1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 60



Only Krnovel

Episode 60

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“Didn’t I tell you that Korea is a nation that can’t take action? Hahaha.”

The Minister of Defense laughs broadly and fills Prime Minister Takeshita’s glass.

“Yeah, that’s right. I guess I was just too intimidated. Haha.”

Prime Minister Takeshita also empties his glass and smiles happily.

At that moment, the sliding door of the fairy house opens and a soldier hurriedly comes in.

“Your Majesty… I think you should go quickly….”

“What the heck, what’s going on! Can’t you see I’m having a meal with the Prime Minister right now?”

“That.. that..”

A soldier tells the Minister of Defense in a small voice about the nuclear bomb being dropped on Maizuru.

“That.. that.. really..? Korea really.. dropped a nuke..!!”

“Yes.. it’s true···.”

“Then what were our military doing until the fighter jets entered our territorial waters?”

“I’m sorry. They say it wasn’t detected on radar at all. They say it’s impossible to detect a Korean fighter jet with Japan’s current technology…”

Clang!

At that moment, Prime Minister Takeshita drops his glass on the floor and asks the Minister of Defense with a thoughtful face.

“Instead of defense, what are you talking about now? Nuclear weapons···!”

“That… that···.”

The Minister of Defense sighed deeply with a troubled expression on his face and spoke.

“Whew… It looks like Korea has finally decided to use nukes.”

“Blood.. How much damage is there?”

“Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to have been a very powerful nuclear bomb. The damage appears to have been limited to the Maizuru Maritime Self-Defense Force base. The casualties are currently being counted, but are estimated to be around 200.”

Since the area where the bomb was dropped was an area within Maizuru Base with few people, the casualties were much lower than expected.

There were no civilian casualties, and all casualties were Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel.

Of course, 200 casualties may seem small compared to the value of the nuclear weapon, but they knew better than anyone else the danger that the name nuclear carries.

I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of chaos would arise in Japan if this fact became known.

“I’m sorry..! Prime Minister.. Could it be that Korea..”

The Minister of Defense, who had been smiling confidently just a moment ago, bows his head and apologizes to the Prime Minister.

“Whew… First, convene a Cabinet Secretariat meeting… and make sure that this matter is not exposed to the press.”

“Ah.. I understand!”

Japan has blocked all information to the greatest extent possible.

A large explosion occurred at a nearby military base, he said, as the situation was brought under control.

Fortunately, since it was a military base, blocking information was not difficult.

Even within the Maizuru unit, only a few people were able to determine exactly what had happened in areas that had not been damaged.

This is what happens because we never imagined that a nuclear weapon would be dropped in the first place.

Japan was not a dictatorship, but it was a more closed country than expected in terms of the media and other areas, so it was possible to block information about the situation to this extent.

It wasn’t the time when the Internet was fully operational, so even if individuals knew about this fact, it wasn’t easy for them to make it known.

In this way, Japan concealed the fact that a nuclear weapon had been dropped.

##

A secret Cabinet meeting is convened.

In the case of the Cabinet Secretariat meeting, it is a staff meeting in which the chief secretaries of Korea participate, and Prime Minister Takeshita limited the number of participants in this meeting to an extremely small number even among the Cabinet Secretariat.

When each staff member hears of the nuclear weapons being dropped, they become excited and each express their opinion.

“First, we need to quickly turn this into a public opinion war!”

“That’s right! The world’s public opinion cannot be positive about South Korea using nuclear weapons. If we drag this into a public opinion war, South Korea will quickly apologize to us and make us pay compensation!”

“Shouldn’t we first have a conversation with Korea…?”

“In any case, wasn’t it our Japanese Self-Defense Forces that attacked first? It might actually be disadvantageous in the public opinion battle. We should first talk to Korea.”

There are conflicting opinions, with some saying that this should be made public immediately and made known to the world, while others say that we should first talk to Korea.

However, there was no suggestion of an all-out war.

The atmosphere was quite different from the last State Council meeting.

Despite the deaths of over 200 of our country’s soldiers, no one in the Cabinet Office is talking about going to all-out war.

There were two reasons.

One is the fear of being in ruins.

