tae-seop," Li You said with a smile, "But Jang Seok-joo is obviously waiting for a good price. He does have influence within the Grand Unified Democratic Party."

"It will definitely not be possible for Zhang Shuozhou to do this in a short time. At least it will take until next year to deal another blow to Zhao Taixie's reputation. Only then will there be a chance to use this to divide the Grand Unified Democratic New Party and split Zhao Taixie's power."

“There’s still a lot we can do in the meantime.”

When they saw Li You looking at them, Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-yoon knew that the main event was about to begin.

The two men also knew that their ideas were completely incompatible with Li You. The reason they were standing together now was, first, to deal with Zhao Taixie and Daying Group together, and second, to repay this big favor.

Now Li You is going to tell them what they need to do, and they naturally have to cooperate.

"Minister Lu, what is the specific situation of the mess in Daying Ocean?" Li You asked. "Does the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries have more accurate information?"

"What are the specific circumstances?" Lu Wuxuan said with a wry smile, "There are too many circumstances."

A stable and healthy company normally doesn't have many problems, but a company on the verge of collapse has many problems. "Daying Ocean is still the seventh largest container shipping company in the world, but it is in debt and losing money," Roh Moo-hyun told Li You some news that could not be made public.

These news were blocked by the senior officials of Daying Ocean and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, and their release would inevitably cause panic.

"If we continue to drag on like this," Roh Moo-hyun sighed, "it will definitely take some time before bankruptcy, but the total debt before bankruptcy may reach 6 trillion won."

"Previously, most of the capital injections from the government and banks were used to help Daying Ocean break even, but unfortunately," Lu Wuxuan shook his head. "The financial crisis has made it very difficult for the government and banks, and some of them can't take care of it. Creditors such as the Industrial Bank have decided to stop injecting capital next year, which is next month. This may directly lead to a break in Daying Ocean's cash flow."

From Li You's perspective, the current situation in Daying Ocean is even more serious than Hanjin Shipping in the Korean Peninsula in his previous life.

After the founder of Hanjin Group died in 2002, his four sons split the group due to a dispute over inheritance distribution. Although the son who inherited Hanjin Shipping was isolated and helpless and lost the resource coordination within the group, at least he would not be targeted by the other three.

The current bad situation of Daying Ocean is not only due to Zhu Mengyuan's poor management, but also closely related to Zhu Mengyong who inherited Daying Group.

Other people's four sons were fighting for the family business, but the rest of the businesses of Daying Group were all inherited by Zhu Mengyong, and they were all used to "take care of" Zhu Mengyuan.

"It's such a hassle," Li You shook his head. Before he could reach out his hand, Wen Zaiyin quickly changed the tea and added more tea to Li You's cup.

"The situation of Daying Ocean will continue to deteriorate in the next two years," Li You narrowed his eyes and deliberately asked, "If Minister Lu continues to drag it out, can we maintain the status quo and avoid bankruptcy or being acquired by Daying Group and Tianxia Group?"

Li You didn't think of dragging it on any longer. Time had passed long enough and it was time to move on to the next step, but he still had to try Lu Wuxuan's idea.

Lu Wuxuan frowned tightly. He certainly didn't want Daying Ocean to be acquired and the two groups to grow stronger again. But if it wasn't acquired...
If the Daeyoung Ocean really explodes, the Korean Peninsula's strategy of becoming a "maritime power" will suffer a huge setback.
"After this year, due to the impact of the financial crisis, global trade growth will definitely slow down, and shipping demand will continue to be weak," Roh Moo-hyun told Lee Woo frankly: "There are many shipping companies, and due to the reduction in demand, industry competition will definitely intensify."

“If this delays the Republic of Korea’s shipping industry, I will not be able to face the people.”

Wen Zaiyin looked a little anxious, but Li You was used to it. This was the way this kind of people were.

"But hasn't Minister Lu been obstructing their acquisition of Daying Ocean?" Li You chuckled. "Now you're telling me that you actually support their acquisition?"

