1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 40



Only Krnovel

Episode 40

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As this broadcast began, the thing that the broadcasting station and the government were most worried about was, of course, the broadcasting situation in North Korea.

In fact, if we only consider the beginning of color broadcasting, North Korea started it first in 1974, about six years before South Korea.

However, there was a big difference in the number of TVs distributed.

At this time, South Korea’s TV penetration rate, including black-and-white TVs, had already exceeded 80%.

The difference was significant compared to North Korea’s TV penetration rate at the time, which was approximately 5% of all households.

Along with the installation of infrastructure for simultaneous nationwide broadcasting, TV distribution to North Korea also began at the same time.

Of course, all the broadcasting stations that acted as fronts for the communist party in North Korea have closed down.

However, even though the broadcasting station was closed, the facilities were still quite usable, so KBS and other broadcasting stations could still use the facilities as they were.

Of course, there were areas where it seemed impossible to install infrastructure within a few months.

So we even made plans to broadcast on the radio to those areas.

It was a radio host talking about the appearance and impression of someone on TV.

It’s definitely inferior to TV, but I’m sure this will be quite helpful in finding separated families.

And we actively promoted this program in the North as well.

Although complete movement was not yet permitted, some movement between the South and the North was permitted.

I thought that if people came and went, the fact would spread faster and people would feel the fact that they were unified more quickly.

And when it became known that a program called ‘Finding Separated Families in the South and the North’ was being planned, there was a very strong reaction from the middle-aged and older generation in North Korea who did not recognize unification even after all of North Korea’s territory was occupied.

Because it was a chance for them to meet their forgotten family again.

There was no program better than this one to change the minds of those who had been uncooperative toward unification.

Even though territorial unification has already occurred, there is still a long way to go before true unification is achieved.

Currency, land, ideas, education, culture – everything is different.

Bringing these together wasn’t something that could be done overnight.

But in the end, what mattered most was people.

If people cannot become one, then it is impossible for other things to become one.

Ultimately, the goal of this program was to unite two divided peoples.

And finally, on April 2, 1984, the first episode of the program ‘Finding Separated Families in the South and North’ was aired.

The program was broadcast live for a whopping 12 hours.

The final viewership rating was 82.5%.

In the North, after the first meeting.

Many people came down to KBS in Yeouido to look for their families.

And what brought the most tears to people’s eyes in the first episode was when a son in the North came down from Hamgyeong Province to Seoul wearing only a pair of rubber shoes to find his mother from whom he was separated during the Korean War.

When the mother and son heard that this program was being done, they were the first ones to contact the broadcasting station without saying anything.

And finally, the first day of broadcasting.

The sight of a 70-year-old mother and a 40-year-old son meeting and crying brought tears to the eyes of the entire nation.

“Hey.. Mom..!!!”

“Oh my… my son…!!!!!!”

The boy who had once been a 10-year-old boy had now grown into a man in his 40s, and when he met his mother for the first time in 30 years, her hair had turned completely white.

But they immediately recognized each other as mother and son.

As soon as they hugged each other, they started to cry loudly, and the sight of them warming the hearts of the entire nation watching on TV.

In particular, the highlight of this scene was when the old mother took off her son’s shoes and burst into tears again when she saw that her son’s feet were badly damaged from having to walk all the way here.

“My.. son.. our son.. his feet are like this.. what should I do..”

“It’s okay. Everything is okay now..”

This search for separated families between the North and South has helped a lot in breaking down various social prejudices.

It made people in South Korea think that the people in North Korea are no different from them, and that they could be my relatives or my neighbors.

And the military also helped a lot in this process.

The military, which helped a lot with North Korea’s post-war infrastructure construction, sometimes gave rides to the South or went to government offices to help when people asked about the program while traveling between the South and the North.

Of course, this also applies to public officials. There are limits to simply searching through broadcasts, so each public institution links up with others, and in the process of investigating North Korean residents, if there are family members in South Korea, they contact them and help find them.

In this way, North Korean citizens also realized that South Korean soldiers and citizens did not achieve unification in order to harm them.

In this way, this program contributed enormously to the social integration of the South and the North.

[The South and the North met together and cried together.]

[The son and mother who met after 30 years did not forget each other.]

[For whom have we been fighting for so long over such a sad story?]

The media was busy writing articles about this program every single day.

It was natural for the entire nation to watch this program.

Of course, there may be big and small incidents in the future.

In any case, people gradually came to share the perception that this country had finally come together as one.

Even if unification had occurred 20 years later, or even 30 years later, it would have taken a very long time just to do this.

Even though only 50 years have passed since the war, many of the people who were my family at that time are already dead.

But now it was different.

When we express a generation, we often say 30 years.

Therefore, the unification achieved within this one generation was ultimately a unification that fit the minimum golden time.

