Dear Comrade

Dear Comrade Leader, Episode 239

“ha ha ha… … .”

When Professor Kim Il-cheol’s story reached this point, Ri Kyung-soo burst out laughing as if he was frustrated.

This means that so many people have fallen for self-indoctrination and rationalization, saying, ‘There is no way for me to renounce myself at this level, so I have been loyal to the system from the beginning.’

However, as Ri Kyung-soo, who once had envy and respect for the senior fighters who fought hard in the shadows before the appearance of the Hakchongryun, he could not help but feel frustrated and angry.

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Naturally, the words that came out of my mouth about the old gifts began to be harsh.

“What next? What happened next? Even Girai wouldn’t have gone all the way from the beginning!”

“That’s right… … But it was difficult to start. Once the dam broke, there were converts like a flood. To be honest, I also felt a lot after seeing that scene. To say that I was in vain to have fought with such unbelievers until now.”

Of course, that means that Professor Il-cheol Kim himself has already turned away, so this kind of comfort, not comfort, did not calm Ri Kyung-soo’s anger, but rather only aroused it.

Once the logic and rationalization were finished, the next turn was of course scheduled, a struggle against the opposition, that is, those who had been comrades until yesterday.

As if to prove the so-called traitor’s dilemma that those who turned away from the original become more intense for their position on the side to which they turned, the self-proclaimed ‘people who woke up from a nightmare and realized the truth first’ were more thoroughly loyal to the Kim Jeong-hwan system than anyone else. He rationalized himself and poured the blame on the other side.

He is a short-sighted egoist who only pursues unrealistic democracy, ignoring the greater goals of the republic’s prosperity, improving the people’s living standards, and even becoming a developed country, and the hard work of the party and general secretary dedicated to that goal.

Soon, the prisoners in the kwanliso were divided into two factions and did not even pretend to know each other, so it was said that it seemed that way at first glance.

As Kim Il-cheol himself said, even an embankment that looks like an iron wall has a small hole in it, and when water starts to leak through that hole, it will soon lead to collapse.

Soon, people began to turn from the ‘dissident faction’ who oppose the current one-party dictatorship to a ‘system defender’ or ‘conformist factionist’.

-Comrades, please think rationally. Is there any realistic way to overthrow the current Kim Jeong-hwan system? Not only the Party, but also the People’s Army, from the Juche system, the former leading force, to the Frunze faction, the current leading force, are not all on the side of the general secretary?

– Without an army, where do you plan to start a democratic revolution with support? Has there ever been a single time in history where such a thing has been possible? Why would a well-educated man like his comrades do such a crazy thing? Please value your life. It is said that this all goes well together.

– Putting it all aside, don’t your comrades themselves know well that the majority of the people of the present republic are ardent supporters of the party, or, more precisely, the general secretary? You must have heard rumors that, on every birthday of the general secretary, the elderly rural people bought gifts with a penny or two and sent them to the secretary’s office, and various specialties were left over 15 and a half times each year. The former Kim Jong-il, or even Kim Il-sung, had never received such voluntary loyalty, how could he overthrow this system?

At first, it was one or two, but it increased little by little, and in the past, the camps were changed by several people a day. became so much

Of course, they had plausible reasons for their inner rationalization class and against the persuasion of the system defenders, but Prof. Kim Il-cheol thought deep inside them that they were just ‘ready to change someday’.

Perhaps they themselves did not want to admit it, but they may have thought that it was impossible for them to bring down the Kim Jung-hwan regime, which had dominated the hegemony of the republic for 18 years, on their own.

Or, if you just betray yourself, you become a traitor, but the guilt may have been diluted because you have several people who will betray you.

As the saying goes in any country, if you cross the red light at the crosswalk together, you are not afraid.

And in the past, almost all of the prisoners in the Kwanliso were filled with ardent admirers of the Kim Jeong-hwan regime, at least those who had given up the struggle and decided to adapt to reality in an instant.

“… … Those words must have been passed on to Professor Kim as well.”

“… … Hmm, I don’t deny it, Ri Kyungsoo-kun. Think about it. To put it bluntly, this struggle is what it is, and now there is no hope of winning. Knowing the current is a quality of Jun-geol, and now it is wise to accept the reality and break the stubbornness… … .”

“Stop it! No matter what happens, I will never kneel to Kim Jung-hwan. And since you are only here, you may not know it, but the results of the struggle and the buds of democratization have already bloomed outside. Soon, these comrades will overthrow this Kim Jung-hwan dictatorship and rescue me, so go there and prepare to be stoned by the angry masses!”

Ri Kyung-soo was filled with anger, betrayal, and disappointment, and Kim Il-cheol, who was trying to convince him, jumped up and ran into the room.