"Not really," Lu Wuxuan said with some shame, "In fact, at this time, it is best to cut the Gordian knot quickly to avoid bigger problems in the future, but I have always been hesitant and entangled between fighting against the chaebol and letting the chaebol acquire Daying Ocean."

This is also what people on the Korean Peninsula are worried about. They want to avoid chaebols controlling too many people's livelihood enterprises and being unable to give them up, but they also cannot break away from the chaebols' financial support.

Li You waved his hand. "Minister Lu is a good official who cares about the country and the people. After all, this matter is related to the national economy and the people's livelihood. It's great that you didn't hide your thoughts and ideas and dared to speak the truth."

"It was only after I took office at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries that I realized how big the trouble was," Roh Wu-hyun said with a wry smile. "President Li, you are too kind. I have not been able to do anything. Instead, I have been procrastinating and the situation in Daying Ocean has continued to deteriorate."

"But at least it didn't go bankrupt during the financial crisis, ruining tens of thousands of families."

After listening to Li You's words, Lu Wuxuan finally understood what a smart person was. He even began to feel that he had made some contribution.

"This is what Tianxia Group is doing, and it is also an important reason why Daying Ocean can survive for now," Li You pushed a document to Lu Wuxuan and Wen Zaiyin.

The above content is very simple, it is the acquisition of Daying Marine Industry by Tianxia Group.

"Daying Ocean has secretly started selling out their fleet, container terminals, and shipyards behind the backs of banks and the government?"

"At present, many of the ownerships are already owned by Tianxia Group, but Daying Ocean is just holding and operating on its behalf."

Lu Wuxuan's eyes widened, "If they do this, Daying Ocean will only be destroyed faster!"

Acquiring an industry and acquiring Daying Ocean are two different things.

The more an industry is sold, the lower its value becomes until it goes bankrupt.

After looking at this confidential document, Lu Wuxuan finally realized what shameless meant.

If Zhu Mengyuan continues to sell things secretly like this, Daying Ocean will become an empty shell in a year or two, and all the valuable things inside will be sold out. Zhu Mengyuan and the management will make a fortune, but all the employees under them will suffer.

"No wonder Daying Group is so eager to cooperate with Zhao Taixie to get me out of office. It turns out that the competition between them has become so fierce."

As he was talking, Lu Wuxuan realized that Li You might have already known what he said before, and he was just testing whether he knew about what he had just said.

"Otherwise, why is Zhu Mengyong so anxious? Because Zhu Mengyuan is colluding with Tianxia Group to dig out the roots of Daying Haiyang," Li You sneered.

"The shipping industry is something that is highly valued across the Korean Peninsula. So, in this situation, what do you think we should do, Minister Noh?"

Lu Wuxuan was silent for a while, "Let Daying Group start the acquisition process."

"But there is a prerequisite before the acquisition," Li You raised his eyebrows.

“Daying Ocean needs to file for bankruptcy in court first,” Moon Jae-yoon whispered.

"But why?" Lu Wuxuan was puzzled, "Aren't we going to join forces to deal with Daying Group and Zhao Taixie?"

"No, no, no," Li You shook his head, "I want to deal with Zhao Taixie"

"As for Daying Ocean? There is no rush."

"Zhu Mengyong must be unhappy that Zhao Taixie failed to bring you down with the bribery case and let Daying Group acquire Daying Ocean," Li You spread his hands. "If you let go of the matter of Daying Ocean, I will go and 'lobby' him again, and Zhu Mengyong will naturally give up Zhao Taixie, the 'new ally'."

After Zhao Taixie was plotted against by Li You and Jin Jianying, he was forced to obey Jin Jianying, so he found another way and helped Zhu Mengyong acquire Daying Ocean in order to gain the support of Daying Group. He wanted to find a balance between Daying Group and Tianxia Group to avoid being arbitrarily driven by either party.

Li You wanted to cut off his path again.

(End of this chapter)