1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 68



Only Krnovel

Episode 68

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“Is everyone here?”

“Yes, you may come in.”

It’s a little late.

When I entered the broadcasting station, everyone was already prepared and waiting for me to come in.

“Sorry, I’m a little late.”

There were five representatives of domestic and international human rights groups and an announcer who would be hosting today’s discussion.

I sat down and apologized to them.

As soon as I sit down, the discussion begins.

Today’s debate was broadcast live across the country.

The announcer begins the broadcast by giving a greeting.

“Hello, citizens. This is KBC announcer Lee Jong-hoon. As I announced in advance, today’s debate will be about Korea’s death penalty system and improvement of correctional facilities. Today’s guests include President Kim Jung-guk and representatives of domestic and international human rights organizations. Each person will discuss freely, but I will intervene only when necessary.”

After finishing the announcer’s greeting, he looks at me first and speaks.

“First, President Kim Jong-guk. How about saying hello to the people?”

His expression seemed strangely bright.

When I usually saw him on TV, he seemed like a pretty cold person, but I have a feeling he might be a supporter.

‘It’s okay if you don’t show it···.’

I looked into the camera and began greeting the people before the debate.

“Hello. Citizens, this is Kim Jung-guk. I am here today to talk about our government’s thoughts on the death penalty and the treatment of criminals. I hope today’s discussion will flow in a healthy direction. Thank you.”

The announcer, with a bright expression, quickly wraps my greeting in a fancy package.

“Yes, thank you, Mr. President. I think the people will be really happy to see you on TV after such a long time.”

Then he quickly returns to his usual cold voice and expression and speaks to the representative of the human rights group.

“Then, would you like the human rights groups to ask the President questions first?”

A white woman sitting there stands up and looks at me and says,

“Hello, Mr. President Kim Jung-guk. I am Alice Taylor, the head of the international human rights organization Light of Human Rights from the UK.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Taylor.”

Alice Taylor, a British national in her mid-30s, had a calm voice, but her eyes were fierce, as if she was ready to attack at any moment.

‘You’re the representative of a human rights group, but why are your eyes so fierce…’

After the formal greetings, the real discussion begins.

“Mr. President, do you know how many executions were carried out in South Korea in 1991?”

“Yes, I know. The total number of executions in 1991 was 17.”

“.. .. Yes, that’s right.

Taylor looked a little embarrassed, as if he didn’t know the exact number.

But she soon came to her senses and continued speaking.

“That’s right. There were 17 people. 17 lives were sacrificed by state violence. No matter how wrong they were, we believe that the way the state inflicts death on individuals in this way must change.”

I took out the paper I had prepared and argued with Taylor.

“Mr. Taylor. Do you happen to know what crimes these 17 people committed that led to their death sentences and executions?”

Taylor shakes his head and says.

“No. We don’t know what crimes each individual commits. But what we want to talk about is not simply the severity of their crimes, but….”

I paused for a moment to read what was written on the paper.

“Then I’ll tell you. Death row inmate number 1, this person killed her entire family of three, including her husband, for the insurance money. Death row inmate number 2, this person killed seven people, including the elderly and women, just for fun. He later said that it was really just for fun. And death row inmate number 3 stabbed a man on the street because he looked at him in a bad way…”

Taylor speaks to me in a slightly excited voice before I finish speaking.

“Mr. President! We also know how problematic such crimes are! But what we are saying is that no matter how heinous the criminal is….”

“Is that so? Do you think that even these heinous criminals have the potential for rehabilitation?”

Taylor nods and says.

“That’s right. And I think that’s the future direction we should be going. And some of them may have been wrongfully arrested.”

“To prevent that from happening, we are conducting more thorough investigations and sentencing for crimes that can result in the death penalty.”

“Are you sure that’s 100 percent true?”

“Yes. There has never been an unjust case in which a death sentence was handed down by our government.”

In most cases where a death sentence was imposed, retrials were allowed, to the point where it could effectively be called a fourth trial.

There was something suspicious about that, so I checked it by writing down the points on my smartphone.

It was a structure that ensured that not a single person would be wronged.

The host briefly calms down the heated atmosphere.

“The atmosphere seems to have become too tense. I think it would be best for both of you to calm down for a moment.”

I take a deep breath and Taylor sits down to calm down.

And then after a while the host asks me about the incident I mentioned.

“But Mr. President. Is incident number 3 the Gangbuk daytime stabbing incident that caused national outrage a few years ago?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I see, that’s right. I remember it well because it was a case I reported on. If I remember correctly, the victim was a single father raising two children. Is that correct?”

“You remember exactly.”

The announcer remembered the incident exactly.

In fact, even if he wasn’t the person reported, he couldn’t help but remember.

This unprecedented and heinous incident, in which a father, who was raising two children alone after his wife died young, was stabbed to death in broad daylight, was an incident that drew great public outrage.

“By the way, Mr. President, do you happen to know how those kids are doing?”

“Yes. I can’t tell you everything because it’s personal information, but the government says the children are growing up well. Since the incident, the government has been supporting the children with education expenses, living expenses, and other various things.”

“Is the government doing this directly?”

The announcer speaks, seeming a little surprised.

“Yes. Some of the money was raised by confiscating the property owned by the executed criminals, and the rest is being supported by the government.”

“As expected, you are the President···”

The announcer nods, seemingly moved.

I said, looking at Taylor who had become quiet.

“Mr. Taylor, why does the Light of Human Rights care about this heinous psychopathic death row inmate, but not the children who lost their fathers because of this crime?”

