1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 47



Only Krnovel

Episode 47

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As the general elections approached, the opposition parties other than the Korea First Party became more anxious.

That is understandable, as at this point in time, when President Kim Jong-guk’s approval rating exceeds 90%, running in the election as an opposition party would be tantamount to suicide.

Some opposition lawmakers kept knocking on the door of the Liberty Korea Party.

It was because I wanted to run in the election with the Korean Party mark on me somehow.

Of course, the National Assembly elections are not necessarily proportional to the president’s approval rating, but in the National Assembly elections, which usually serve as a midterm evaluation of the president, the president’s approval rating was an issue that could not be ignored.

When the president’s approval rating is this high, the opposition party has one very fatal problem.

This was because it was impossible to develop a theory of the presidential trial.

“This time, we must judge President Kim Jung-guk, the lackey of the dictatorial President Lee Jung-hwan! Everyone!!”

There were some strong opposition lawmakers who occasionally used slogans like this, but this was a tactic that only worked when the president’s approval rating was low.

Rather, I was busy just getting cursed at now.

“What are you talking about! The President is doing so well right now, and you can’t even help him!!”

“Get down, you punk! The President is better than hundreds of idiot congressmen like you!”

Because he made strong statements and reacted in this way, the election structure did not turn out to be favorable.

Even in the areas known as the strongholds of the opposition parties, cracks are slowly beginning to appear.

“Mr. Choi. Mr. Choi, who are you voting for in this election?”

A makgeolli restaurant near Tongyeong County Office.

Two middle-aged men sit drinking makgeolli and pajeon (pancakes) and talking about the upcoming election.

“Well… I guess I’ll have to vote for the Democratic Liberal Party candidate that YS is in. Who are you going to vote for Mr. Kim?”

“I’ve decided to vote for the Korean Party this time.”

Tongyeong-gun was the region that included Geojedo Island, where YS was born.

Although YS’s constituency was not Tongyeong but Seo-gu, Busan, Tongyeong was clearly his hometown and a place where his political influence was strong.

“Hey.. Mr. Kim. No matter how popular the president is these days, shouldn’t we vote for the Democratic Party?”

Choi Pil-yeon.

He was born in Tongyeong and lived there his entire life.

He was a person who, throughout his life, only voted for the party that YS belonged to.

And the same goes for his neighborhood friend Kim Pan-gon, who was drinking with him.

But it was a shock to him that he suddenly voted for the Korea First Party, which the president belongs to.

“Okay. I think they’ve given us enough to be ignorant. To be honest, what have they done for us? But look at Kim Jong-guk becoming president. In that short period of time, they unified the country. They received an apology from Japan. Even though we’ve always had a hard time, has there ever been a time when the economy was as good as it is now?”

Choi Pil-yeon is left speechless at the sight of his friend acting so resolutely.

In fact, he said that he would vote for the party that YS is in, but recently he has been having a lot of trouble deciding whether to vote for the Liberty Korea Party or not.

Putting everything else aside, this is the first time in my life that my wallet has been this thick.

This was the first time that President Kim Jong-un felt that the economy was actually improving.

And crucially, President Kim Jong-guk did not see any particular areas of criticism, no matter how much they tried to look at it through colored glasses.

“.. .. I have nothing to say. In fact, I am also worried. To be honest, even in the last general election, I saw that even if it was his own party, he was mercilessly kicked out because there was corruption, so I thought that this person was a little different.”

“That’s right. That’s right. It’s not just about developing the economy. If it were someone else, they would have attacked the media and students, saying they were dictators, but President Kim doesn’t do that. Even if the media writes bad articles, he doesn’t suppress them, and when students protest, he tries to talk to them. Where else can you find someone like that?”

It has become difficult to see people throwing out rice cakes and money during elections since Kim Jong-guk became president.

No matter how much you curse the president, they don’t arrest you like they used to.

He was clearly different from previous presidents.

“Haa.. I’m worried..”

The fact that even someone like Choi Pil-yeon, a die-hard supporter of YS, is worried like this is proof that even the regions that were considered the main supporters of the three Kims can no longer be certain.

As things got to this point, opposition candidates began to change their slogans from opposing the president to promoting political diversity and an opposition party that could cooperate well with the ruling party.

“If this National Assembly is filled entirely by one party, will the President be able to make the right decision? Everyone, for the sake of the President, please vote for our Democratic Liberal Party candidate!”

It was like when Pacquiao first ran for office in the Philippines, his opponents were arguing that we shouldn’t send him into the dirty business of politics.

Even lawmakers are starting to get confused about who the campaign is for.

“I don’t know who I’m voting for right now···.”

“That’s right.. This is the first time that an opposition politician has praised the president while running for the National Assembly···.”

“Well… there’s nothing I can do about it… If I badmouth the president, eggs will fly and I’ll be met with boos···.”

“What is this… It’s not like we’re suppressing anything… Instead, it feels like things are getting more difficult for us.”

“That’s true. But it’s not like we can ask the president to suppress the opposition party to lower his approval ratings…”

Now that I think about it, it actually seems like it was easier to win the election during President Lee Jung-hwan’s term.

At that time, at least we could have taken the position of the oppressed opposition party, but now that the oppression has disappeared, it feels like only the frame of an incompetent opposition party remains.

“President Kim, is there anything coming out?”

“Wouldn’t it be… That gentleman… Wasn’t that gentleman famous for never having any greed for money since his days in the royal palace···.”

“Then what about the suppression of opposition figures..”

“If there was something like that, would we be worrying this much···?”

