The character of the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun had completely changed since Kim Half-thatch had been deposed.
It had been the official residence for the head of state until the death of the first Kim family dictator, Kim Song-bun. But after his death, his son and heir, Kim Gour-met, realized that transforming his father into a Korean god would suit his purposes, just as Stalin realized that placing Lenin on public display in a mausoleum would greatly further his goal of creating a cult of personality. So the palace was converted into a mausoleum, with Kim Song-bun's body preserved in the same manner and largely by the same experts who keep the founder of the Soviet Union permanently preserved under glass. Kim Gour-met placed statues and photos of his father in every room and public square in the country. Every railway car contained a photo of the Great Leader. Every family was expected to keep a photo of the Eternal President in their house; if the photo was found to be missing, the entire family might find themselves sentenced to a long stay in one of the many prison camps. It was impossible to travel within North Korea without seeing a photo of the first dictator. And then after Kim Gour-met died, he was entombed in the same manner as his father, with his photo and eventually that of his son became ubiquitous as well. After the coup, Colonel Chun and Talvela thought it might be therapeutic to allow people to continue to view the bodies of Kim Song-bun and Kim Gour-met. Since they knew this display would not go on much longer, they instructed the keepers of the corpse to just use formaldehyde to maintain the two bodies. The fancy equipment, including refrigeration pumps, required lots of electricity to run and that power was needed elsewhere. The mausoleum had become an unofficial place for North and South Korean soldiers to take a break after the coup. During the reigns of Kim Gour-met and Kim Half-thatch, mausoleum visitors were required to bow multiple times and display a deep sense of respect. However, within a day of the coup, people started showing extreme disrespect to the corpses. They began yelling insults of all varieties. The soldiers hanging around thought this was most amusing and often broke out laughing at some of the things visitors said. Today the mood became downright ugly. Large crowds of people began to gather around and inside the mausoleum. The soldiers had no intention of interfering, but they wanted any gatherings to remain peaceful. Suddenly a group of men walked to the glass case and started smashing it with hammers. The soldiers started to walk towards the disturbance, but the crowd called on them to stay out of it. The men had come prepared with a wheeled cart, which they used to carry the two corpses out of the building. They also broke into the storage cabinet and stole the jugs of formaldehyde. The soldiers wondered where they were going with the bodies and formaldehyde. * * * * * President Shon, Colonel Chun, Talvela, Lieutenant Song, and a few others were gathered around a table in Panmunjom. Quite unlike meetings in the past where North Koreans sat one side, South Koreans sat on the other side, and both sides glared at each other, the participants were mixed, sitting in a semi-random order around the table. "Mr. President, Colonel Chun, I know South Korea has an educational scheme for North Korean defectors," began Talvela. "You attempt to teach them the ways of the South, but their integration is not very successful, with many of them ending up working in menial jobs because they lack the skills to perform at their best in the consumerist culture of the South. Some of them were so frustrated that they returned to the North. This approach is not acceptable for the current situation." "Yes, and the money we give those people often ends up in the hands of grifters because the newcomers are naive in the ways of capitalism. We have done a poor job of educating them in the perils of money management. We also failed in not prosecuting those parasites and not voiding any contracts involved in the swindle," admitted President Shon. "We need to create a new educational scheme and soon," continued Talvela. We have different levels of people in the North. The people of Pyongyang are well-educated, except in history and current affairs. They will require education in those subjects, along with the Korean spoken in the South. Also, they will need to understand the toys, especially smartphones. However, people outside Pyongyang will require much more, as their education has been lacking compared to the residents of Pyongyang." "Yes, I cannot believe some of the things Northerners are ignorant of, even things which South Korean children know well," exclaimed Colonel Chun. "And the many orphans, refugees, and former labor camp inmates will require a completely different educational system. They will need a custom education to bring them up to the level of Southerners. Orphans generally did not finish high school and some are much worse off. Counseling