Even after he ran into the room and closed the door, he couldn’t hold back his anger for a while, so he clenched his fists and trembled.

How could the writers of professors be like that?

Do they really not know that outside now, the students under their guidance are fighting with their bare hands against the threat of persecution and death?

Or maybe he decided to turn his eyes away from the truth and pretend he didn’t know.

He decided to live a life of mischief, a life of a hound who, in harmony with the system, conforms to power and gives him fodder when the time is right.

However, Ri Kyung-su once again promised himself that it would not happen even if his body was torn into a thousand parts.

The thought became even more urgent when I thought that the comrades outside now were unaware of this situation and were fighting to death in order to make use of the opportunity they had created.

However, Ri Kyung-soo did not yet know that that day was just the beginning of this Kwanliso, and all that he had to endure in the future.

* * *

In the end, neither the next day nor the next day, until the moon finally passed, summer passed and autumn passed, Ri Kyung-soo never submitted a statement of remorse to the Kwanliso.

As Kim Il-cheol said, if that statement of reflection is a masterpiece of this Kwanliso and the party that designed all of it on it, I should not respond even more.

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Nevertheless, the Kwanliso did not harass or harass Ri Kyung-soo.

But what really bothered him wasn’t the pressure from the kwanliso, but the persistent persuasion and persuasion of fellow prisoners who approached him from the common area every day.

Their first approach was, ‘Girae, we were all like that. But now… … It started with ‘.

In conversation with them, Kyungsoo Ri learned several things.

There were very few who did not convert until the very end, but they were sent to another place soon afterward. There are other places that are better than here.

However, the most important thing was that the converts who persuade Ri Kyung-soo seemed happy, and above all, that the conciliation for him was not solicited by the Kwanliso, as Ri had guessed in the early days, but came from a very voluntary cause.

Their repertoire was varied, but they were all persistent and tenacious.

The trend has already become irreversible, look at how satisfied the people are with the present republic.

Democracy does not guarantee a high standard of living and economic development just by looking at the appearance of Russia immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

For now, even if it is humiliating, if you put up with it, the day will come when we will achieve Joseon-style democracy. … .

From Ri Kyung-soo’s point of view, these were words that were not prayerful, but among them, the most absurd conciliation was as follows.

“Comrade, think about it. Do you know how great a blessing it is for this republic to have a leader who is as capable and puts the people first as the current general secretary? But if you don’t know that you’re getting enough here, and if you keep on asking for democracy, you may end up overturning the table you already have and go back to the days of starving again! Are you aware of that?”

“What kind of ghost are you talking about? How is it that the people are free to speak freely and elect representatives of the people by the people’s hands?”

“The comrade may not be able to remember well because he is still young, but the former leaders of the Kim family, Kim Jong-il… … No, if you think about it, it was the same with his father, Kim Il-sung. Anyway, now that I think about it, the current general secretary is a hundred times better, no, a thousand times better than those two guys with sharp teeth even while sleeping. Think back to the old days when the Juche ideology was treacherous! Now that the Republic sees it again, it must be like a fairy!”

“Right! The security guard’s gannada kills and captures people at will, our style socialist economy, the self-reliance and fictional Chollima Movement! Manlima Exercise! Even so, the sons of party executives who ride German Mercedes-Benzes carry bundles of dollars in their back pockets, dragging half-hearted wives into their beds, and their children’s comrades are learning about ‘General Kim Jong-il’s revolutionary falsehood’ before they even learn addition and subtraction! At least in the current general secretary system, hasn’t that kind of disappeared a long time ago?”

“Not only in the Republic, but also abroad. Previous Eastern European and Southeast Asian countries, which used to only ridicule and ridicule people when they visit us for dollars, are now saying that they are envious of a powerful and capable leader like ours. What is the difference between national pride and national pride? If the same guy Kim Jong-il had been in power until now, would the republic have achieved the feat of rising to 16th in the global GDP rankings in just 20 years? I still went to South Korea to pick up rice!”

“So, now that the comrades have developed the economy, are you saying this to give so-called indulgences to Kim Jung-hwan’s dictatorship and the state media? Have you never really thought that such a cause is giving legitimacy to the variant socialism and hereditary dictatorship of the Kim family? If Kim Jung-hwan sets out to make a third-generation inheritance based on the foundation he has built up, how are you going to stop it then?”

“Let’s be grateful for what we have now. From what I heard, I know that they suffered a lot because of the seeds who were blowing nonsense to re-do the Juche ideology outside the communal island. If you control the people, that’s not a crime against the people and the people, what’s going on?”

Days in which persuasion turned into argument, argument into quarrel, and quarrel almost turned into fistfights continued endlessly.

In the end, it wasn’t until several months after he was arrested that all the other prisoners decided that Ri was “a stubborn and stubborn” and gave up on persuasion.

