1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 32



Only Krnovel

Episode 32

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“Please give us some Shindongjin rice seeds too!”

“Us too!! Us too!! Let’s do it with Shindongjin rice!”

Farmers were desperate to somehow get Shindongjin rice seeds first from officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Last year, only less than 10% of all farmers grew Shindongjin rice, but this year, almost all farmers were clamoring for seeds to grow Shindongjin rice.

It was a natural thing.

Shindongjin rice, which began cultivation last year, has brought about a tremendous increase in yield compared to existing Japonica rice varieties.

And more important than the increase in yield was the taste.

This Shindongjin rice received a huge response in the market.

Even those who were skeptical at first were amazed by the taste once they tried it.

A taste superior to that of existing Japonica rice grown in Korea, Japanese rice, or American Calrose rice.

The price there is almost the same as that of Tongil rice.

People couldn’t help but fall in love with it.

Shindongjin rice has been on a roll, gaining overwhelming recognition and popularity as a rice brand through word of mouth.

A spectacle unfolded in front of a rice shop, with people waiting in line to buy luxury goods at a modern department store.

Unlike 1980, when record yields were lost due to cold damage, the income of farmers who grew Shindongjin rice in 1981 increased significantly.

Naturally, support for the government in rural areas was bound to increase.

“As expected, His Excellency Lee Jeong-Hwan is the successor.”

“What are you talking about? President Kim is much better! This president told us to plant that damned unification rice, what did he do for us?”

“What is this old man losing his mind! No matter what, he still curses His Excellency Lee Jeong-hwan!”

In this way, there are now fights in rural areas over whether it is Lee Jeong-hwan or Kim Jeong-guk.

President Lee Jung-hwan’s absolute support in the Yeongnam rural areas was gradually shifting to President Kim Jung-guk.

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Sometime after the summer of 1982.

He attempted to implement strong policies that could boost his approval ratings along with his drive for social reform.

One of the two biggest reform policies in social reform was the five-day workweek, the other was the introduction of the national pension system.

The five-day workweek was originally implemented every other week by some private companies after 1990, and was not applied to public institutions until the 2000s.

It may be a little early, but it was a necessary system to improve labor efficiency in the Republic of Korea.

South Korea is notorious for having long working hours, but work efficiency is not that high compared to the working hours.

Ultimately, since there is no proper balance between rest and work, work efficiency is bound to decline.

By 2023, the five-day workweek will have become the norm, but when the five-day workweek was first implemented, the media and everywhere were criticized as if the world would be ruined if the five-day workweek was implemented.

Of course, even if a five-day workweek is attempted, not all companies will close on Saturdays.

There may be jobs that require you to work on Saturdays, depending on the circumstances, and in the case of factories, there may be days when you have no choice but to work if there is a backlog of work.

However, by making Saturday a public holiday, it was possible to increase the overall wages of workers by providing additional allowances.

And this could soon be achieved by raising the wages of all citizens.

Another was the national pension. Even now, there are civil servant pensions, military pensions, and private school pensions, but the national pension for all citizens was not yet introduced.

The national pension system was intended to be implemented as a welfare system, but it was also intended for overseas investment.

We had to raise money to invest overseas by opening a sovereign wealth fund and using the national pension fund as a huge amount of money.

It was obvious and predictable where and how things would go, but at this time, the limits of how much money the country could invest were clear.

The country needed more money to operate.

Of course, it was introduced excluding the biggest problem of the national pension system.

Not unconditional membership, but membership for only citizens who wish to join.

Instead, it promised citizens that they would be guaranteed a secure pension when they signed up.

“Citizens. When I introduce this national pension, I will never force you to join this system. If you feel like this system is like a tax, then you shouldn’t do it. However, I promise you that the citizens who save in this national pension will have a more comfortable retirement. Please trust me and join the national pension.”

However, these two policies were far from being policies that could significantly increase approval ratings.

Rather, some people attacked it fiercely.

Even within the ruling party, there was skepticism about the five-day workweek, so it was quite difficult to pass it.

There was particularly strong opposition from companies.

Even if the bill were to pass, it would be of no use if businesses did not adopt it.

So we needed help from businesses.

“Please cooperate with us in settling on a five-day workweek. All executives. We will give priority to technology sharing at the National Technology Agency for companies that cooperate first.”

Only after convincing these companies were we able to get the five-day workweek passed.

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The National Pension Service was not a policy that increased support for the five-day workweek system.

These were policies that were implemented because they were necessary for the Republic of Korea in the long term.

Separate from these policies, there was a need for policies that would be welcomed by everyone and would boost approval ratings.

It was necessary to raise the approval rating as much as possible before the war broke out.

I’m at the end of summer.

August 20, 1982.

A public announcement was made.

“Citizens. Today, amidst the harsh reality of the Republic of Korea, I would like to make a special declaration. As of today, August 23, 1982, the Republic of Korea declares war on crime.”

It was originally a security policy implemented by No Dae-jun in history.

The reason this policy was implemented was to divert public anger following the incident in 1990 in which a private exposed the surveillance of civilians by the Defense Security Command at the time, but it was actually a policy that greatly contributed to reducing organized crime.

