1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 130



Only Krnovel

Episode 130

Japan’s new Prime Minister Kenzi Asada.

He was the man who took over as Prime Minister after Prime Minister Hosokawa fell from power.

He was the one who led the vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Hosokawa.

Asada was the second-highest ranking official in the Democratic Party of Japan, to which Prime Minister Hosokawa belonged.

Until recently, he was in the Democratic Party, the same party as Hosokawa.

Asada had noticed a rift developing between the coalition parties a few months ago over Prime Minister Hosokawa’s choice of a replacement.

And he, who had always thought that it would be difficult for him to become Prime Minister if he continued to be in this party, brought about 30 members of the National Party who had followed him and created a new party, the KMT, and won over some of the coalition parties and even the Liberal Democratic Party, which had been dissatisfied with Prime Minister Hosokawa, to his side, and passed a motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Hosokawa.

And after the House of Representatives election, he became prime minister in exchange for passing several pledges with the Liberal Democratic Party.

Forcing the sale of this UY mobile phone was one of them.

Asada sits in the chair in the Prime Minister’s office and becomes absorbed in her thoughts.

‘I finally get to sit in this seat.’

But that feeling is short-lived as the secretary comes running in out of breath.

“Prime Minister! This is a big problem!”

Prime Minister Asada asked him, looking annoyed.

“What is it, what is there to make such a fuss so early in the morning?”

“Ha, they blocked all the 7 mine resources coming from Korea to Japan!”

Asada’s mind flashes at the story that the resources of the 7th mine were blocked.

“What, what did you say?”

As soon as he took office as Prime Minister, he was shocked to find that he had to raise public utility costs, including electricity and gas costs.

For politicians, raising utility rates can be a fatal blow to their approval ratings.

So, he wants to postpone raising public utility rates as much as possible during his term.

Japan was actually planning to raise public utility rates significantly a few years ago, but it didn’t have to do so after receiving resources from Korea’s seven mining blocks.

Rather, there was now enough room to lower public utility rates.

However, if Korea blocks the 7th mine like this, I couldn’t even dare to predict what kind of problems would arise.

Prime Minister Asada tells his secretary to contact President Kim Jong-guk quickly.

“Dad, hurry up and contact the President of Korea!”

But the secretary answers with a troubled expression.

“That, that’s because all communication channels with Korea are down… They are intentionally ignoring our contacts.”

The South Korean government ignored all communications from the Japanese government, except to say that there had been a supply disruption, just as Japan’s Sonya Group had done.

* * *

When the supply of crude oil and natural gas from Block 7 was cut off, problems in real life soon began to arise.

Japan was able to supply gasoline domestically at a lower cost after receiving free crude oil from Block 7.

However, with this supply cut off, oil prices suddenly began to rise sharply as Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries began hastily purchasing crude oil at fair prices.

“No, what is this? The price of oil went up again?”

Tanaka could only sigh when he saw the price of gasoline rise by nearly 30% in just one month.

“Haa, why is it going up like this all of a sudden… … .”

The employee indifferently asks how much gas you want to fill up, whether he knows your intentions or not.

“How much gas will you charge?”

“Full… No, just 150,000 won… … .”

Tanaka hesitates for a moment about whether to fill up the tank, but ends up filling up only 150,000 won.

At 150 thousand won, this big truck doesn’t even have much room.

However, the price had risen so much that it was too much of a burden to fill it up.

A little later, his truck driver colleague Mayazaki arrives at the gas station.

He also sighed when he saw the rising gasoline prices.

“Haa, it went up again? How much did it go up! At this rate, it’s really a deficit, a deficit!”

Tanaka looks at Mayazaki and says.

“No, why are oil prices going up so much?”

Mayazaki replies with a very angry look on her face.

“Why, why! Since the Prime Minister changed, relations with Korea have been in shambles. They say Korea is not sending crude oil and natural gas contracted for Block 7. Anyway, it was not right to have a traitor as Prime Minister, but now the problem has come up so quickly.”

Originally, Japan had less interest in politics than Korea, but in the current situation, it was only natural that the arrows would turn to politicians.

Mayazaki continues, handing the money to the employee.

“And it’s not just oil prices that are rising, they say electricity rates will also increase starting next month.”

Tanaka shouts in frustration.

“What?! No, what the hell are we supposed to eat and live on when oil prices and electricity rates are going up?”

Mayazaki says while drinking the water that was in the car.

“Anyway, how can the country be in such a mess after only being prime minister for so long? Hosokawa was good at diplomacy and everything was fine. But this guy Asada has ruined the country in just two months.”

Tanaka sighs deeply, sympathizing with Mayazaki’s story.

“Ha, that’s right, I think it would have been better if Prime Minister Hosokawa had continued… … .”

“That’s right, that’s right. Oh, the relationship with Korea is also good, and I wonder if Prime Minister Hosokawa will step forward again… … .”

The Japanese people’s public opinion of Prime Minister Asada was getting worse by the day, while the number of people who missed Prime Minister Hosokawa was increasing.

* * *

Prime Minister Kenji Asada’s approval rating continues to fall.

It’s only been two months since he took office, but his approval rating is approaching 10%.

Asada asks her secretary in an urgent voice.

“Has the President of South Korea still not been contacted?”

The secretary answers with a troubled expression.

“Yes… They keep avoiding our contact, saying they are busy.”

“Why are you doing this! At least we should have a conversation!”

Korea continued to remain unresponsive to Japan.

Japan also wanted to ask the United States to mediate, but the United States was busy preparing for the presidential election and had no time to worry about this at the time.

