1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 61



Only Krnovel

Episode 61

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“Japan would like to express our deepest condolences and apologies to the Korean Coast Guard members who are in critical condition due to the recent attack by the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force on Takeshima… no, Dokdo. From now on, we, Japan….”

What Prime Minister Takeshita ultimately chose was an apology.

An all-out war was out of the question, and Japan had too much to lose if it were to engage in international cooperation or a war of public opinion.

The fact that nuclear weapons were dropped was a greater burden on Japan than on South Korea, which dropped them.

The Japanese government was not confident that it could handle all of these issues: the inability to hold the Nagoya Olympics, the paralysis of the Japanese economy, and social chaos.

Rather, they thought that the deaths of about 200 people and the Prime Minister’s apology would be a good thing to pass over.

It was a typical Japanese choice to always maintain the present.

Afterwards, Japan wrote a document with Prime Minister Takeshita’s seal stating that it would never again claim sovereignty over Dokdo.

The document promised that the Japanese government would never again make statements about or claim sovereignty over Dokdo.

Of course, there was no guarantee that these authors would 100 percent keep this promise.

However, the fact that it has been written down in this document means that it will certainly be useful in the future when a different government comes into power and things change.

It was a complete victory for Korea.

It was a victory that resulted from a combination of many factors.

The use of stealth fighters rather than missiles made it difficult for countries other than the United States to properly understand the situation, so the use of nuclear weapons was able to remain unknown to the international community.

The 200 casualties there were a number that the Japanese government could easily cover up.

In a country like the United States, it would have been clearly impossible, but because it was Japan, it was possible to cover it up.

The United States ultimately did not take issue with South Korea’s nuclear weapons launch.

The president was up for re-election, and if it became known that a nuclear weapon had been dropped, it would certainly put his re-election in jeopardy.

In the end, it was Korea’s victory that was achieved through the alignment of various interests.

As soon as I finished work, I headed to Seoul National University Hospital where Captain Lee Cheon-yool was hospitalized.

Fortunately, Captain Lee Cheon-yool was no longer in critical condition after the surgery, and was now moved from the intensive care unit to a general ward to recover.

“Captain Lee Cheon-yul. How are you feeling?”

I took his hand and asked.

“Oh, Mr. President. I know you’re busy, but how did you manage to come all the way here?”

Captain Lee Cheon-yool tries to get up.

I told him it was okay and laid him back down.

“It’s okay. Just lie down.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. President. I have caused great harm to the country due to my incompetence.”

“What are you talking about? The Dokdo Coast Guard, including Captain Lee Cheon-yul, did a really great job this time. If the Dokdo Coast Guard hadn’t risked their lives to stop it, the worst case scenario of Japanese ships actually occupying Dokdo would have happened.”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

Tears well up in Captain Lee Cheon-yool’s eyes.

“Don’t worry about anything and just recover. The government will cover all of your hospital bills and other expenses. And to make this achievement widely known, I’d like to promote Captain Lee Cheon-yul by one rank. What do you think?”

“Do I deserve such an extravagant award?…”

“Of course. If we don’t properly reward those who protected the country in times like these, who would risk their lives to protect the country? Oh, and the members will also be properly compensated. You don’t have to worry.”

After my story ends, Captain Lee Cheon-yool becomes silent for a moment as if he is thinking about something.

And then, soon after, he asks me for one favor.

“Mr. President, may I ask you one thing?”

“What is it? I will listen to what I can tell you.”

“If I were to be promoted one rank, I wouldn’t be able to be the Dokdo Guard Commander. The rank for the Dokdo Guard Commander is set. However, I would like to continue to be the Dokdo Guard Commander. I hope that you will allow me to be the Dokdo Guard Commander even after being promoted.”

“.. .. .. .. ..”

I listened to his story quietly.

And then, nodding, I accepted his request.

“Yes, I understand. I will make sure that General Lee Cheon-yul continues to serve as the Dokdo Coast Guard Commander.”

“Thank you, Mr. President!”

I stopped him from getting up and expressing my gratitude.

“Oh, it’s okay. Don’t get up. But why do you want to continue as the Dokdo Coast Guard Commander? Usually, when something like this happens, don’t you want to go somewhere a little more comfortable and easy?”

“Yes, that’s right. In fact, even before this battle, I wanted to go somewhere else quickly. But this battle changed my mind. I realized that being the commander of the Dokdo Guard is an incredibly honorable and important job. If Japan tries to invade Dokdo again next time, it won’t be like this.”

I listened to his story and bowed my head to him.

“Captain Lee Cheon-yul. As the President of the Republic of Korea, I would like to thank you on behalf of the people of the Republic of Korea for sacrificing your entire body to protect the territory of the Republic of Korea.”

When I lower my head, he looks extremely embarrassed and doesn’t know what to do.

“Oh, no. Mr. President. You shouldn’t do this. To someone like me…”

He stands up with all his might and lifts my body.

I thought as I looked at his gunshot-mangled body.

‘It is because of people like this that South Korea has been able to survive countless national crises until now…’

As the President of the Republic of Korea, no one would object to bowing down to such people.

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The situation has calmed down to some extent, and Korea has disposed of all of its assets in Japan.

Japanese asset markets were rocked by the sudden outflow of large amounts of money.

But Japan’s asset markets soon recovered.

The Japanese bought the assets that Korea had sold.

And they still didn’t know that this was the beginning of the collapse of the bubble economy in 1989.

In the US presidential election, Republican Bush’s re-election challenge was successful.

Originally, President Bush failed to be re-elected after serving only one term as president, but despite many difficulties, including Black Monday, he exploited his opponent’s weaknesses and eventually succeeded in being re-elected.

