Empire of the Ring

“We spent 1.8 billion dollars last year on defense, but actually 2.2 billion dollars were spent. We haven’t yet confirmed whether or not we’ve added a larger trade surplus.”

“Is the payment for soldiers improving in any way?”

“The treatment of the Kazakh soldiers is better than that of the Russian army. They are getting paid as they were supposed to. The problem is that we can’t confirm whether the money was paid for the armored vehicles that we were trying to bring in from Ukraine and used fighter jets from Russia. The arms deals had been carried out directly at the Presidential Palace.”

Youngho sighed as he was checking the military budget and weapons of the Kazakh military. Most of the weapons were used Russian products except for some.

It was difficult to operate the weapons in the long run due to the lack of parts.

When he could not bring in armored vehicles from Ukraine and South Africa, Nazarbayev tried to make a technical partnership with Turkey, which clearly showed that he cared enough about national defense. The money that came from robbing the president’s villa was probably a slush fund to purchase weapons.

“Lt. Col. Kabak, where are those old-fashioned weapons that we used at the Russian border from?”

“Those are weapons delivered from Russia in the late ’90s. Still, they’re the strongest in Central Asia.”

Lieutenant Colonel Kabak replied proudly even though they looked useless to Youngho.

Kazakhstan would be helpless with such old-fashioned weapons if it fought against Russia or China. The conventional weapons must be modernized. However, that was an unrealistic dream with less than one-tenth of South Korea’s defense budget. It was barely enough to maintain what the military had now.

“If we replace all the tanks and armored vehicles with the ones that will be produced in the Arirang state, our military power will be reinforced a little.”

“I heard you were also planning to produce fighter jets and attack helicopters. Can you get a technical partnership?”

“It’s already agreed upon. Turkey’s Koç Holding’s helicopters and Sweden’s Saab’s Gripen fighters will be our main power. Sooner or later, the F-Series fighters from the U.S. will be brought in to reinforce our forces too.”

“The mere mention of that gives me hope.”

“I think we’ll have to increase the number of Army soldiers up to 100,000, Air Force soldiers up to 30,000, and the Navy soldiers up to 10,000. That way, neither Russia nor China will treat us poorly. As of now, we can barely protect our borders.”

Currently, there were 30,000 Army members, 15,000 Air Force members, and 3,000 Navy personnel. Kazakhstan was 12 times the size of the Korean Peninsula, 25 times the size of South Korea. With the current military strength, it was the same as begging for Russia and China’s invasion.

“It’s desirable in terms of war deterrence, but the expense would be too much for us.”

“The defense budget now is less than one percent of the national GDP. If we get rid of all the socialist social security systems, we can increase the defense budget up to three percent of GDP.”

“It’s over six billion dollars. How are we going to raise funds?”

“If you can’t, I’ll pay the rest of it, so just figure out how to recruit more soldiers.”

If the defense budget was only 1.8 billion dollars, Youngho could afford it even for the next several years. He also had about 480 tons of gold bars and 7.2 billion dollars in cash now. Kazakhstan’s GDP was 210 billion dollars, it’s per capita income was around 13,000 dollars, and its foreign exchange reserves were slightly over 30 billion dollars, of which gold holdings were worth 6 billion dollars, which was not much compared to the gold Youngho had. The country was running without a problem because of the 50 billion dollars annual trade surplus from resource exports.

“We’re going to have to sell our resources at the right price and produce our own manufactured goods and daily necessities from now on. Then we can increase GDP by three times in a short period of time. I’m confident about that, so let’s wait and see.”

“And that means we’ll be paid three times more than now.”

“It’s not just going to be a rise in salary, any commission will be the same. You can tell the reporters you’re meeting tomorrow. Now we have to inspire hope in our people. We won’t envy Europe anymore.”

“I’d have a press meeting everyday as long as I can present this kind of vision.”

If people had hope, the goal of the revolutionary government, which advocated a constitutional monarchy, would also be achieved soon. Lieutenant Colonel Kabak’s expression, leaving Youngho’s office, was full of confidence.

***

Fatima’s every activity became the main news on TV.

TV stations had no choice but to broadcast about her because the audience ratings of the news featuring her were higher than the people’s favorite TV shows.

The news was full of the scenes of her visiting orphanages and families with single moms. When Fatima began her volunteer work, the wives of ambassadors of different countries also joined her, which made headlines of the Kazakh press.