Prime Minister Asada became increasingly more desperate.

This is because in recent opinion polls, former Prime Minister Hosokawa’s approval rating has been extremely high.

If things continued this way, he could have to step down from the position of Prime Minister before even serving a year, let alone half a year.

Now, we had to put aside all our pride and turn Korea’s heart around.

“Hey, what’s going on with the pressure you put on UY to sell the phone?”

“Oh, that’s it. It’s going smoothly. The other side is practically out of their element, so they’re not responding at all. Maybe soon… … .”

“No. Tell them to cancel everything right now. And… … .”

It was one of his main campaign promises, but now wasn’t the time for that.

First of all, it was important to calm down the anger in Korea.

But his choice came too late.

And from the beginning, Kim Jung-guk had no intention of letting this go even if the UY cell phone issue was returned to its original state.

To him, a person like Prime Minister Asada was not someone he could understand.

And then Asada’s chief secretary, who was outside, rushes in.

“Prime Minister… …! Oh, this is serious.”

“What, what again!”

The chief secretary speaks with difficulty, catching his breath.

“A little while ago, a motion of no confidence in the cabinet was passed in the House of Representatives… …!”

* * *

People are swarming like bees in front of the huge mansion where Prime Minister Hosokawa resides.

“Prime Minister! I’m sorry. We were stupid. Kenji Asada is not qualified to be Prime Minister! Please come back! Please!”

More than 100 people, including the 29 of the 30 who betrayed Prime Minister Hosokawa and left, excluding Kenji Asada, and 87 Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers who supported Hosokawa until the end, stand in front of Hosokawa’s house and beg him to return.

But Prime Minister Hosokawa’s attitude was firm.

“Go back. I have already retired from politics.”

Prime Minister Hosokawa now seemed to be sick of politics, perhaps due to the shock of being betrayed by his own party members.

“Prime Minister Asada has already lost the trust of the people. The Prime Minister must return!”

One of the lawmakers who betrayed Prime Minister Hosokawa pleads with a tearful expression.

“Prime Minister, are you thinking of abandoning the Japanese people… …! Please, I beg you.”

It is clear that they are the ones who abandoned Prime Minister Hosokawa, yet they say such things with their faces covered in iron plates.

But when the topic of the people comes up, Prime Minister Hosokawa wavers.

Even now, with oil prices continuing to rise, Japan simply cannot afford it.

Since Korea has been putting almost no crude oil or natural gas on the market recently, prices have been skyrocketing and rising endlessly.

Of course, the situation in Korea was very calm, but other countries began to be on high alert, and Japan in particular, which received a large portion of resources from Korea, was on high alert.

The situation was so serious that not only individuals but also companies were forced into emergency management mode.

“Prime Minister! In this situation, you are the only one who can talk to Korea! Please come back!”

“Please come back!”

His heart wavers.

Prime Minister Hosokawa asks with a sigh.

“Ha, but even if it weren’t for our party, the coalition party would have already been broken up. Even if I were to go back… … .”

That wasn’t a wrong statement.

The number of members of parliament currently present here is less than 120.

The total number of seats in the Japanese House of Representatives is 455. Of these, a majority of 228 seats were needed to pass a motion of no confidence in the cabinet.

Without the approval of the parties that had previously been allied, the story would ultimately be meaningless.

At that moment, several black vehicles stop in front of Prime Minister Hosokawa’s residence in the distance.

“Prime Minister!”

“Prime Minister!!”

They were representatives of the political parties that formed a coalition cabinet with the Democratic Party of Japan.

They too had been persuaded by Prime Minister Asada and passed a motion of no confidence in the cabinet, but they now knew that if Prime Minister Asada continued to be in power, Japan would have no answer.

That is why, after receiving a call from the Democratic Party of Japan members, they also rushed to Prime Minister Hosokawa’s house.

Prime Minister Hosokawa looks ahead with a complicated expression.

Clearly, half of the people in front of him were the people who had betrayed him not long ago.

But in a crisis like now, we cannot continue to prioritize personal feelings.

“All right…….”

* * *

The House of Representatives, including the Democratic Party of Japan, immediately passed a motion of no confidence in the cabinet.

This time, the Liberal Democratic Party tried hard to block it.

Kenji Asada was not a member of the party, but he did not have political leanings that were diametrically opposed to Hosokawa’s.

Rather, they had similar political leanings to themselves.

And compared to Hosokawa, his political base was weaker, so they could easily use him like a puppet.

But if Hosokawa returns like this, they will once again be reduced to an opposition party with no presence.

Especially in the current atmosphere, if the House of Representatives election were held, it was clear that the Democratic Party of Japan would win an overwhelming victory.

But eventually the vote began, and the motion of no confidence in the cabinet passed with 240 votes out of 455 seats.

“I hereby declare that the motion of no confidence in the Cabinet has been passed.”

Kenzi Asada now had to choose between resigning or dissolving the House of Representatives.

As a last resort, he chose to dissolve the House of Representatives.

But the approval rating didn’t even reach 10%.

There was no way he could win the election.

The Kuomintang lost all of its candidates except himself.

The KMT somehow managed to put forward candidates, but

They failed to win a single seat in any constituency.

In contrast, the Democratic Party of Japan achieved an unprecedented election victory.

“Ah, the Democratic Party of Japan will win a landslide victory in this House of Representatives election. If you combine the coalition parties, they will have a majority of seats!”

It was a huge victory, winning 230 out of 465 seats.

The brief Japanese rebellion was suppressed.