will be paramount, as many of them believe that the world is one big prison camp. Their self-confidence has been shattered and they will simply not be able to understand an entrepreneurial point of view," continued Talvela. "That is especially true with respect to orphans. The younger they became orphaned, the more insecure they will be regarding life in general. And the older ones who were forced to make their way in the world without the guidance of parents almost certainly have a grim view of life," added Lieutenant Song. "Many people, especially older ones, will need to be given apartments, financial assistance that rises with the cost of living, and jobs so they feel as if they are contributing to society. These jobs may very well consist of sweeping the streets, as the South's modern society may be beyond them. It is not acceptable to simply discard them like yesterday's fish," concluded Talvela. "We have already started planning for this. We realize this will be expensive, very expensive. We will need to raise taxes on Southerners and they will complain, but the lesson of Germany is always in our mind. Even today Eastern Germany has unemployment rates higher than that of Western Germany. Integration will not be complete until it is difficult to tell whether someone is in the North or the South," declared President Shon. * * * * * Lieutenants Choi and Ryu stood before Colonel Jang. "Colonel, we brought back three children. Two were the children of Kyung Hi-lee and the third was an orphan, Hak-chul. The mission went without any problems," lied Lieutenant Choi. Colonel Jang smiled at their initiative in bringing the third child back. "We would like another assignment as soon as possible, please," finished Lieutenant Ryu. * * * * * "I never got the chance to shine in North Korea, always having to defer to a superior. No longer!" thought Kang Jae-sang, junior administrative clerk. "Ladies and gentleman, I would like to draw your attention to the missile parts in the center of the room. All of them have Chinese markings on them -- See? Made in China! -- because they were supplied by a Chinese company. I must admit, I was always amused when China claimed it had nothing to do with our missile launches, because the parts China supplied were essential to our program," he began. "I hope you all realize that the Sunshine Policy was a complete failure. It lasted until 2008, yet the DPRK's first nuclear test occurred in 2006. The weapons programs were always running at full speed, but the leadership pretended to slow it down to gain time and acquire aid," he continued. "All of the food and other aid was diverted to the military. The aid should have been accompanied by a restriction that outside food agencies distribute it to the actual consumer to prevent the military from confiscating it. Ordinary Koreans still starved, even though massive food aid was entering the country." "Over here we have an amusing structure. It is an empty shell of a nuclear device which we were just about to build. It has an inner liner of cobalt-59 which converts an ordinary fission bomb into a doomsday device. The fallout from this bomb would have had a half-life of 5.27 years. We only needed a missile powerful enough to direct it toward Tokyo and we have plenty of those. We already finished the development of a warhead small enough to fit on our missiles, so we were ready to rock-and-roll," he concluded. * * * * * "Mama, who is that ratty old woman begging on the sidewalk?" asked the little girl. "That is Kim Tip-ple, the aunt of the former dictator of North Korea. Her family was turned out of their palatial estates and now has to forage like the millions of people they made poor over the last 70 years," answered her mother. "Should we give her some money?" naively asked the little girl. The woman grabbed her daughter's hand and walked briskly past Kim as she raised her bottle to her lips and took a swig. * * * * * Diao raised his head at the noise outside. "No one ever visits our farm. Come, children, let's go outside and see what is happening." Outside the gate was a truck with a trailer attached to it. On the trailer was a shiny new tractor, a plow and other attachments, a large box, and a barrel of fuel. Sergeant Paek slowly backed the tractor off the trailer and drove it toward the barn. Sergeant Ju disconnected the trailer and pushed it away from the truck. He opened the rear of the truck, pulled out a built-in ramp, and walked a healthy donkey down the ramp and toward the barn. Sergeant Paek started unloading the hay inside the truck. Then Sergeant Ju used a two-wheel cart to move the plow into and the barrel of fuel close to the barn. Captain Roh walked toward Diao and his children with his hands behind his back. The children walked to him as he brought his hands forward, revealing two teddy bears. They shyly accepted the bears and walked behind their father. "This should be enough money for Yunxiang's hukou and the associated bribes," announced Captain Roh as he handed Diao an envelope. Sergeant Paek placed