“Hello, Prime Minister.”
A meeting arranged at the Prime Minister’s Office safe house.
Meilin greeted Lee Chanho with a bright smile.
“It’s been a while, Ms. Meilin.”
Lee Chanho welcomed her with a generous smile as well.
The atmosphere was not bad. Drawing closer to Japan had been a difficult decision for the Blue House, but fortunately, public opinion had not reacted poorly. Thanks to that, they had been able to avoid the nightmare of the progressives splitting in two yet again.
“You must be very busy these days.”
“Yes, well, that’s how things turned out.”
“Are the tariff negotiations going well?”
“I’m not sure. It’s been a few days since the delegation went to the United States, but all we’re hearing is bad news. It seems this won’t be an easy problem to resolve.”
Putting out the immediate fire did not mean every problem had been solved.
The reason public sentiment was less sensitive about historical issues right now was because of their future livelihoods, but the report card for negotiations with the United States was not exactly looking good.
“Why on earth is America acting like that... I truly can’t understand it.”
“Perhaps they’re giving China, Korea, and Japan a good opportunity? Hoho.”
“An opportunity?”
“Now that Korea has restored its relationship with Japan, I hope its relationship with China improves as well. As a Chinese youth who likes Korea.”
“Haha. That sounds less like a young person and more like a politician. Well, we’d certainly be grateful if China bought the cars we can’t sell to America. But your side isn’t giving us any opening at all.”
“My father doesn’t know that many politicians, but if there is anything he can do to help, he will do his utmost. In truth, the person suffering most from the Korean Wave ban is probably my father. He misses those days more than anyone.”
“I appreciate those words. Haha.”
Lee Chanho nodded and smiled.
There was only so much Meilin’s father could actually do, but it was still comforting. Having decided to “hold out,” the Blue House was currently mobilizing every trade channel it had to find markets where Korean cars could be sold.
“By the way, what brings you to see me today? What did Mr. Lee Sejun ask of you?”
“Mm... I came here not because of a request, but because I wanted to offer you a very small bit of help.”
“Help?”
“Yes, Prime Minister. Would you please read this?”
Lee Chanho took the documents, and before long, his pupils widened.
“...Hong Kong?”
“Yes. What do you think?”
“So you’re now... proposing indirect exports?”
“Yes. We’ve already finished talks with the merchants, and we’ve persuaded the authorities to some extent as well. If goods pass through this route, you should be able to greatly increase deliveries to China.”
“Is that possible...? I’ve heard Chinese authorities have become even more ferocious in monitoring this sort of thing lately.”
After the Chinese authorities imposed import restrictions, exports to China from major countries including Korea, Japan, and Australia had fallen dramatically. But that was difficult to take at face value. The volume supplied directly to China had decreased, but indirect trade through Hong Kong had instead grown rapidly.
The final boss in this field was Australia.
After China’s retaliatory tariffs, Australia supplied most of its agricultural and marine products to Hong Kong, but the amount of lobster and spiny lobster delivered that way was far more than Hong Kong citizens could consume even if they ate nothing else all year.
In other words, it had gone into China.
“It’s just a transparent pretense. Do you really think the Chinese authorities haven’t known about indirect export routes until now?”
Strangely enough, in today’s global society, such indirect exports were all the rage.
When the West sanctioned Russia, Kyrgyzstan suddenly emerged as an export powerhouse, and Indian oil refiners hit a revenue jackpot.
It was not only because of war. Before Donald came to power, Mexico had been home to so many multinational production bases that it was called the hub of South America, and all of them were forward bases for exporting to the United States.
“Well, that’s true. There’s no way the Chinese authorities didn’t know about the detours.”
As Lee Chanho smacked his lips, Meilin continued.
“Of course, this won’t be able to absorb all the volume meant for the United States. But I believe it will be enough to serve as welcome rain in a drought.”
Lee Chanho let out a sigh.
A 25 percent tariff would be a direct blow to items exported to the United States. The government, having settled on “holding out,” was also diligently looking for other sales channels, and among them, Hong Kong was an attractive market.
“All right... It’s a very good proposal. In fact, our government is preparing for every possibility under the assumption that relations with the United States may reach their worst point. If a route for indirect exports through Hong Kong opens, it would not be bad for us either. However.”
“Yes.”
“The Team Leader Lee Sejun I know is absolutely not someone who gives away gifts like this easily. What did he ask of me?”
Meilin could not continue for a moment.
“Ah, Prime Minister. I forgot to mention this first. This is truly nothing much, but...”
“If it’s money, no need. Seeing as you’ve brought so many gifts again, this must be a very difficult matter, hm? What is it?”
Meilin spoke with a troubled expression.
“I don’t know the detailed circumstances, but... if I tell you exactly what I heard.”
“Go on.”
“Would it be possible to open Korea’s rice market to the United States...?”
Lee Chanho’s face hardened coldly.
“What?”
*
“Is that bastard seriously insane? Isn’t he a complete lunatic?”
“Director Kim, calm down. Calm down. Why are we doing this when we’re on the same team?”
“Same team, my ass! Abolishing rice tariffs is the same as telling our Ministry of Agriculture to die. That wet-behind-the-ears brat, who does he think he is, running his mouth here?”
