Between Heaven and Earth: Epilogue - OneKorea

In the early morning hours the shaman, Kim Soo Bom, started up the holy mountain once again. Nowadays the daily climb was becoming increasingly burdensome but he estimated that he had a good ten more years in him. As the years had passed and his physical condition declined his sensitivity to the invisible world seemed to increase. In conclusion he was optimistic that his best years were still ahead of him.

The winds of change were blowing across the peninsula. At first the change was imperceptible. Then over time it began to trend and by early summer Kim Soo Bom knew for sure a major shift in the firmament had taken place. Being quite attuned to the ways of the natural world, the moodang knew that change is inevitable and occurs gradually and at a similar rate as the spring becomes summer.

He knew well that the visible and invisible worlds were reciprocal realms and events in one couldn’t help but affect the other. Things were worked out on earth and were reflected in heaven and its phenomena great and small was then played out on the earth. By early summer our man of the cloth knew something big was afoot.

One day in late June, the city of Seoul woke up to the news reports on YTN that Kim Jong-Un was missing. He hadn’t been seen in more than a week and the government and the Workers party was showing signs of being in disarray. Three days later, CNN began running stories of sightings of the pudgy dictator in Bern. A much needed vacation? Probably not. He was also photographed entering a bank in Zurich. Surely he was visiting his money. Next it was reported he was shopping around the local real estate markets for an appropriate villa.

As the sightings, stories, and rumors snowballed, speculation that he was as gone for good began to surface. In North Korea there was a brief calm before all hell broke loose. Upper level party cadres and government officials broke first and began heading for the borders. Next it seemed like the entire population was driving, riding, and walking to the nearest border. China to the north and South Korea in the opposite direction were the only options. On the first day the transportation system, composed of planes, trains, and buses became overwhelmed and broke down.

Intelligence services and governments around the world became alarmed and an international crisis was soon in full swing. China quickly began moving half a million troops to the border and began making a show that they would not only block the refugees from entering China but would cross the border to restore order.

The first Marine Division on Okinawa embarked on ships and sailed to meet up with the three aircraft carrier groups that were on the way. The United States made it known in no uncertain terms that China was not to cross the border.

The South Korean Security Council met in a marathon session to deal with the emergency as a wave of refugees streamed toward the 38th parallel. The president of the republic was often on the horn to the great white father in Washington.

It was finally decided that the Republic had no choice, on humanitarian grounds, but to accept the human wave fleeing the anticipated chaos in the north. Great resources were mobilized and put in place to vet, administer, feed, and take care of more than a million folks.

The more difficult problem was what to do about the increasing chaos in the collapsing DPRK. China proposed a temporary division and occupation by China and South Korea. Both the US and The Republic said absolutely not. That’s how we got in this mess in the first place.

The United Nations Security Council also met in emergency session to hammer out a plan to not only bring order out of the potential chaos and move towards the future. It was agreed that Korea should be one nation. It was further agreed that the 1947 UN mandate would serve as a mechanism to create a united Korea. A peninsula wide election was ordered to take place under the supervision of the UN within one year.

In the meantime, the former DPRK would be administered by the security council. For practical purposes, China would take control of the northern borders. South Korea would control their common border with the north. In addition, South Korea would move to handle civil, police, and humanitarian issues in the capital city and throughout the country in preparation for free and fair elections to choose a government and a leader. The US forces in South Korea would remain and under the UN Command, that had been in place since 1950, would provide security. Backed up by the fleet, the Marines stayed onboard ships at Hungnam to discourage any overt move by China.

It was a plan with lots of uncertainty but it was a plan. Against all odds, the thing held together as Koreans organized and maneuvered to form the first free united Korea since the demise of the last royal dynasty. The ghosts of Lee Sigman, Kim Koo, Ahn Jung-geun, and other patriots were called on. Political, social, and religious groups jockeyed for advantage. By the autumn several candidates both in the north and the south emerged but there was no front runner. No candidate could seem to gain the recognition and support of folks in both the north and the south.

Just about the only group that could marshal a significant following in the north and the south was Chondogyo, the Way of Heaven. They put forward a name that was known to and respected by their members in both the north and south. Amazingly enough it was Kim Jeong Sook’s father. As a former prisoner of conscience in the Gulag and a defector he was attractive to many. By late November he was being called the savior of the nation and was elected president of the new OneKorea.

Of course, both Guy and Kim followed these events with great interest and wondered what it all meant. On occasion they got together and mainly talked about Jeong Sook.

The shaman, Kim Soo Bum, woke early every morning, climbed the mountain, and watched over with great satisfaction, the formation of the new nation, OneKorea.

And he, along with Guy, the Korean people, and all the people of the world, continued to dance between heaven and earth.