Until this time, there was hope that Japan could become the world’s leading economy.

But there was a fear that if this situation led to an all-out war, all hope would disappear and the entire country would become a ruin.

In a country like Japan, the deaths of 200 people were not a big deal.

It was a country that had already forced meaningless deaths such as seppuku (hara-kiri) on its civilians during the Pacific War.

For the sake of the country, the death of an individual was of little consequence.

The second was the fear of nuclear weapons themselves.

Everyone present here had experienced the Pacific War.

And they were the people who knew better than anyone else the damage Japan had suffered from nuclear weapons in the past.

The fear in their heads that nuclear weapons could be dropped on them created the consciousness that all-out war must be avoided at all costs.

And the same was true for Prime Minister Takeshita, who participated in the Pacific War.

“First of all… let’s talk with Korea… and let’s think about war or public opinion later.”

###

Japan hid the fact that it had dropped nuclear weapons as much as possible.

But this fact could not be hidden even from American intelligence agencies.

As soon as he learned of this, Bush canceled all his schedules and immediately contacted President Kim Jong-guk.

“President Kim! What the hell are you doing! Dropping nuclear weapons!”

His voice was filled with bewilderment and anger.

There may have been anger about the use of nuclear weapons, but the president was only a few months away from re-election.

It was clear to him that if an all-out war broke out between Korea and Japan, it would be a fatal problem for his re-election.

“Japan invaded Korean territory, and we simply made them pay the appropriate price.”

I answered him in a confident voice.

“Are you saying that now…! Nuclear weapons..! Do you think such inhumane acts will be forgiven.!”

“I don’t know how to react when the United States, which has used nuclear weapons against Japan twice, says something like that.”

“That… That… Isn’t that the situation at that time!”

President Bush is a little embarrassed.

‘Should I take it out···.’

I brought up the story I had prepared in case Bush contacted me.

“But I didn’t know President Bush would be this angry. I thought he would be happy about it.”

“What are you talking about! How can you possibly enjoy this situation that could lead to a nuclear war!”

I told him about the past in a serious voice.

“Have you already forgotten that your comrades on Chichishima Island became the drinking snacks of the Japanese army?”

When the topic of Chichishima Island comes up, President Bush remains silent.

The Chichishima Island Murder Case.

It was an unprecedented and bizarre incident in which eight American soldiers were executed and their bodies were turned into human flesh and eaten as a drinking snack.

This bizarre incident wasn’t just the work of a crazy soldier.

This bizarre incident that occurred in modern times was an incident that occurred under the direct orders of the unit’s commanders.

This atrocity was committed under the command of the commander not because of food shortages, but simply because they wanted to eat a special snack.

And President Bush was the sole survivor of the Chichishima Island incident.

There were eight victims in this incident.

And they were all comrades in arms of President Bush.

That is why Bush hated Japan so much after this incident, and it was only on the day Emperor Hirohito died in 1989 that he said he would forgive Japan.

“I knew that you had a huge hatred for Japan since then, especially the Japanese military.”

“.. .. .. .. .. That is a personal matter. You cannot connect the affairs of the state with personal matters.”

“President Bush. Are you aware that Yoshio Tachibana, the main culprit of the Chichishima incident, is enshrined as a spirit at the Yasukuni Shrine in Japan?”

“.. .. As I said, it is a personal matter. It is a matter of state···.”

Bush spoke calmly, but his voice was shaking.

“Also… I don’t know how much this is known in the US, but he is also enshrined in the Kokoku Shrine in Ehime Prefecture. And there is this inscription there.”

Bush just sat there quietly listening to what I had to say.

“After the Greater East Asia War, I pay my respects to the 22 patriotic spirits who protected Ehime Prefecture in order to appease the resentment of their bereaved families who were unjustly killed in war crimes trials.”

“.. .. .. .. What are you trying to say?”

“We are no different from the United States in the Pacific War. We were attacked first, and we responded.”

Bush is silent for a moment, then he speaks to me.

“Do you think Japan will just let this go?”

“We, Korea and Japan, will finish this. I hope the United States will just watch for a while without interfering.”

Bush has been silent for a long time.