Among the vice ministers, he was the only one who cared about the opposition party members among the ruling party members.

There could be no such thing as personal corruption.

“Anyway, it will not be an easy election···.”

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“Congratulations to President-elect Bush.”

America’s number one talk show, The Tonight Show.

Today’s guest was none other than US President-elect Bush.

“Haha. Thank you.”

The host asks the president various questions.

And this question was about foreign affairs.

“Who do you think will be the most important foreign policy partner for the Bush administration? Will it be Britain, Australia or Canada?”

The host talks about the countries that are called America’s closest allies.

But President Bush gave a surprising answer.

“Well, of course I think those countries are important partners to the United States, but I think the Bush administration’s most important partner is Korea.”

“If you say Korea, are you talking about the place that was unified this time?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“That’s surprising. Of course, I know that Korea has been growing rapidly in many ways recently, but from the US’s perspective, isn’t it a lower priority than the major countries?”

The host asks in surprise.

In fact, Korea is not a very famous country in the United States compared to the UK or Canada.

Although it has recently become quite famous due to unification and the Pope’s visit, it is still a country with low recognition compared to China or Japan, even in East Asia.

But Bush’s answer was the same.

“No. I really value the importance of Korea. I think Korea is a really important diplomatic partner from the US perspective, including Korea’s development after unification and technology sharing with the US. And I think President Kim Jong-guk is at the center of it all.”

“President Kim Jong-guk. Oh… I know him well. He’s really popular in the United States these days.”

“He is one of my best friends. He is a true gentleman and a capable leader.”

Bush’s positive comments about Korea were also intended to keep Japan in check.

At this time, the United States was actively keeping Japan in check.

The Japanese economy at the time was in a state of extreme overabundance of money.

It was not an empty talk that if you sell all of Tokyo, you can buy all of America.

That is why the Bush administration chose Korea as the partner to check Japan.

Bush also made a clear statement about what he would receive in return from South Korea.

Of course, this was also a comment that contained a check on Japan.

“I think that Japan needs to make a proper apology for its past annexation and colonization of Korea, if only for the sake of the US-Japan-ROK relationship.”

Everyone was surprised that the person who would become the President of the United States would make such strong comments about other countries.

In Japan, there was even talk that he had received money from Korea.

The next day, of course, the newspapers were filled with stories about this talk show.

[President-elect Bush: President Kim Jong-un of South Korea is my best friend.]

[President-elect Bush: Japan needs to apologize more properly to Korea.]

And after President-elect Bush’s remarks, awareness of Korea around the world increased tremendously.

It was a fresh shock to people around the world that the US president-elect went on America’s most popular talk show and said that he considered Korea a more important partner than its closest allies, the UK, Canada and Australia.

There was even an article like this in The Guardian in the UK.

[One Korean president changed the diplomatic map of the world.]

[The terrifying pace of development of a unified Korea. What has captured the heart of the US President-elect so much?]

And this Korean story was also known in the Soviet Union and China.

Although the Soviet Union and China tried to block information about the West, they could not block all information at a time when reforms and opening up were already taking place gradually.

This information spread quickly, especially in coastal cities where trade was active.

In particular, the images of the North Korean concentration camps that the Pope visited showed them the true face of North Korea, which they had supported, and this came as a shock to them in many ways.

“No matter what they do, those North Korean guys are just too much.. Even the police can’t do that.”

“That’s right. It’s really embarrassing that China helped those guys like that. It’s embarrassing.”

Workers near a coastal city in China talk about Korea while reading foreign newspapers smuggled in.

And then the police who saw this scene came running.

“You guys! What were you talking about!!”

“Ah.. No! I didn’t say anything!”

The workers run away naked.

In this way, China and the Soviet Union tried to keep talk about South Korea and North Korea quiet internally, but information gradually spread among the people.

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And this boom in Korea was also felt on Wall Street.

Wall Street in the United States selected Korea as the country expected to have the highest growth over the next 85 years.

[Korea. This year’s growth rate is expected to be over 30%.]

[Korea has achieved tremendous growth in various fields including semiconductors, CDs, military industry, and construction industry.]

[Korea has an overwhelming quality advantage in the semiconductor quality competition with Japan. Now it is threatening the US and Germany in the military industry.]

[Line up of companies looking to invest in Korea.]

At the same time, during this process, President Kim Jong-guk also arranged meetings with several CEOs in the United States.

Although they are people who would be difficult to meet even after a little time had passed, they were still people who were easy enough to meet.

[South Korean President Kim Jung-guk meets with Microsoft’s Bill Gates.]

In particular, I personally invited one CEO who has become a real Nakdong River duck egg to the Blue House and met with him.

[South Korean President Kim Jung-guk invites Steve Jobs, who was fired from Apple, causing a stir.]

“Is that true? You invited me from Korea?”

“Yes, really. The President of Korea said he really wanted to meet me.”

“Please catch the plane right now! I’ll be there right away.”

For Steve Jobs, who was fired from the company he created and became a duck egg in the Nakdong River, it couldn’t have been better for the hottest person in the world to be asking to see him.

He flew to Korea the very next day.

And the Korean hospitality towards him was truly overflowing.

“Thank you for coming!! It’s such an honor to meet someone I really respect!”

President Kim Jong-guk was delighted and held the hand of the man who was dozens of years younger than him.

Although Jobs had a somewhat psychopathic personality, he couldn’t help but be touched by this level of hospitality.

“I… thank you so much… I didn’t know you would welcome me like this.”

“Hahaha. Of course, it’s only natural since we have such a great CEO as Mr. Jobs. Shall we have a meal together and talk about business?”