We have now stepped up our preparations for the Olympics.

Fortunately, preparations for the Olympics proceeded smoothly because the fact that the nuclear weapons had been dropped was not made known internationally.

I don’t know if it was a gain or loss for Korea, but the Nagoya Olympics in Japan were a box office flop.

The tourism boom that was expected to occur in Japan with the Olympics did not occur as expected and recorded a deficit.

The biggest reason for the box office failure was the failure in location selection.

The biggest factor in the failure was choosing Nagoya as the host location rather than Tokyo or Osaka.

Nagoya is a city known for having few tourist attractions relative to its size, even within Japan.

It seemed like the Olympics would be held in a city similar to Daejeon or Ulsan in Korea.

And we learned a lesson from this failure and realized what Korea needs to do.

‘Promotion of tourism industry’

Until then, tourism to Korea was virtually non-existent.

However, we had to properly promote tourism to Korea through this Olympics.

To do that, transportation had to be organized first.

‘Let’s go and take a look…’

I opened my smartphone and opened the confidential document store.

Since I steadily accumulated 100 points a day, I had accumulated quite a lot of points even though I used them multiple times.

[Confidential Document Store]

[Current Level: Intermediate]

[Current points: 52,900pt]

[High-speed train / 5,000pt]

[F22 Fighter / 20,000pt]

[Superconductor Technology / 400,000pt]

‘Is superconductivity really possible?’

One of the most notable things available for purchase today is superconductor technology.

It was an absurdly expensive amount.

The price of 400,000 points was a huge sum that would take over 10 years to accumulate even if you accumulated 100 points a day like you do now.

Of course, if superconductivity is as amazing a technology as the future media is talking about, it would be worth collecting it without spending 10 years.

‘I think it was said that it was the technology that made an oil prince into a gas station owner and Bill Gates into a neighborhood computer store owner…’

But it was a technology that couldn’t be bought now, and the technology that was important now was different.

‘Let’s think about that later···.’

[Purchased.]

The thing I bought was high-speed train technology.

Unlike weapons, there were no separate samples or anything like that.

However, CDs containing a large amount of documents and technology appeared.

High-speed trains were already a technology that existed in the first place.

It was a means of transportation that had been used for a long time in France and Japan.

However, at this time, high-speed trains had not yet been introduced to Korea.

But now it’s time for high-speed trains.

Even if it weren’t for the Olympics, Korea now needed high-speed trains.

To cover the entire Korean peninsula, automobiles alone were not enough.

It is time to open an era of high-speed railways connecting Sinuiju, Busan, and Gwangju.

I gathered companies that were interested in participating in the high-speed train project, distributed materials compiled by the National Technology Agency to them, and asked them questions.

“Is it possible until 1992?”

Top researchers from each company look at the data.

Then he answers in a confident voice.

“It is possible! Mr. President. It is definitely possible with this technique!”

Hyunjoong Train’s technical director answers in a voice that sounds very excited.

And Hyunjoong Train wasn’t the only one who got excited.

The same was true for researchers at other companies, including Samjung Electronics.

The remaining period was a little over three years.

Originally, the introduction of high-speed trains was a project that would take 10 years.

But they were looking at the data and saying that it was definitely possible.

Then one of the researchers asked me in an anxious voice.

“Mr. President. But in fact, securing a site is more important than anything else when constructing this high-speed train project. Is that okay?”

“I will take responsibility for the land and budget and make sure there are no problems. You all should make every effort to complete it before the 1992 Olympics.”

“all right.”

The era of high-speed trains connecting Seoul, Busan, and Gwangju via Pyongyang, Gaeseong, and Sinuiju, which we had only dreamed of, was approaching.

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October 1989.

On the way back from the event by car.

Passing by Seocho.

“This place is now very developed.”

“Yes. The development of Gangnam is almost finished.”

The appearance of the chief secretary may seem like the perfect version of Gangnam, but at least the Gangnam I know and the current Gangnam are very different.

At that moment, a construction site that I had never seen before appears outside the window.

“What is that thing being built over there? I’ve never seen it before, but it’s quite big.”

Given the nature of the site, which is located on the main street, it did not appear to be an apartment.

“Oh, that’s what you mean. It’s called a department store.”

“Department store?”

‘Was there a department store in a place like that?’

From what I remember, when I was walking around here in Han Myeong-ho’s body, there was no department store like this around here.

‘This area was definitely a mixed-use complex···.’

At that moment, the chief secretary clapped his hands as if he remembered something and said.

“What was the name… Oh, that’s right! Sampoong! It was called Sampoong Department Store.”

“What, what did you say? Chief Secretary, did you just say Sampoong?”

When I raised my voice in surprise, the chief secretary was also surprised.

“Oh, yes. That’s right. I’m sure it was Sampoong Department Store.”

I spoke urgently to the driver who was driving.

“Stop the car immediately!”

“Oh, yes. I understand, Mr. President.”

The driver stops the car in a hurry.

The security vehicle ahead also stops.

As soon as the car stopped, I got out and ran to the construction site.

“Yes, Mr. President!”

The chief secretary and his bodyguards hurriedly chase after me.

“They finally built this on the 5th floor···.”

The department store was already close to completion and in the final stages of construction.

I stood in a daze in front of an already built department store.

Even though they tried to catch corruption, the design change was still made.

Sampoong Department Store was originally supposed to be a four-story building.

However, due to an unreasonable design change, it was rebuilt to five stories, and this, along with poor construction, became a major factor in the collapse.

And politicians at the time were involved in this design change.

“Call in all construction workers! Now!”