Chapter 1: Prologue
The life of mankind is a series of struggles.
There were numerous wars occurring around the world long before it had been recorded in history.
Mankind never stopped bleeding blood for the sake of resources, territory, religion, and faith.
The war continued through prehistoric times and into the recorded historical period, and even after modern times when it was regarded as illogical and irrational.
More than 300 wars occurred in the 20th century alone. Among them were the two great wars, World War I and World War II, which were at a different level from previous wars.
In the first World War, which began in 1914 and ended in 1918, the number of deaths between the allies and axis powers reached 10 million. Included in the statistics of the injured and the missing and the dead, the numbers reached 40 million.
World War II, which broke out in 1939, produced 24 million soldiers and 50 million civilian casualties by the end of 1945.
Albert Einstein, who witnessed the horrors of World War II, said, “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
This was a warning that should World War III break out, then mankind will face near extinction and technology will regress to prehistoric times.
While Einstein’s predictions were exaggerated, many scientists, futurists, and politicians voiced their beliefs that his warning was credible and should be taken seriously to prevent World War III.
However, mankind fought more than 160 wars, both small and large, even after World War II.
Reality is… it was hard to find a period of peace on the blue planet.
The Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, and ended with a truce on July 27, 1953.
But the fighting never stopped. It ended… but only on the surface.
Many military experts said that World War III would most likely happen… it would only end in an armistice when hundreds of millions, maybe billions died.
They pointed to the Korean Peninsula as one of the most likely candidates for World War III.
With a 250-kilometer truce line between the peninsula, the south and north have the world’s highest concentration of troops.
It was a situation in which a small spark of collision could ignite an all-out war.
But this was not all.
Japan, a war criminal country defined by the United Nations as a member of the Axis that led to World War II, carried out blatant army building and armed provocations without reflecting on its past sins.
China, which had grown to become the world’s second-largest economy after the United States, was trying to expand its economy based on Chinese ideology.
Russia, which had military power comparable to the United States in past times, sought to rebuild its fallen national power by strengthening its strategic cooperation with China.
South Korea was put in a difficult position to deal with the country’s expansionism and militancy at a time when the Korean War against the north had yet to officially end.
It was a crisis no less than the Korean War.
Korea wondered if they’ll face the disgrace they experienced over 100 years ago when it was robbed of its sovereignty, or will they overcome the crisis and stand tall and proud before history?