Now that the authority and scope of the Security Command has been drastically reduced to only military-related matters, that won’t happen, but regardless, this security policy was definitely worth implementing.

I strongly warned each city police department that if there were any police officers involved in organized crime, they should all be stripped of their clothes and even sent to prison.

The police, sensing that the situation was serious, responded quickly.

From the next day, an operation to arrest gangsters who had been virtually neglected throughout the country was carried out.

Basically, they mobilized police forces, but when there was resistance, they deployed special police forces and even some military units, and if they resisted with weapons, they were shot to death on sight and even granted immunity for that action.

***

“Hey! Don’t stand there!!”

“Don’t come!”

Kim Sang-cheol, the leader of the famous Busan gang Sangcheolpa.

He has been on a roll since Kim Jong-guk became president.

The reason is that nightlife culture began to flourish.

As the curfew was lifted and the economy picked up, things that had been suppressed began to burst out, and the nightlife began to flourish tremendously. Naturally, he, who had a firm hold on the nightlife in the Busan area, went from strength to strength.

Sometimes, when there was a serious fight, the police would give them a look, but as long as they paid the bribe on time, they didn’t touch them too much.

But those seemingly eternal days of happiness came crashing down last week after the president declared a “war on crime.”

A large-scale crackdown on organized crime syndicate members across the country has begun.

From the first day, the members of the organization started to be arrested one by one.

The business he was directly operating was virtually on the verge of closing down, and the account under which he had hidden his criminal proceeds was also suspended.

“정 서장.. 이 개새끼는 왜 연락이 안 되는 거야..!!”

He escaped from the pursuing detectives by going into the office and calling the police chief, who he had usually bribed, but no matter how many times he called, there was no answer.

Sangcheol takes out the bribe ledger that was in the drawer.

“Fuck .. I know how to die alone!

Kim Sang-cheol simply thought that Chief Jeong had betrayed him.

That’s understandable, Chief Jeong was one of the top leaders in the area.

I couldn’t help but think that something could be wrong.

I thought that if I met him and told him that I would leak the ledger to the press, I would definitely be able to get away with it.

But after watching the news on the TV that was on, I soon realized that my judgment that Chief Jeong had betrayed me was wrong.

[Here’s the news. This morning. Busan Haeundae-gu Police Chief Jeong Mo was arrested on charges of accepting bribes from a famous Busan crime syndicate. He has been… .. .. .. .. ..]

It’s not that I’m not answering the phone.

I couldn’t receive it.

Boom! Boom! Boom!!

“Hey!! Kim Sang-cheol, open the door!! Open the door!!! It’s already over!”

The detectives knock harshly on the door.

‘Fuck..’

Sang-cheol takes out a sashimi knife from his office drawer and prepares for his final fight.

If he was caught anyway, it was clear that he would be sentenced to more than 20 years as the leader of a criminal organization.

I had to somehow evade the detectives and escape overseas.

Boom..! Boom..! Boom..!!

The tightly closed door opens and the police enter.

Sangcheol resists, holding the sashimi knife tightly.

“Don’t come. Don’t come, you little shits..!!”

“Kim Sang-cheol, put that knife down!”

“Don’t come first!

One of the detectives takes a pistol out of his pocket and aims it at Sang-cheol.

“Put it down for three counts or I’ll really shoot.”

“You’re talking nonsense···!”

“One.. two..”

Sang-cheol, who becomes anxious at the sound of the count, screams and rushes at the detectives.

“Eww!!!”

bang!!!

At that moment, a gunshot rings out and a bullet pierces Sang-cheol’s heart.

“Ugh..”

Sang-cheol, who was rushing forward with a sashimi knife, falls to the ground, bleeding.

“Haa.. Is this okay···.”

“Fine. We had no choice. If we hadn’t fired, we would have been in danger. The president said that if someone resists with a weapon, he will be shot and killed, so don’t worry about it.”

The detective next to him comforts the detective who fired his gun.

Kim Sang-cheol, who was called the king of Haeundae’s night streets, had over 20 criminal records, including fraud, violence, organizing a criminal organization, drug distribution, intimidation, and murder.

He, who had committed all sorts of crimes and was still breathing fresh air, died alone as a cold corpse without any of his family being able to see his end.

As the number of gangsters who died while resisting became quite high, most of the gangsters gave up resisting and chose to be caught easily.

No matter how important money or other things are, they cannot be more important than life.

Of course, during this process, there was considerable internal discontent as many police officers who received money from organized crime were arrested, dismissed, or fired, but the discontent was quelled in the same way as at the time of Hanahoe.

Quick promotion to fill a vacant position.

As the promotion blockade was lifted, some police officers who had been blocked from promotion exposed corruption related to organized crime with their superiors.

In a war against crime that lasted nearly five long months from summer through the cold winter, nearly 90 percent of South Korea’s organized crime was eradicated.

In the market, taxes paid to the so-called gangsters disappeared, and the streets at night were transformed into bars and makgeolli restaurants run by ordinary self-employed business owners.

The image of South Korea, which had been like a lawless zone, was slowly returning to normal.

As the gangsters disappeared to a degree that was practically tangible, it was only natural that the approval rating for the government would rise.

In the New Year’s opinion poll at the beginning of 1983, the approval rating for the government was over 80%.