America: My Time

Chapter 1120 The Problem with the Koreans

Chapter 1110 The Problem with the Koreans

"Do you think John will really keep his promise, remain neutral, and choose to leave the United States?" The president of the White House was getting a little nervous as John had not yet left the United States. Summer had arrived, and John still hadn't left, which made him uneasy.

"Probably. I heard that John is currently discussing the listing of many companies with Morgan. He won't leave until all of this is completed. After all, no matter how important the election is, it's not as important as this guy's own interests. This involves the listing arrangements of many companies, so he naturally has to make full preparations."

"I heard that Morgan hosted a Wall Street cocktail party, which John attended, and pledged to continue releasing shares in those tech companies until 2000. Also, the Y2K problem has been solved by Dreamworld, and they are accelerating the upgrade of their personal computers. I heard that Dreamworld, Nvidia, and ASUS have decided not to upgrade their older low-end personal computers because the hardware cannot support this upgrade! This news came from Wall Street, and this upgrade started with these financial institutions on Wall Street."

"Those guys on Wall Street have already started the upgrade process. Major exchanges have already taken action, and I heard that they will complete this upgrade soon."

Regarding the Y2K problem, Dreamworld, Nvidia, and ASUS were well-prepared and had found sufficient reasons. Europeans have always been resistant to upgrading their personal computers, and even the development of internet cafe alliances in Europe has been affected. This time, not only these three companies made such a decision, but other Silicon Valley giants were also willing to cooperate because they all knew how amazing the profits were behind it. This was forcing those Europeans to upgrade their computers.

Either you solve it yourself, or you accept this explanation and upgrade your personal and enterprise computers. With such huge profits at stake, the US tech giants and Silicon Valley giants naturally cooperated tacitly. No one dared to cause trouble; anyone who did would be courting disaster.

Driven by enormous profits, these American companies acted in perfect unison, leaving the Europeans speechless and forcing businesses worldwide that needed computers to accept their terms. This is why the market capitalization of Dreamworld and Nvidia has skyrocketed, as has that of ASUS.

Two thousand years ago, all computers were supposed to be upgraded to solve the Y2K threat. This excuse was so good that even if the Europeans knew it was a conspiracy by American computer companies, they had no choice but to accept it, since they had no way to solve the problem themselves.

Just as these guys were discussing amongst themselves, someone burst in and brought them the long-awaited news: John had left the United States and was heading to South Korea. This time, John needed to accelerate his plans in South Korea, and many things there needed to be completed quickly, otherwise problems would arise.

In comparison, things are much simpler in Japan. After all, John's network in Japan is much deeper than in South Korea, so there won't be any problems. But it's different in South Korea, because those guys are always very arrogant, and John is worried that something might go wrong.

So many assets need to be mortgaged for investment, especially in Russia and the undersea oil pipeline project, which need to be completed quickly and require loans. Not to mention the even more loans needed for development, which would amount to an astonishing figure.

Now, both Japan and South Korea need massive amounts of energy, all of which can be obtained from John's Sakhalin Island in Russia, or from the oil pipelines that Asian energy is currently constructing. It's just that it's easier to negotiate with Japan, but those bastards in South Korea are always self-righteous and arrogant, always wanting more benefits.

It was precisely because of the ignorance and stupidity of the Koreans that John's plan was affected, forcing John to go to the Koreans to discuss everything with them, complete his own scheme, and fulfill his own plan.

"John always goes to Japan or China when he leaves the US, so why is he heading to South Korea first this time? Could it be that his investment there has run into problems?" Upon learning of John's itinerary, the White House staff immediately felt suspicious and suspected something was amiss!

"It's true that there's a problem with the investment over there. I don't know what those Koreans are thinking, they've been dragging their feet on the Sakhalin oil pipeline project. Japan has already started taking action and has even set more rules, but those Koreans are just being petty, thinking their market potential is huge and insisting on getting more profit, forcing John to personally go there to negotiate with them." "These guys are incredibly stupid, dragging their feet on such a good thing. If they really anger John, he'll just abandon the cooperation with them. You know, John also has cooperation with China, and China's huge population is something the Koreans can't compare to."