the large box on the ground to the side of Diao. "This box contains some clothing for your children and seeds optimized for the local soil. I think you will find that you can grow many more crops with these seeds," continued Captain Roh. "We will look in on you from time to time to see if you and your children are in need of anything else." Diao could not say anything as the tears rolled down his face in gratitude. * * * * * "Lieutenant Nam, you did pretty well for someone who was hopelessly lost," chided Colonel Jang. "Did you know that your target village was 35 kilometers away from where you ended up?" Lieutenant Nam blushed. "Lieutenant Jo Soon-kyu will accompany you on your next assignment. She was first in her class in navigation," said Colonel Jang with a chuckle. "But, very good work today. Very good, indeed." "Colonel, um, one more thing. Lieutenant Jo and I will need a ride because I, uh, left the SUV up there," sheepishly admitted Lieutenant Nam. * * * * * "Han-na, did you ever think you would see this day?" asked Talvela. "No. I joined the military to defend my country. I never dreamed I would play a part in the end of the war," answered Lieutenant Song. "But here we are in Panmunjom for the peace treaty signing!" "Look, there's the Japanese Emperor! He's coming this way. You must be more respectful this time. This is a day which will be celebrated by Koreans and non-Koreans for a long time to come," chided Lieutenant Song. Talvela turned to face the approaching contingent. "Hiya, pal," greeted the Japanese Emperor. * * * * * Up until today the door of the apartment was guarded to prevent him from leaving. But now the guard had disappeared. "I wonder why they would stop guarding the door of such an important man," pondered Kim Half-thatch to his wife. "Let's go for a walk in the park!" "It is suicidal to travel without ample security personnel," asserted his wife, Dior Hand-bag. "I am determined to walk outside today. I think I will wear a sun hat and world-class Mao-style clothes. I am sure the people still love me and would never hurt me. Why, they will probably demand that I be returned to power immediately!" answered Kim. "Let me first change into one of my couture outfits," acceded Dior. "Yes, a fine day to walk in a country which knows how to treat its citizens!" declared Kim. They exited their apartment and walked outside. They never noticed the small group of men who noticed the couple and started making cellphone calls. They had walked about three blocks from their apartment when a large group of people appeared. The mob walked purposefully toward them, shouting various insults and making rude gestures. Dior immediately wrapped her arms around a lamp post and started sobbing. "Forget the plump bimbo! We only want him!" shouted a voice from the mob. The mob gathered around him and tied his wrists and ankles together, tying a third rope between them so that he was trundled like a lamb for the slaughter. "But I am the Great Successor, the Supreme Leader, and the Shining Sun," implored Kim. "I have many university degrees!" "Yeah, none of which you earned!" yelled a man in the crowd as everyone laughed. "Better return to singing and slutting!" one man hissed at Dior. Dior watched as the mob dragged her husband away. When everyone had left, she ran back to their apartment as fast as she could, locked the door behind her, and collapsed into a chair. They dragged him to a nearby park. In the middle of the park, another group of people had erected a lattice of recently felled trees. The bodies of Kim Gour-met and Kim Song-bun had been tied to the top of the lattice. Inside the lattice had been thrown piles of party newspapers and broken wood furniture, including an old, beat-up rocking horse. The mob carried Kim to the top of the lattice and tied his body on top of the corpses of his father and grandfather, face-down so that he could see nothing but the faces of his two dead ancestors. Some men poured flammable formaldehyde all over the three Kims. Then everyone climbed down from the structure. Around twenty people lit crumpled pieces of newspaper and threw them into the structure, causing many small fires to start. The small fires quickly became one large fire, climbing relentlessly to the three Kims. Many people threw packs of firecrackers into the fire, with the explosions continuing one after the other. Almost everyone threw photos of the three Kims into the fire, with some being large ones taken from railways cars and other public places. The fire reached the two formaldehyde-soaked corpses and burst into a fireball which burnt so hot that it started melting Kim's body fat. His fat dripped onto the logs, with the fire emitting black smoke. "Welcome to the world's only true burning man festival!" loudly declared one man as people started dancing in jubilation around the bonfire. Kim screamed. The crowd cheered. Copyright 2020 Pete Prunskunas - All rights reserved.
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April 2024
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