Ri Kyung-soo concluded that he was foolish in trying to have a conversation with Ri Kyung-soo in the faint hope that those traitors might return.

Soon, Ri Kyung-soo became a kind of evasive figure, leaving behind only the gossips among the inmates behind him as he passed by, like an island in the public dining room, playground, or in Kwanliso No. 23.

But Ri Kyung-soo, who was the real party, didn’t care.

‘Do you think that their apostasy will soon be forgotten? They’re like renegade people who have lost their gallbladder.’

Ri Kyung-soo thought that he knew clearly what they were inside.

They were convinced that their actions were uncomfortable because they did not eventually attract Ri Kyung-soo as an accomplice, thereby eliminating the witnesses who kept reminding them of their betrayal of their beliefs.

Every time I see Ri Kyung-soo, I think of myself in the old days when I was upright, and the remorse of conscience that I had buried deep in my heart was heard, and I laughed inwardly that it was unbearable.

So, just by holding on to him, he was being punished for those traitors.

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Nevertheless, in a corner of his heart, suspicion and anxiety were still creeping up, causing a chemical reaction with the mind soaked in anger and betrayal.

Rather, if the body is tired due to torture or harsh forced labor, the mind may be strong, but this kwanliso is not comfortable enough to be boring, so it was difficult to prevent the mind from leaking elsewhere.

However, what Ri Kyung-soo was not aware of because he was concentrating on his surroundings, or to be precise, what he had been forgetting for a while was the Kwanliso, and furthermore, the Ministry of Public Security and the Party that sent him here.

To tell the truth, it has been a long time since Ri Kyung-soo’s every move within the Kwanliso was observed, recorded and delivered to the Pyongyang Public Security Department.

Everything, including everything from the first day of incarceration, from being harassed by the security guard, to the conversation with Kim Il-cheol on the second day, and all the arguments that led to a quarrel with other inmates in the common area, as well as all the words and actions when he was alone in the room. That is.

Talking to himself, such as ‘Let’s not get weak’, which he used to exhort himself, anxious muttering, subtle signs of stress, and even talk about sleep while sleeping.

All Ri Kyungsoo’s words and actions were recorded by cameras and wiretapping devices installed throughout his room and in the Kwanliso.

These records were sent from the Kwanliso to the Public Security Ministry in Pyongyang every day, classified and analyzed daily by psychologists directly under the public security as if they were observing experimental animals, leading them to come to the conclusion that ‘the inmate is a rare and difficult case’.

And finally, these reports went higher, and even the secretary’s office took an interest in him.

* * *

“Master Ri Kyung-soo! Call from the director’s office! Follow me immediately!”

“The collection room… … ?”

On that day too, Ri Kyung-soo, who did not participate in exercise or recreation in the public area and stared blankly out the window in his room alone, was stunned by the unexpected call.

Is it that the Kwanliso, who has left him almost unattended since refusing to submit a statement of remorse, is calling him something to do with him?

“what? Ah, I’m a stubborn person, so have you decided to give up and shoot and kill the party now? Then I’ll have to say thank you, Girae!”

“… … Don’t talk too much, just hurry up and follow me!”

Ri Kyung-soo, who had now become almost as good as it should be, scoffed at him, but for some reason an administrative worker, who was always irritable enough to be annoyed, resolutely fired and led him out.

Ri Kyung-soo, who was even more puzzled, finally arrived not in the director’s office, but in a room in the kwanliso that he had never been to before.

As we entered, the first thing that caught our eyes was the observation window where we could see the splendid panoramic view of Pyongyang in the distance.

In one corner of the room, several leading officials, who seemed to be high-ranking figures in the center, including the director of this kwanliso, stood immobile with expressions of tension that Ri Kyung-soo had never seen before.

And in the front, a man with his back turned to look out the window with his back to the door where Ri Kyung-su came in.

“Comrade Commander. For what reason… … .”

“Did you say Lee Kyung-soo? The Ministry of Public Security had a lot of trouble with his comrades. It’s been a while since I ran Kwanliso No. 23, but there weren’t many cases like a comrade. As far as I can remember, there were around ten people… … .”

As the man who was looking out the window said so and turned to him, Ri Kyung-soo’s pupils widened like a deer that had witnessed a lion.

The person he had seen countless times before, but never thought he would ever meet in his life, was standing right in front of him at this very unexpected moment.

The man, Jeonghwan, introduced himself, beckoning Ri Kyungsoo, who was so hardened like a mangbu stone, to sit down.

“Nice to meet you. Comrade Kyungsoo Lee. Kim Jeong-hwan, General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea. How do you feel about facing the absolute evil that your comrades have been fighting against? I’d like to hear if you’re disappointed because you don’t have horns on your forehead.”