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After the four-party talks ended, surprisingly, the first place to contact me was none other than Japan.

‘What is happening to a country that was quiet even during the war?’

Japan remained silent as if it did not exist during the Korean War.

It was a war that most countries were reluctant to get involved in to begin with, so other countries were not much different, but if it had been like before, they would have tried to get something out of it by spitting on it, but this time there was nothing like that.

“Congratulations, President Kim Jong-guk.”

Prime Minister Nakasone’s voice is heard.

He was one of the prime ministers representing Japan’s bubble economy in the 1980s.

“Thank you. There is still much to do. But what do you want to do today?”

“It’s not something else.. Now that unification has occurred, I would like you to investigate this issue.”

“What’s the problem? What problem are you talking about?”

“Don’t you know? The Japanese people who were kidnapped in North Korea.”

“Ah.. Are you talking about that problem···”

North Korea has a history of kidnapping a significant number of Japanese people and taking them to the North, starting in the 1970s and continuing into the early 1990s.

And this was one of the biggest social problems in Japan.

Even in the 1980s, this was practically treated as an urban legend in Japan.

It was a natural thing.

In fact, it was not easy to believe that a dozen or so citizens were kidnapped from an enemy country.

However, this fact was later revealed to be true and caused a great shock in Japan.

In particular, criticism of the incompetent Japanese government that failed to protect its own citizens was quite brutal.

From the Japanese government’s perspective, they will also feel that this is their opportunity, as they have now become a party with whom they can communicate.

“But I’m sorry, but what can we do about this? We’ve been busy with post-war reconstruction issues recently, so we don’t have the time to worry about that. I’ll contact you if I find it, but I don’t have the time to hire someone to do it for you.”

“Well… in that case… we will send someone from Japan, so please cooperate with that.”

“I’m sorry. We are not yet in a position to open up the northern region to foreigners.”

This sly Prime Minister is just trying to take credit for nothing.

If this incident is resolved, Prime Minister Nakasone’s approval rating among the Japanese people will surely increase significantly.

This was a huge boon, considering that Japan’s prime minister has virtually no term limits.

‘I can’t let you take it for free.’

I said first which pattern I needed.

“But… I can do this first. If only the Prime Minister would do one thing.”

“What is that?”

“An apology and compensation for the comfort women issue and the Koreans who were forcibly conscripted.”

“Wasn’t that already resolved with the Japan-ROK Basic Treaty? Why are you bringing it up again now?”

Prime Minister Nakasone responds with annoyance.

If it comes out like that, I have nothing more to say to this guy.

“Then we have nothing more to talk about. Let’s hang up. We are not free to spend time on such things either.”

“Excuse me.. Wait a minute.. Kim.. President Kim!!”

“What else? I’m also very busy. Please speak quickly.”

“Then, please give me a few days to think about it.”

“Okay, I understand. But please keep in mind that the faster you do it, the faster it will be for us to find it.”

“Okay.. I’ll contact you shortly.”

‘You too must take responsibility for the people you kidnapped…’

It’s not that North Korea’s abduction issue is a good thing.

This was a piece of trash that should not have been done.

However, Japan committed such acts against countless Koreans during the Japanese colonial period.

And now we needed to apologize for it.

“Will they actually respond?”

Secretary Young-ho, who was listening from the side, asks.

“I will. Maybe now···.”

Prime Minister Nakasone was a right-wing figure, but at the same time he was friendly to Korea.

There may be things that they absolutely cannot compromise on, such as visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, but at least Japan in the 1980s would be able to accept an apology for the forced conscription of Koreans.

Japan in the 80s was certainly not as right-wing as Japan in the 2020s.

At the very least, I hope the Japanese government understands that now is the only way to create an atmosphere in which an apology can be made with the consent of its own citizens.

And exactly three days later, I got a call.

“President Kim, how long will it take to find all those people?”

“Well, that depends on what the Japanese government does.”

“Okay. I will do as the Korean government says. However, is it okay if the apology is not from the Prime Minister?”

‘So you’re trying to do it in Kono’s style…’

It might have been okay before, but it’s different now.

An apology from the Japanese Prime Minister is needed.

“No. I would like the Prime Minister to make the announcement himself.”

“ha..”

Prime Minister Nakasone lets out a sigh.

But soon he continues talking.

“Okay, I will do that.”

“Okay. I’ll try to find all of them within a week. Then we can have a summit and announce it.”

In fact, the investigation into the abducted Japanese had already been completed.

I was planning to send it back when the time was right.

But after receiving a call from Prime Minister Nakasone, my thoughts changed.

I never thought that North Korea’s trashy crimes would be used to make Japan apologize like this.

‘They say even dog poop can be used as medicine…’

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