"Isn't this the usual reaction from the Koreans? There's nothing surprising about it. It would be shocking if they didn't do this. But is John's plan really that crazy, to launch operations simultaneously in Japan, Korea, and China?"

"It's truly astonishing, and they've already begun taking action, especially the Chinese—their speed is incredible, and so is Japan's. Only the Koreans are still dragging their feet, showing no signs of even starting. How can this not make that little fox John anxious? If the Koreans insist on their course, this cooperation might come to an end. John's Asian Energy can't hold back any longer!"

It has to be said that the White House's information is indeed impressive. Asian Energy, after repeated unsuccessful negotiations with the Koreans, is indeed considering giving up, unwilling to waste any more energy on these guys. However, John doesn't see it that way. There are considerable interests at stake with the Koreans, and now that there's an opportunity to carve out a piece of that fat, how could John possibly let it pass? Although these guys are extremely arrogant, John won't give up those enormous profits because of that!

A bunch of arrogant and foolish guys also want to get more benefits from John. It can only be said that these guys are overthinking it. Given their own situation, they are not qualified to fight against John at all. Soon the oil pipeline on the other side of Japan will be completed. If the Koreans give up, it will be a disaster for them.

"Tell me, what's going on here? Those guys are crazy to refuse such a good thing. Negotiations have already started, and China and Japan have already started construction, but they haven't even finished negotiating here!" John couldn't help but ask when he saw Lee Boo-jin, the eldest princess of Samsung. John had never interfered much in the affairs of the Koreans, but the current situation was making him unable to contain his anger.

“Someone is deliberately causing trouble, always making ridiculous demands, always trying to get more benefits. I don’t know where these guys get their confidence. However, this isn’t just an official problem; some conglomerates are also involved. Those guys all want to get more shares in the pipeline companies in South Korea.” Lee Boo-jin sighed as she said this. Although she wasn’t in South Korea most of the time, she was very familiar with the situation there because Samsung was also vying for a share of the profits. Everyone knows how amazing the benefits of oil pipelines are, so naturally everyone wants to get more!

"These guys have problems and ideas, let them solve them themselves. There can be no change to Asia Energy's shareholding. Don't they even understand that?" John was furious when he heard this. What kind of nonsense was this?!

"It's because they want to reduce Asia Energy's shareholding and take a larger stake that the negotiations have stalled!" Lee Boo-jin sighed as she spoke. If it were easy to resolve, there would have been a result long ago, instead of dragging on until now. Asia Energy has now cancelled its negotiations with the Koreans, which is why things have come to this.

Asian Energy has indeed made it very clear that if there are no results, they will give up. John has also received a report from Asian Energy on this point. It is precisely because of this that he had no choice but to step in. If things continue to escalate, his plan will fail, since he doesn't have much time left.

"How much of a stake do those guys want to leave for Asian Energy?"

When John asked her question, Lee Boo-jin's expression changed slightly, and then she sighed, "Thirty percent, that's their bottom line. No matter how much I try to persuade them, it's no use. Those guys are determined to give us that price!"

"Heh, how laughable. What right do they have to negotiate with me? Do they really think Asia Energy is obligated to cooperate with them and build this oil pipeline? A 50% stake is non-negotiable. If they don't agree, then give up. I don't have time to get entangled with them, and Asia Energy doesn't have that much time and energy to waste on them. With China's huge market, it's perfectly capable of absorbing the energy from Sakhalin Island, not to mention the huge market of Japan. If they keep making trouble, it's better to give up, lest you find yourself in the middle, facing difficulties from all sides!" As he said this, a faint sneer appeared on John's face. These guys were still using Lee Boo-jin's identity; otherwise, things wouldn't have turned out this way!

(End of this chapter)