In Kazakhstan, people with money or high positions took it for granted to be arrogant and domineering. People were so indifferent about people in need. However, Fatima’s generous activities despite her high position provoked curiosity among Kazakh people. Volunteerism was something that was only often seen in Europe, and it was interesting to see what the Archduchess of the Arirang state was doing in Kazakhstan.

In the country where a sense of citizenship was nowhere to be found, it was natural that Fatima’s activities outstood among people, especially when the former administration had only cared about economic development neglecting to change the socialist mindset in people.

“Aren’t you overdoing yourself?”

“I’m having so much fun these days. The wives of ambassadors are also cooperating very well.”

The wives of Western ambassadors would have joined to save their face, but there were no involvement of the wives of Kazakh high-ranking officials yet. Their reaction was cold as they thought it was a waste of time.

“You need to let the security guards rest too.”

“They’re just standing stiff all day long. That’s barely working. It’s hard for the volunteer women because they work bending and straightening their backs all day.”

“You’re not tired?”

“I’m getting better at this. I’m also planning to go to Almaty soon.”

“Almaty?”

“If you stay in the capital only, it’s really just to show off. I heard that there are slums in Almaty, so it would be a good community service.”

“Oh, how can I stop you when you say that. I have to go to Almaty too. Let’s move together.”

“Oh! That’s great. Szechenyi and Isabella are coming to Almaty too.”

“The Szechenyi couple?”

“They’re trying to empower you. Almaty will be the center of the media’s attention if Princess Isabella shows up.”

If the Danish princess couple showed up in Almaty officially, the whole city would be swayed. People would want to see the princess of Europe especially when she walked around the slums to serve people in need.

It would be an opportunity to change the minds of people who were so self-centered since they had been influenced by the socialist mindset. If they became aware that they had been self-centered, it would be their first step toward becoming mature citizens.

Only because they were caught up in a socialist society and life was difficult to make, their minds had been cold. But nomads still living in remote areas were always welcoming their neighbors and travelers warmly. Especially for Koryoins who arrived here 80 years ago, the common Kazakh people kindly offered help.

***

Almaty, with a population of 1.3 million people, was the largest city in Central Asia as well as the center of academic culture and economy of the nation. The city was planned from the beginning to mimic European-style cities, so it was crowded with diverse ethnicities such as Russian, Ukrainian, Germans, and Uyghurs.

There, the city was thrilled by the visits of Fatima and the Danish princess couple.

The revolutionary government itself was already enough of an issue, but the visit of the Danish princess and her husband was like fueling the fire.

“Greetings, duke.”

“You must have had a long trip to come all the way here. Did you enjoy your trip?”

“You sent me a private jet, so it was very comfortable.”

“How is Her Majesty?”

“She was so excited about Kazakhstan these days that she can’t even sleep. She is very pleased to hear that you led the revolution to success.”

Princess Isabella, who told about the Queen’s recent condition, was equally excited.

Although she was not unhappy with her marriage to the autonomous state, it had fallen short of marrying into other European royal families. The only thing that she could brag was that the Arirang Autonomous State was rich economically, but now it was like having the whole Kazakhstan as family-in-laws. There was no wonder that the Danish royal family was exuberated.

“It’s only the beginning. I’m burdened that too much attention is drawn to this. There’s still a referendum that’s the biggest hurdle.”

“That’s why we’re here. I’m going to serve in Almaty’s slums tomorrow.”

“You’re pregnant. Please don’t overdo it.”

“Hahaha… If you feel bad, give the baby a lot of presents later.”

“Do you think a baby to be born will like gold or jewelry?”

“Oh! Sure. The baby will love it just like its mom.”

As Isabella began the voluntary work in Almaty, even the wives of the leaderships of the foreign companies in Almaty joined her to help clean up the slums. It was not that there were no local regular janitors, but the absence of civil consciousness among people had led to Almaty being seen everywhere full of garbage and filth.

It was only clean around big roads, but if you stepped into an alley, it was a very messy place. After seeing Fatima and the princess collecting and cleaning filth on the streets, citizens eventually began to join them. The practice of littering was eliminated, and people started to pick up discarded garbage. Just like this, the movement to keep basic order that no one else had kept before had begun. It was a spontaneous act, although no one asked people to do so. A small revolution was taking place from the corner of the big city.