1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 170



Only Krnovel

Episode 170

October 2006.

The South Korea-US summit held in Seoul.

The U.S. President’s aircraft, Air Force One, passes through Seongnam Airport, and President Trump disembarks.

He gets off the plane, comes up to me and greets me warmly.

“Hahaha! Long time no see!”

Even though it was just a greeting, he felt quite intimidating because he was over 190cm tall.

“Welcome, President Trump. Did you have any troubles on your way here?”

“There was nothing inconvenient on the way here, but we in the US always have a lot of inconveniences because of Korea, haha.”

He responds with a slightly sheepish look of concern for my well-being.

‘It doesn’t look like it’ll be easy.’

I asked him, ignoring his whining to a certain extent.

“Would you like to go straight to Osan?”

The first planned stop is the Pyeongtaek US military base.

It was a regular occurrence whenever the American President visited Korea.

“Let’s do that. Shouldn’t we first meet our soldiers who are suffering in a foreign land?”

Upon arriving at Osan Air Base, he approached the soldiers and spoke to them in a very friendly manner, as expected of someone who was popular with the soldiers from the beginning.

“What kind of hardships are these in a foreign land? Let’s see, Sergeant James.”

Trump calls the man in front.

“Yes, Sir.”

The American soldier pointed at Trump responds with a loud, military-like voice.

“How, life in Korea is so hard. I’m really sorry for making you suffer like this. I don’t know why America makes you suffer like this in Korea.”

He continued like this at Osan Air Base, asking every American soldier he met why American soldiers had to be in Korea and saying things like, “They are making these sacrifices for Korea.”

Although it is natural that living in a foreign country is difficult, it seemed like he was trying to gain the upper hand in negotiations by speaking in this way.

‘It won’t be easy… … .’

* * *

Upon returning from Osan to the Blue House, there was a welcome dinner.

And after that, as was originally planned, full-scale negotiations would have started the next day, but due to a sudden schedule change request from the US side, negotiations began right after dinner, despite the late hour.

It was quite late, but negotiations began with government officials, including myself and Trump, gathered together.

The first agenda item that came up was, as expected, the cost of stationing US troops in Korea.

“The current cost of stationing US troops in Korea, 1 trillion won, is too small.”

Trump opens the floodgates.

‘As expected, this is the story that is told first.’

The decline in approval ratings seemed to be rapid.

It seemed like they wanted to somehow raise their approval ratings in this way.

I asked him calmly.

“The cost of stationing? I’ve heard about it in the news a few times, but I thought it was just a media prank.”

He answers with a slightly mocking expression.

“How could that be? There is no lie in what I say.”

I pondered for a moment and brought up a past memory that was at the end of my distant memory.

‘I’m sure it was around 5 times back then.’

“Umm… how much do you want to raise it?”

And his answer, which came a little later, was an amount I had never expected.

He spoke to me, holding out both his hands.

“I want 10 times the current amount. I want 10 trillion won.”

Even though I have been in power for over 20 years, I couldn’t help but feel a little flustered.

‘It’s really going to go away… … .’

“Oh, ten times? You must have miscalculated something.”

He shakes his head and answers firmly.

“How could that be? 10 trillion won, that’s 10 times more. The US military is protecting a wealthy country like Korea from this far away country, so isn’t that kind of price reasonable?”

His attitude seemed so confident.

Rather, it seemed as if the United States had made many concessions so far.

In fact, in today’s Korea, it is not a large amount that cannot be paid, whether it is 5 trillion won or 10 trillion won.

However, the multiple that increased compared to the existing amount was too large, rather than the absolute amount of the cost.

“10 times? This is a little embarrassing. It’s not a matter of absolute amount. There is no example of a tenfold increase in this way in the world. 10 trillion won is too expensive.”

Trump laughs loudly.

“Hahaha, expensive? Don’t you know that up until now, America has been protecting Korea at a low cost and making sacrifices? Now, America should also act for its own interests. Just now, when I saw our soldiers in Osan suffering, tears came to my eyes. At least, they should be properly compensated for their suffering.”

That made sense.

It was somewhat natural for the President of the United States to say that he would act in the interests of the United States.

However, the US military in Korea was not stationed there with good intentions solely to protect Korean territory.

“I won’t deny that the US military has helped Korea a lot since the Korean War. But was the reason the US military was stationed in Korea solely for Korea? Is the reason the US military is stationed all over the world now solely out of good will?”

Trump is a little embarrassed.

“That, that’s it… … .”

“And by the way. In the first place, what kind of opponent could possibly pose a threat to Korea right now? The current US military presence in Korea is only there to confirm the friendship between the two countries.”

Trump is even more aggressive in his response to my question.

“If things go this way, we will have no choice but to withdraw US troops from Korea.”

I answered him firmly.

‘Is this the best way after all… … .’

“Yes, we thought it was time. Please proceed with the withdrawal process.”

* * *

After a brief break to ease the slightly heated atmosphere surrounding the issue of US forces stationed in Korea, negotiations resumed.

As expected, the second issue Trump brought up for negotiation was trade tariffs.

“We will have to impose slightly higher tariffs on Korean products.”