And finally he opened his mouth.

His voice seemed to be laced with tears.

“.. .. .. I guess I am no longer human. After hearing President Kim’s words a little while ago, I momentarily thought that the nuclear weapons were dropped because of my anger toward Japan and that it was God’s punishment for them.”

“Everyone would do that.”

“The fact that Japan is still hiding this fact means that they are also reluctant to make this fact known. For now, the US will watch and see. However, I hope that you understand that if this fact becomes known to the world, it will not be easy for the US to take Korea’s side.”

‘This is enough.’

“I understand. Our goal was to prevent Japan from invading Korean territory again. We have no intention of letting this fact become known or leading to an all-out war. If the world learned that nuclear weapons were used, everyone would tremble in fear of nuclear war.”

###

Although the information was not as accurate as that of the American CIA, it also reached Chinese intelligence agencies.

However, there was a localized war between Japan and South Korea, not just with nuclear weapons, and South Korea dropped a huge bomb on a Japanese military base.

With only this much information known, we didn’t know that it was nuclear.

“What should we do about this, comrades?”

Deng Xiaoping, bewildered by this absurd situation, looks at the Communist Party members and asks:

But the committee members were equally as absurd.

It was also difficult for them to understand the current situation.

Because I never thought that there would be a local war between Korea and Japan.

“I heard that Japan launched a preemptive strike. How about taking Korea’s side here?”

“What are you talking about? Korea is the country that fought a war with us, China, and is pointing nuclear weapons right in front of us! How can you take Korea’s side!”

“Then let’s side with Japan now, is that it! Have we forgotten the massacre that Japan committed in Nanjing?”

As opinions differ, voices among the committee members become louder.

For Deng Xiaoping, it was a mind-boggling problem.

Clearly, they had to intervene in this incident to demonstrate their power.

But unfortunately, the opponents they were fighting against were Korea and Japan.

I didn’t want to take Korea’s side, but I hated it even more to take Japan’s side.

Even if it is a communist country, it cannot ignore domestic public opinion.

Public opinion toward Japan in China has always been at its worst due to historical issues such as the Nanjing Massacre.

Rather, if this local war fact becomes known, public opinion in China will likely support Korea.

Deng Xiaoping thought about it for a long time.

And then decide.

‘There’s nothing to be gained by intervening here…’

“Let’s pretend we don’t know. The Soviet Union is probably not in a normal situation to be able to say anything right now, and the United States will be the one who will get a headache from this incident. If an all-out war breaks out between the two, it won’t be that bad for us. For now, let’s just watch quietly.”

Because of the special nature of Korea and Japan, neighboring countries were aware of this incident but were unable to intervene.

There, the Soviet Union was now at a crossroads of disintegration.

Because of domestic problems, overseas intelligence agencies could not function properly.

And this is why Kim Jong-guk used nuclear weapons without hesitation.

###

The next day after the nuclear weapons were dropped, Prime Minister Takeshita was contacted.

“Why did you do something like this···.”

“I didn’t know you would contact me like this. Aren’t we at war now?”

When the topic of war is brought up, Prime Minister Takeshita is surprised.

“We’re at war..! Are you really going to start an all-out war?”

“Haven’t I clearly told you that if you invade Dokdo, you will definitely pay the price, and you have not only invaded Dokdo, but also put our people in a dangerous situation.”

“That… That… Our military clearly broadcasted in advance to the Korean Coast Guard to withdraw···.”

Prime Minister Takeshita tried to make an excuse, but I cut him off and continued speaking.

“This is an issue that I, as the President, must absolutely not overlook as I am responsible for protecting the territory of the Republic of Korea and its people.”

“But… how can we use nuclear weapons? Shouldn’t we resolve this through dialogue first?”

I answered with a laugh.

“Dialogue? I like peace, but I am not one to be foolishly taken in by a war that started first. Japan still seems to think of us as a weak country. And when Japan invaded the Korean Peninsula in the past, did you resolve it through dialogue?”

Prime Minister Takeshita asks after a moment of silence.

“.. .. .. .. Is war really what you want···.”

I answered him in a grave voice.

