1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 30



Only Krnovel

Episode 30

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“Citizens. I really don’t know how to apologize for the corruption in our Liberty Korea Party’s nomination process last time so that we can receive forgiveness from the people. Our Liberty Korea Party will thoroughly investigate and reveal everything to see if there has been another incident like this. I apologize once again!”

Representative Choi Hyun’s speech at Gwanghwamun Square began with an apology for the recent primary election corruption scandal.

But elections cannot be won with apologies alone.

He continues his speech right away.

“But my fellow citizens. Our Korea First Party must become the majority party to support President Kim Jung-guk’s state affairs. Don’t you know what President Kim Jung-guk has shown us so far? Please give our Korea Party a chance so that we can help President Kim Jung-guk even a little more, even though we are ashamed of it.”

He wasn’t a popular politician, but he was a neat speaker.

Applause erupts from the supporters watching.

And at that time, YS was campaigning in Yeouido Square.

“Citizens! The Yushin era is now over. However, I, Kim Yong-shin, still have work to do. I have come here again to be chosen by you as a capable leader! Please choose our Democratic Liberal Party!”

As YS’s speech ended, the people gathered cheered.

A swarm of people gathered to see him.

Although he lost the presidential election, his influence still remains intact.

And at that moment, at the Kuro Industrial Complex, Kwon Do-jun, TJ’s long-time political comrade, was giving a speech.

“Everyone!! When the president wields such great power like now, what are we going to do if even the National Assembly cannot check him? If we lose this election, we may go back to the days of President Lee Jung-hwan! Only our Peace Democratic Party can check the ruling party and the president!”

Although there are many working class people in Guro Industrial Complex who relatively support TJ, there is not as much cheering as expected.

Three days before voting day.

The election was a three-way battle.

The ruling Korea First Party led by Representative Choi Hyun.

The Democratic Liberal Party, created by YS and JP through a merger with the Democratic Republican Party.

And it was the Peace Democratic Party created by forces supporting TJ.

The first opposition party, the Democratic Liberal Party, was a merger of the remnants of the Democratic Republican Party and the New Democratic Party after the presidential election.

The main axis of the Democratic Liberal Party was YS and JP, but as JP lost his ties to the government after the presidential election and became relatively weak, the Democratic Liberal Party actually began to unite around YS.

And the second opposition party, the Peace Democratic Party, was a party created by those who supported TJ.

However, TJ did not directly lead this party.

This party was created by politicians from the Donggyo-dong faction who had no choice but to follow TJ, who had gone to the United States after saying he would leave politics for the time being following his defeat in the presidential election.

Although it had the image of being a clear opposition party that stood at odds with the government, the lack of a strong leader ultimately held the Peace Democratic Party back.

Even though it was a party led by the Donggyo-dong faction that was close to TJ, there was a big difference between him actually leading the party and him not.

Unlike the Korea First Party led by Choi Hyun or the Democratic Liberal Party led by YS, Kwon Do-jun, the leader of the Peace Democratic Party, could not help but be relatively weak.

If election engineering had been as planned, the two opposition parties should have strongly attacked the Liberty Korea Party for corruption in its primary elections.

But they were never able to strongly attack this nomination corruption.

It was clear that there must have been corruption in the nomination process, whether they knew it or not, but it was burdensome for them to continue attacking it.

So, in the end, as a last resort, they tried to unify at least in the local districts, but in the end, they failed to unify as neither side would make concessions.

So the two-week election period ended with a three-way battle.

March 25, 1981.

On the day of the National Assembly elections.

After voting in the morning, he canceled all his planned schedules and rested at the official residence.

I was worried that people might say that the President was meddling in politics, so I didn’t go out anywhere and just lay in the residence all day.

‘Still, it’s nice to be resting like this after such a long time.’

After suddenly being possessed by a man named Kim Jung-guk and running around for over a year, I was quite mentally exhausted.

That’s why this kind of break felt quite sweet.

But even during this break, the elections continued to be a concern.

The total number of seats is 299.

Of these, 75 were proportional representation seats and 224 were regional constituency seats.

In the original flow of history, the 1988 general election for members of the National Assembly held after the constitutional amendment did not have a separate proportional representation vote, but was a system that distributed national constituency members (proportional representation) according to the number of regional constituency seats.

However, since this system itself could distort public opinion, after the constitutional amendment, the electoral system was reorganized and changed to a system where two votes are cast, one for each constituency candidate and one for each proportional representation party, similar to modern-day National Assembly elections.

This electoral reform bill passed without much fuss, perhaps because the National Assembly considered it reasonable, and is currently being applied in the National Assembly elections.

‘It’s almost over now.’

I looked at my watch and it was already 6pm.

It was time for the election to end.

The outline of the vote count will be revealed at 10 o’clock.

Turn on the TV and watch the vote counting.

‘Oh but… why am I so sleepy…’

Maybe it’s because the early counting is still boring, but I’m suddenly feeling sleepy.

And when I opened my eyes a little while later, it was already dark outside.

“Hmm.. I dozed off for a bit…”

When I opened my eyes and looked at the clock, it was already past 11 o’clock.

‘I slept for quite a while..’

The TV that was left on continued to broadcast the election results.

And the vote counting broadcast was already nearing its end.

[The 11th National Assembly election in the Republic of Korea held today is almost in sight.]