“.. ··· .. ..”

Taylor says nothing.

I turned my head away from Taylor and spoke into the camera.

“Citizens, our government has no intention of abolishing the death penalty. But that doesn’t mean we have any intention of abusing the death penalty. However, should beasts that have given up the bare minimum of being human really live with us? Our government is not so relaxed as to continue to care about such beasts.”

As Taylor remains silent and says nothing more, this time a local human rights group raises its hand and speaks.

“I am Park In-ho, the director of the Dandelion Human Rights Research Institute.”

“Hello, Inho.”

He was a person whose face I had seen in the newspaper a few times.

He was currently the most famous person in the domestic civil society human rights group.

As soon as he finished his greetings, he took out a piece of paper, showed me some examples, and spoke to me.

“Mr. President, we have been receiving reports to our Dandelion Human Rights Research Institute that prisoners are suffering from various human rights violations. In particular, we have recently received a report that a prison guard assaulted inmate A.”

This was an incident that I had already figured out the truth about.

I answered him truthfully.

“I also heard about the assault, but the truth of the assault was that the inmate ignored the guards’ repeated instructions and did not get up, and caused a disturbance in the dormitory. Eventually, he was placed in solitary confinement, and even after that, he continued to scream and cause a disturbance in the solitary confinement, so I had no choice but to use physical force.”

Park In-ho continued speaking, a little embarrassed, as if he didn’t know the full details.

“Even so, if we use physical force like this, isn’t it no different from the political prison camps of North Korea in the past?”

“A political prison camp? I’m sure Mr. Park In-ho knows what the conditions are like there!”

It is very disconcerting to hear someone who investigated political prison camps in the past say this.

“I, I understand. I will look into that further···.”

Park In-ho changes the subject, perhaps because he thinks there is no point in talking about this any further.

“Mr. President. Are you aware that there has been a lot of talk about the conditions of prison facilities recently? As Korea has developed to this extent, I hope you will improve the conditions of prison facilities.”

I asked him back.

Because I wanted to know exactly what environmental improvement he was talking about.

“What exactly do you mean by improving the environment?”

He looks at each piece of data and talks about specific ways to improve the environment of correctional facilities.

“The current correctional facility has more than five people living in one room, but five people in one room is too many. Reduce the maximum number of people in one room to two, and put beds and desks in the rooms, and make it so that they can have some hobbies and smoke, etc..”

I cut him off because I couldn’t listen to him any longer.

“Mr. Park In-ho! Are the people who came to prison now people who came to some kind of training session? They are people who came here because they committed crimes. We should guarantee them at least the minimum human rights, but does that mean they should live enjoying everything like that?”

Park In-ho continues speaking, slightly embarrassed.

“So, shouldn’t we raise those minimum human rights a little bit more? Recently, military barracks have been changed to a four-person capacity, and the facilities are gradually improving. In addition, smoking is allowed in the training camp. So the correctional facilities should also be adjusted accordingly…”

‘This crazy kid is really..!’

I spoke to him, trying my best to suppress my anger.

“What are you talking about! Are you equating the sacred duty of national defense that young people spend their precious two years of their lives doing with the criminals who are currently committing crimes and serving prison sentences?”

“That’s not what I mean···.”

Park In-ho realizes that he made a slip of the tongue and tries to correct it.

But I continued to attack him.

“I don’t know about anything else, but I find it difficult to understand, based on common sense, equating national defense duty with imprisonment.”

Park In-ho is silent for a moment, then bows his head and apologizes.

“It was my fault. I’m sorry···.”

After that, other human rights group representatives continued to ask questions and attack me, but my answer was the same.

And as time passed, the time finally came for the discussion to end.

“Mr. President, please give a final word to the people.”

The announcer looked at me and asked me to say a final word to the nation.

“Citizens. From the beginning of our government, our policy on crime has always been the same. We encourage maximum rehabilitation for petty crimes and severe punishment for serious crimes. However, more important than that is always the government’s support for crime victims to return to their daily lives and for their lives to be supported again. This is our government’s consistent attitude.”

I took a short break and looked back at the camera to continue speaking.

“Citizens. Our government does not have enough time to care about the perpetrators of serious crimes. We do not have enough time and manpower to heal the wounds of the victims. Our government’s crime policy always puts the victims first. This has been the consistent thought of our government from the beginning to the present. Thank you.”

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After the debate, the public’s support for or opposition to the death penalty quickly became a topic that swept the political world.

In particular, candidate Yeo Dong-guk raised his voice in opposition to the death penalty, saying that the president is going against the times.

“President Kim Jong-guk is going against the global human rights movement. Everyone. Now that South Korea has almost reached the level of an advanced country, I think that institutions like the death penalty should be abolished!”

Surprisingly, this resonated with some people, and his approval ratings rose.

With just over three months left until the election, opinion polls show incumbent President Kim Jung-guk with 62% of the votes, while candidate Yeo Dong-guk has 31%.

Compared to the last presidential election, President Kim Jong-guk’s approval rating has dropped considerably.

Considering that the president’s approval rating was over 80% just a few months ago, it seemed like candidate Yeo Dong-guk’s differentiation policy had some degree of success.

But his approval ratings rose only so far.

45 days before the presidential election.

A 16-year-old middle school student held a press conference in the National Assembly, and this press conference led to Kim Jong-guk being elected with the highest voter turnout in history.

“I am the daughter of a victim of the Gangbuk daytime stabbing incident. And the reason I am here today is because I want to express my gratitude to someone.”