Director Kim of the Ministry of Agriculture was ranting and cursing Sejun again today.
Ever since they had clashed on the plane, just seeing Lee Sejun’s face made him feel as if his fist would fly up.
That was how human affairs tended to be. Goodwill came from a full granary, and quarrels from an empty barn. From the very first meeting, the delegation to the United States had come under trade pressure over agricultural tariffs, and for the Ministry of Agriculture, those were conditions they could never concede.
“They have their circumstances too... If they have to come up with 500 trillion for investment in the U.S., the pension fund is losing hair over it. Let’s try to understand.”
“So you’re saying it’s right to gut the farmers just to defend pension fund assets? Abolishing rice tariffs, importing cattle over thirty months old—doesn’t that basically mean turning Gwanghwamun into a battlefield?”
“Director Kim...”
“I can’t stand by and watch this! We have to report to the Blue House immediately and get that bastard removed from the delegation at once! That young punk keeps spouting dangerous nonsense!”
Director Kim was extremely sensitive.
Because Lutnick’s attacks kept focusing on agricultural products.
This time, too, the man had tried to dominate the negotiation table with a nitpicking strategy, pressuring a market Korea absolutely could not open while straining to justify their own tariffs.
“Let’s go for now, all right? We’re late for the meeting. Calm down a little.”
Director Choi did his best to soothe him and led him to the conference room.
When they arrived late, everyone, including the Chief Negotiator, was already seated with heavy expressions.
“I apologize for being late, Chief. There was a small matter...”
“It’s fine. Please sit.”
The Chief Negotiator examined Director Kim’s complexion from the Ministry of Agriculture. Seeing how swollen his face looked, it seemed he had come back from another round of swearing.
Then he looked at Sejun, who was sitting on the opposite side. Seeing how stiff his face was, this one apparently had no intention of yielding either.
“Then let’s discuss the conditions once more.”
The suffocating meeting began again.
“Lutnick brought up the same conditions again today. Yesterday, he even played the media.”
“...”
“America eliminated automobile tariffs for Korea, yet Korea still has not opened its rice market and still does not import American beef from cattle over thirty months old... All of this undermines American interests, and therefore a 25 percent tariff on Korea is justified. That was his position.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Director Kim shot to his feet.
“That is absurd!”
His voice was filled with rage.
“We also made many concessions during the last FTA! No, at this point, does the FTA even mean anything? Isn’t the U.S. Department of Commerce taking the lead in turning it into a scrap of paper right now? From the standpoint of food security, these conditions are something we absolutely cannot concede!”
Director Choi also chimed in.
“Chief, I feel the same way. The last FTA was a treaty in which both countries upheld what they had to uphold and conceded what they had to concede. Pulling this now is a strategy to seize on an excuse and gain the upper hand in negotiations. Frankly, if we accept the U.S. demands in this situation, domestic backlash will be no joke.”
The Chief Negotiator asked.
“Then what should we do about America’s demands? Regardless of the circumstances, Lutnick seems intent on using this as the reason to demand tariffs from our companies and U.S. investment funds from our government.”
“We have to hold out! Stamping our seal here and going home would be no different from treason!”
Director Kim said that and shot a glare at Sejun.
“If anyone has an opposing opinion, go ahead and say it. Is being dragged around by America’s unreasonable demands what you call trade negotiations? If America tells us to become their fifty-first state like they did to Canada, will Team Leader Lee trot over and stamp the seal?”
Sejun smiled bitterly.
“I also believe we must protect what must be protected. But agricultural products seem to be a market we have to open.”
“What nonsense are you talking about right now?! Do you even know how many people in Korea work in farming and fishing?”
“If you put it that way, there are even more people working in manufacturing. There’s no need to look far. After America’s retaliatory tariffs, Japan’s exports to the U.S. fell by 14 percent, and automobile exports fell by 30 percent. At least Japan will show signs of recovery once its tariffs are reduced back down to 15 percent, but if we choose to hold out, the economic shock that hits us will be worse than that.”
“That is entirely America’s unreasonable coercion!”
“Whether it is unreasonable or not is no longer important. If we have decided to fight, we need a strategy for a long war.”
Sejun turned his head toward the Chief Negotiator.
“Chief. We have to open agricultural products. In exchange for opening them, we have to lower America’s tariffs even a little. If that is difficult, we should ask them to exempt at least a few items.”
“Item exemptions? Ridiculous! You want to gut the farmers and fishermen to save other companies?”
“Team Leader Lee, even to me, that doesn’t sound right! It seems the pension fund is desperately trying to avoid being told to prepare investment funds for the U.S., but are we really one team? How can you think only of the damage to your own department?”
“Everyone, stop...”
Just as the mood in the conference room was becoming heated once more, the Chief Negotiator opened his mouth.
He swept his gaze over the group and asked.
“Let’s organize our positions. Those who agree with the pension fund’s opinion, please raise your hands.”
It was quiet.
“Then those who agree with the Ministry of Agriculture’s opinion, please raise your hands.”
Everyone raised their hands.
Sejun sprang to his feet.
“Chief! They say a clever rabbit digs three burrows. Even if we fight when we must, we have to keep preparing an exit strategy as we respond!”