“We do not want war. However, we do not intend to sit idly by and watch Japan approach South Korea’s territory. If Japan continues to show greed for South Korea’s territory, we will have no choice but to make up our minds.”

Prime Minister Takeshita listens to what I say without saying anything.

“And if we go into full-scale war, you’d better be really prepared this time. Nuclear weapons are nuclear weapons, but I’m sure you know that our air force and army power are already far superior to Japan’s.”

Prime Minister Takeshita could not have been unaware of the fact that there was already a huge gap in military power.

“Are you thinking of not going to the Olympics?”

“The Olympics? Of course they are important. But the Olympics cannot be more important than the territory of the country and the lives of its citizens. And isn’t that the same for Japan?”

While South Korea was scheduled to host the Olympics in six years, Japan was only a few months away.

If an all-out war breaks out, the Olympics will obviously not be able to be held.

It was clear that all the money invested in the Olympics up to that point would be in vain.

Rather, it was Japan that had a greater burden than Korea, which had not yet invested much money.

“If a full-scale war were to break out like this, it would be difficult for us to hold the Olympics. But isn’t the Nagoya Olympics just around the corner in Japan? Who would want to come to a country where nuclear weapons could be dropped at any moment?”

“Let’s… come to an agreement… It’s crazy for both countries to go to full-scale war like this. After all, doesn’t the operational control belong to the United States? If Korea sincerely apologizes and compensates the victims….”

‘As expected, you’re trying to avoid war…’

It was more or less as expected.

Japan was trying to avoid war.

Japan could not have been unaware that Korea’s wartime operational control had already become meaningless after the last war.

Japan has already talked with the U.S. government.

This was information that had already been confirmed using hundreds of points.

[After the local war between Japan and Korea, Japan asked the US government for help, but the US refused, saying that an investigation into the incident must come first.]

It seemed like the information was probably known decades after the fact, but what was certain was that the United States had refused to help.

But until the phone call with Bush, this information was believed to be information that the United States was unilaterally taking Japan’s side.

[In the local war between Japan and Korea, the United States took Japan’s side and demanded an apology from Korea. When the Korean president refused to apologize, the United States imposed trade pressure, etc.]

The main thing was to use the Chichishima Island incident to shake up Bush.

The story of Chichishima Island, especially the story of the Gokoku Shrine, and the fact that the people involved are still treated as heroes in Japan at that time were enough to shake Bush’s heart.

“Well, why are we apologizing? Why? We were attacked first, and we just counterattacked. Korea has nothing to fear from an all-out war. Haven’t you already seen how different our defense capabilities are? While our fighters were approaching the Maizuru base, the Japanese military did nothing.”

Even if it is not nuclear power, which is an asymmetric power, Japan and South Korea are currently incomparable in terms of other powers.

Of course, the Army didn’t need to say anything, and Japan also knew that the stealth capabilities of South Korean fighter jets could never be detected with the current Japanese military technology.

There is an overwhelming difference in war experience.

There was no comparison between the experiences of a country that had been at war just a few years earlier and a country that had been at war decades earlier.

And unlike the war with North Korea, there was no need to worry about communist countries joining the war.

It would be unlikely that China or the Soviet Union would enter the war on Japan’s side unless they were involved.

The only country I could trust was the United States, but even that US attitude was subtle.

And Takeshita was not unaware of all these facts either.

“Huh.. What do you think Korea should do? Tell me what Korea thinks.”

I also had no intention of bringing this to an all-out war.

It wasn’t long after the war ended.

I didn’t want another war to break out and for civilians who had nothing to do with the war to suffer again.

But at least it was necessary to inform the Japanese government.

That Korea is not a country that is just suffering like before.

They had to use an extreme method, nuclear weapons, because they had to let people know what would happen if they invaded Korean territory.

Korea already has memories of having suffered two humiliations from Japan in the past, once in the Imjin year and once in the Gyeongsul year.

Thanks to great people, we were somehow able to escape that humiliation, but things are different now.

“There are two things we want. An apology for putting our guards in critical condition. And never again showing any ambitions regarding Dokdo. If Japan accepts these two things, peace will continue. What will you do?”