Since the CG had not yet been properly set in, the anchor started showing the votes and talking about the current results.

[As of 11:04, the nationwide vote count is 72.3%. Currently, the Korea First Party is in first place. It is expected to win 127 regional seats and 36 proportional representation seats, for a total of 163 seats. The Democratic Liberal Party is in second place. It is expected to win 63 regional seats and 22 proportional representation seats, for a total of 85 seats. The Peace Democratic Party is in third place. It is expected to win 27 regional seats and 15 proportional representation seats, for a total of 42 seats. The remaining 2 proportional representation seats are won by the Progressive Democratic Party and… .. .. .. ..]

‘Good!’

An overwhelming victory for the ruling Korea First Party.

The headquarters of Korea First Party was filled with cheering people.

‘I was lucky in many ways…’

The victory in this election was in part due to the president’s high approval rating, but the two opposition parties were ultimately unable to unite in their constituencies.

Especially in the metropolitan area, there were quite a few seats that were won by chance without unification.

But even without the division of the opposition party, there were encouraging aspects for the Liberty Korea Party.

It was precisely in the Honam region that a considerable number of successful candidates were elected.

Honam was a region that originally had relatively strong anti-President Lee Jung-hwan sentiment.

However, the fact that this result was achieved means that President Lee Jung-hwan and Kim Jung-guk are now recognized as separate people.

Previously, he was simply the successor to President Lee Jung-hwan, but now he is recognized by the people solely as President Kim Jung-guk.

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After the election, the first thing I focused on was agriculture.

There was a reason why I looked into agriculture first, even though I was busy with other things at the beginning of my term.

This is because the year immediately following the cold spell, 1980, was the worst year, with rice production decreasing by about 30% compared to the previous year.

This was because it was necessary to appease the public sentiment of farmers who were suffering the worst and to spur rice production once again.

At that time, there was one big problem in rice farming in South Korea.

It’s Tongil rice.

Tongil rice, which began to be produced in the early 1970s, brought about a dramatic increase in production, but had serious problems.

The point is that it just didn’t taste good.

To be exact, it’s not that it didn’t taste good, but rather that it tasted very different from the Korean rice I was used to eating.

The taste of Tongil rice, which has an Indica flavor, could not suit the taste of Koreans who are accustomed to eating only Japonica rice.

As a result, people with some money started importing and eating American Carlos rice or Japanese rice.

“How long do we have to produce this damned Tongil rice! It’s not even selling!”

“Please let us produce other varieties!”

In the late 1970s, farmers’ cries continued, but at the time, Korea pushed ahead with the Tongil rice program with the goal of rice self-sufficiency.

But now it is time to end this era of unified rice.

‘That’s why I bought this.’

[Shindongjin Rice]

The ‘Shindongjin rice’ purchased for 500 points was a variety of rice that was mainly produced in Jeollabuk-do in 2023. It was popular for its good taste and chewiness, and was a variety with relatively high production.

Of course, since it is a variety that has gone through multiple rounds of breeding, it will be much more resistant to diseases and pests than the Japonica variety at the time.

In preparation for the cultivation of this new variety, we set aside time to gather farmers from all over the country and give them an explanation.

Farmers from all over the country come up to Seoul, grab the microphone, and each one says something.

“The Tongil rice we use now isn’t selling well, so why do we need to grow a new variety?”

“That’s right! How long do we have to grow rice that won’t sell!”

The peasants vent their heartfelt resentment.

It was a natural reaction, since the Tongil rice previously provided by the government looked like that.

‘I have to give you faith.’

I took the microphone and made a promise to the farmers.

“Farmers, I promise you this. If the yield of this ‘Shindongjin rice’ falls short of expectations or the taste is poor and it is not sold, the government will purchase all the unsold rice at the market price of other Japonica rice. Of course, if the yield is low, we will compensate for it.”

“Are you saying you’ll buy it at market price?”

“Is that…really? Mr. President.”

When everyone heard that they were buying at market price, their faces lit up.

In the case of Tongil rice, the government purchased a significant amount of unsold rice, but the price was usually relatively low compared to the market price.

But since the government said it would compensate for all losses at market prices, there was no reason not to try.

“Farmers, please trust me and try growing this rice just once. This rice will be the rice variety that will change agriculture in Korea and your lives.”

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[2,000pts were accumulated for winning the National Assembly election.]

[Current points: 8,300pt]

[Accumulated points have reached 10,000 points.]

[Printing function added to smartphone.]

[Printing consumes 50pt per print.]

‘Photo print?’

This is a pretty useful feature added.

One of the problems with this smartphone was that it was invisible to anyone but me.

So when I had something to share with someone, photos and things like that were quite a pain.

The last time I shared the map, I had barely managed to draw it while splitting up my sleeping hours and handed it over to you.

“This will be useful in many ways in the future.”

But now there were more important things to do.

‘Weapon development’

If we were thinking about the future ahead, now was the time to prepare.

[Hanho K8 self-propelled howitzer / 3,000pt]

The first item purchased was the K8 self-propelled howitzer, the mainstay of the modern South Korean artillery.

It was the most points I’ve ever had to pay.

‘By the way, weapons require relatively many points.’

I was a little hesitant about paying a few more points, but I don’t think you could ask for a better option.

I clicked the buy button without hesitation.

[Purchase failed.]

[Requires a space of 10,000 square meters or more.]

‘What is this?’