Chapter 339 Five Elders

Following Major Waldis, An Rusong and Luo Minzhi went directly to the elevator leading to the upper floor in the underground garage.

After getting on the elevator, Major Waldis pressed the elevator button for the third floor, then turned around and said to An Rusong: “President An, your personal safety will not be a problem here, so your bodyguard does not need to follow you all the time. We have a lounge on the third floor specially arranged for accompanying personnel, if you don’t mind.”

Although Major Waldis was a big and fierce-looking man, he was very reasonable at this moment. When he was talking to An Rushong, he even spoke fluent and authentic Korean.

Although the other party did not finish his words, An Rushong still understood what he meant. He smiled, gave Luo Minzhi a look, and then nodded to Major Waldis.

The elevator soon stopped on the third floor. The moment the door opened, An Rushong saw a woman in traditional white Korean clothing standing outside the door. She bowed towards the elevator, then did not straighten up, but directly made a gesture of invitation.

Luo Minzhi said nothing and walked out of the elevator.

Only after he exited the elevator did Major Waldis press the button for the ninth floor and nodded to An Rushong with a smile.

A moment later, the elevator arrived at the ninth floor. The moment the elevator door opened, Major Waldis walked out first, followed closely by An Rushong.

Outside the elevator was a long carpeted corridor. Unlike the third floor, there was no one outside the elevator. Instead, in the distance on the right side of the corridor, a few people were walking towards this side while talking.

An Rushong didn’t notice these people at first. He just followed Major Waldis and walked forward. As the distance between the two sides got closer, he suddenly realized that there were four people walking towards him, and he knew all four of them.

The few people walking across the corridor were all very old men. One of them was wearing a military uniform, while the remaining three were in casual clothes. However, An Rushong knew that these people were all soldiers, or at least had been soldiers before. Moreover, these people had great reputations in the Korean military system, even though three of them had now retired from the military and had been in prison and sentenced.

To be more precise, the one who was at the forefront of them was not only sentenced, but also sentenced to death. He was only pardoned by the president later, so he was not executed directly. Of course, if this guy had been executed, South Korea might have fallen into civil strife, and the progressives would not have been able to hold power in the country for so many years.

That’s right, among the four people walking over, the one in front was none other than the famous “Jeon Kaka”, the President Jeon who said “the benefits will be shared by all, and I will take the blame”, the best general who is still remembered by the South Korean military system, and the leader of the so-called “Five Republics Veterans” faction in the political arena, Jeon Doo-hwan.

Since his rebirth, An Rushong has heard this guy’s name more than once, especially in recent years. Due to the slowdown in South Korea’s economic development and poor employment conditions, many people in their forties and fifties have begun to miss the life in the “Fifth Republic Period”. Because although South Korea implemented a high-pressure policy politically at that time, the economy developed very rapidly, and people’s living standards also improved rapidly.

In An Rusong’s previous life, South Korea’s society was highly divided. People who supported the progressives and those who supported the conservatives were almost incompatible, which was very similar to the social situation in the United States. Just like when President Yoon imposed martial law, people who supported the progressives were unanimous in calling for President Yoon to be killed, as if they wanted to send him to the execution ground. However, people who supported the conservatives believed that martial law was very necessary. They believed that the Korean parliament was occupied by traitors and traitors.

Many people believe that this political division in Korean society emerged during the administration of President Yoon, but this view is obviously wrong because it appeared long ago.

Just like in the past two years, the influence of the “Five Founding Fathers” in South Korean politics has revived. Although President Jeon did not come back, his voice in the Conservative Party is rising rapidly. In the previous party election, Lee Min-bo was able to defeat Miss Park because he won the praise of the “Five Founding Fathers” for his stance on the “Gwangju Incident” and received the support of these old men in subsequent elections.

What does that saying mean? The old guys are just old, not dead yet, so their influence still exists and is very profound.

The two old men walking behind Chun Doo-hwan looked to be in their sixties or seventies, and they were all wearing casual clothes. The thin man walking on the left was named Jin Fudong. He was not only an important member of the “Five Founding Fathers of the Republic”, but also a core member of the “Isinhui” at the time. He was a staunch supporter and direct follower of Chun Doo-hwan when he was carrying out the coup.