I was a little taken aback by his story and asked him back.

“… Are you serious about what you’re saying?”

“Of course I’m serious. Do you really think I’m joking here?”

I sighed and said to him.

“Haa… Didn’t Korea and the US already reach a free trade agreement through negotiations between the two countries? The ink on this agreement hasn’t even dried yet. Do you really think you’re going to overturn it? And the president who signed this agreement was the president of the Republican Party that you, Trump, belong to!”

If it were a president from a different party, I could understand.

But the president of the party he belongs to.

That’s the former president.

It was difficult to understand, from a common sense perspective, how the agreement could be so arbitrarily overturned while the ink was still dry.

But it was possible for Trump.

“That was the deal that Bush made. It wasn’t mine. Either way, I can’t stand this unfair trade any longer.”

I asked him in a slightly sharp voice.

“What if we don’t like it… … .”

Trump answers me with an attitude that makes me wonder if that’s really possible.

“Of course, Korean products cannot be exported to the United States. Why are you asking that?”

The tariffs that Lee is talking about are probably not even at the level of President Bush’s tariffs.

It was clear that they would be talking about tariffs at much higher levels than that.

‘They are very openly declaring that they will move towards protectionism.’

I asked him, clutching my pounding head.

“Do we really need to worsen the relationship between Korea and the United States to this extent? Korea and the United States have been good friends for a long time.”

Still, he smiled and showed an attitude of leaving.

“Korea has just been taking advantage of America, hahaha.”

I have had diplomatic relations with several American presidents.

Among them, there were cases where I had good relationships with people, and cases where I did not.

But even if that were not the case, this was the first time in diplomatic relations that someone had gone out of their way like this.

‘Haa, I knew he wasn’t an easy person to begin with, but this is really beyond my imagination.’

A large, yellow-haired man stands up from his seat and speaks.

“South Korea is now America’s biggest competitor.”

Even though there was still a lot to talk about in the negotiations, getting up from the table essentially meant that he had no intention of doing most of the negotiations any longer.

“Phew… How about we meet again tomorrow?”

I spoke to him as he was leaving the meeting room, barely holding onto his sanity.

However, his attitude was cold.

“Well, something came up suddenly, so I have to go back to the States.”

“What are you talking about… … .”

“That’s right. This Korean food just doesn’t suit my taste. I need to go back to America and eat some hamburgers right away.”

It was so absurd that I burst out in empty laughter.

“Hahaha… Is that so? Then please go in.”

Even if you don’t like Trump, you wouldn’t treat a foreign leader so poorly.

Even for today’s dinner, the best chef in the country came and cooked.

Perhaps that story was brought up with the intention of mocking Korea.

He goes out without looking back.

And the Air Force One he was riding on arrived in Korea and returned to the United States less than 12 hours later.

* * *

[Korea-US Summit. Ends in One Day. President Trump Returns to the US – Tongil Ilbo]

[The Korea-US summit, scheduled for 3 nights and 4 days, ended in one day. Relations with the US worsen to the worst. – Northeast Asia Newspaper]

[US Troop Withdrawal, Tariff Bomb, US-Korea Relations Heading to Worst – KBC]

Just because Trump left, it doesn’t mean all of the American staff went back.

They stayed behind because they had to clean up the mess first, and tried to find compromises on various issues such as the US military in Korea and tariffs, but they were not much different from Trump.

No, to be exact, it felt like Trump was giving guidelines and we were just moving within them.

At the Cabinet meeting held a week after Trump left, all the Cabinet members were very excited.

“Where in the world is there such a diplomatic discourtesy! Shouldn’t this be enough to call for a severance of diplomatic relations with Korea?”

“I’ve heard that it’s rude, but I never dreamed it would be this bad. This is the worst! Since it’s come to this, we have to be strong!”

I first calmed down the excited State Council members and asked the Minister of National Defense.

“Minister, what is the current status of US troops in Korea?”

The newly appointed Minister of Defense stands up and reports on the situation.

“They are already showing signs of continued withdrawal.”

“One, is that so? This is it, about the US military in Korea, about the tariffs… … .”

Frankly speaking, I don’t think it has much to do with national security whether or not the US forces in Korea withdraw.

However, the problem was that it was a representative example of how messed up the relationship between the two countries was, rather than a matter of national security.

The problem was rather exports to the United States.

No matter how large the domestic market was due to the AEU, it was clear that blocking exports to the United States would have a significant impact on the economy.

As soon as Trump returned to the United States, he declared that he would scrap the free trade agreements concluded under the Bush administration a few years ago and began imposing ridiculous tariffs on Korean products.

And this had a serious impact on Korean product exports to the US.

And then, a little later, an even bigger problem arose.

A secretary comes running into the State Council chamber in a panic.

It is rare for a secretary to come into the middle of a cabinet meeting like this unless it is extremely urgent.

“Mr. President, this is a big problem!”

“What’s going on that makes you so fuss?”

The secretary takes a deep breath and tells a shocking story.

“That, that’s the EU is now going to impose tariffs on Korean products… no, AEU products, just like the US… … !!”

Before America’s punches were even over, another punch came from Europe.