The most important thing is that this person not only came from a military background, but was also Lu Taiyu’s brother-in-law. In addition, unlike Quan Doo-hwan and Lu Taiyu, he had not lost his political future. After the downfall of Quan and Lu, he went directly to the United States to study for a few years. After the storm was over, he returned to China under the banner of “Five-Republic Veterans” and was elected as a member of parliament.

As for the slightly fatter guy walking on the right, he also has a very impressive identity. This man is called Zheng Haorong, a former general of the South Korean Army. He has served not only as the Minister of the Interior, but also as the Minister of Defense. However, after the fall of Jeon and Roh, he was also tried and eventually imprisoned for two years. Similar to most of the “Five Communist Party Elders”, when Zheng Haorong was in power, he did a lot of good things for his hometown, Daegu, North Gyeongsang Province, and his prestige in the local area was very high. Therefore, after serving two years in prison, he was released from prison, and in the congressional election of that year, he was elected as a member of the National Assembly with the West District of Daegu as his base.

As for the one walking at the end of the four, he is also the youngest one among the four. He is not even a member of the “Five Founding Fathers”, but an active soldier in the South Korean Army. His name is Kim Kwan-jin, the current chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, with the rank of Army General.

That’s right, like most of the senior generals in the South Korean military, Kim Kwan-jin is also a supporter of the “Five Communist Party Elders”. Therefore, An Rusong would not be surprised at all to see him walking with people like Chun Doo-hwan.

South Korea’s national system is really distorted. Let’s not talk about the tit-for-tat between progressives and conservatives, let’s just talk about the position of the military in the entire national system. In the past decade or so, the progressives have been in control of the national government, and the owners of the Blue House are all members of the progressives.

However, in the entire military system, the dominant positions have always been held by conservatives, or generals whose positions tend to be conservative. The progressives criticize the military dictatorship and military dictatorship of the time day by day, but they are powerless to do anything about the situation where conservatives are everywhere in the military.

This phenomenon has not changed to this day.

In fact, the reason is very simple. After all, the South Korean military is not something that the Blue House can truly control. The one who can make the final decision in the South Korean military is always the American dad.

As for An Rushong, he now stands on the conservative side and is also a staunch supporter of Li Minbo. Therefore, it is very necessary for him to maintain a humble attitude in front of the “Five Republic Elders”.

With this mentality, when the two groups of people walking towards each other were about to cross each other, Major Waldis ignored the four old men and walked straight past them. Behind him, An Rushong, who was two steps behind, stopped directly, leaned his back against the wall, and respectfully bowed 90 degrees to the four old men.

His sudden salute startled Quan Douhuan, who was walking in front. The old man subconsciously stopped and looked at him with a wary look. It was not until he saw that the young man opposite was bowing to him that the old man breathed a sigh of relief, put on a smile, and bowed slightly to An Rusong in return.

“I didn’t expect to meet General Quan here,” An Rusong said respectfully after unpacking his luggage, “It’s really my honor.”

“Haha, it’s rare that someone still recognizes me now,” Quan Douhuan’s voice was a little hoarse. He said with a smile and reached out his hand, as if he wanted to pat An Rushong on the shoulder.

However, just as his hand was about to reach An Rusong’s shoulder, he seemed to have thought of something, and paused, and asked hesitantly: “Young man, what’s your name? Why do you look so familiar to me?”

“Junior An Rushong,” An Rushong introduced himself hurriedly.

“An Rusong?” Quan Douhuan might be unfamiliar with this name, or he just couldn’t remember it for a moment. He muttered something and looked back at the old friends behind him, probably hoping to get some hints from them.

However, he was obviously disappointed because several of his old friends obviously didn’t remember what this name meant.

It is normal to imagine that. After all, they are all old and probably will not be users of NGN software. Moreover, people’s memory tends to deteriorate as they age. Even if they are using NGN software, they probably won’t remember who the founder of the software is.

“Chairman An, don’t keep General Thurman waiting for too long,” At this moment, Major Waldis, who was walking in front, also stopped. He saw An Rushong greeting a few old men there, so he urged him.

When they heard the foreigner mention General Thurman’s name, the expressions on the faces of several old men changed. They looked at each other, and then their eyes fell on An Rushong.

(End of this chapter)