1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 73



Only Krnovel

Episode 73

Coastal Special Self-Governing Province.

Habarab Special Self-Governing Province.

Cheonghae-do.

January 1994.

As the new year began, the names of all the territories purchased from Russia were changed.

Now that it was Korean territory, there was no need to use its past name.

That’s why I named them all in the Korean style.

Primorsky was renamed Primorsky Krai, and Khabarovsk was renamed Khabarovsk Krai.

Sakhalin Island, where many Koreans lived, was given a new name, Cheonghae Island.

First, they laid a temporary road and moved some of the missiles and military bases not far from the border between China and Japan.

And in the process, this information was leaked on purpose.

As soon as this information was revealed, both China and Japan were in an uproar, as expected.

There was a huge sense of insecurity, especially in China.

Even after unification, military bases and missile systems were deployed in the Sinuiju area.

The distance between Sinuiju and Beijing is less than 1,000 km, so if a war were to break out, it would be an extremely threatening distance for China to bomb Beijing with missiles or push in.

Ultimately, the role of blocking South Korean troops and missiles coming from Sinuiju should be played by Shenyang, Changchun, and Harbin, but these lands are now beginning to be surrounded by South Korea.

Now, economically, militarily, and territorially, they were by no means superior to Korea.

“Are they really moving the missile bases and military bases upwards?”

Jiang Zemin looks at the Communist Party members and asks:

“Yes, we are currently deploying missile systems and military bases one after another not far from the Chinese border.”

Jiang Zemin slams his desk and shouts.

-bang!!

“Are you crazy? Are you really trying to start a war with us?”

Jiang Zemin was uncomfortable with the country of Korea in many ways.

In order to overcome the difficult economic situation, China has been pursuing reform and opening up since the Deng Xiaoping era, and he himself has continued that policy, but it is impossible to compete with Korea in exports.

No matter how hard they tried to make similar products sold in Korea and sell them cheaply in their own countries, it didn’t work.

If they tried to lower their price competitiveness compared to Korea, they would run a deficit, and even if they sold their products at a deficit, the quality difference was so great that no one would buy their products.

Even Japanese products were not selling well overseas compared to Korean products, so Chinese products, which lacked both price and quality competitiveness, had no way of selling well.

Even within their own country, Chinese products were considered cheap goods to be purchased only when Korean or Japanese products were unavailable.

That is why the products that they were able to compete in exports were the ones that did not require any technical skills and only required labor, and which did not leave much profit.

The international standing has also become precarious.

This is because Korea was trying to use this territorial expansion as a starting point to gain a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, excluding itself.

For China, which had been a brother country with Korea for thousands of years, this was bound to hurt its pride.

But these were all problems that they could overcome to some extent.

Because it wasn’t a matter directly related to survival.

But the military bases and missile systems deployed in the new territory that South Korea purchased from Russia were a different story.

If this were to happen, it would look like Korea was surrounding its Manchurian territory.

The picture that was being painted was that China could lose to Korea if war really broke out.

“What would happen if a war broke out between Korea and us…?”

Jiang Zemin asks the Minister of National Defense.

The oblivious Minister of Defense proudly raises his voice and answers.

“Of course we can push all the way to the ends of the Korean Peninsula in a matter of days! Our soldiers from the People’s Republic of China would never… … .”

‘Ha, I didn’t ask to hear something like that… … .’

Jiang Zemin was not stupid enough to be fooled by such foolish-looking and transparent remarks.

Jiang Zemin shouts and reprimands him.

“Do you think I asked you this question just to hear some flattering story? Tell me the truth!”

The Minister of National Defense is embarrassed by Jiang Zemin’s reprimand.

And then he tells the truth.

“Well, to be honest, we have more military strength, but we are far behind in terms of ground power. The Korean army is currently considered to be the best in the world. And the air force… … .”

Jiang Zemin sighs deeply.

“Ha, that’s enough. I know the Air Force. No need to say anything more.”

Jiang Zemin also knew very well that even if the Army pushed forward with human wave tactics like in the past, it would be no match for the Air Force.

South Korea ended the Second Korean War without losing a single fighter plane.

And now I hear that hundreds of those fighters have already been mass-produced.

‘If war breaks out, does that mean the only thing that has a chance of winning is a nuclear war?’

But in the end, the odds of winning this too were extremely low.

Considering South Korea’s recent missile systems and stealth fighters, it was obvious which land would be scorched first.

“Ha, I’m going crazy. Really… … .”

When Jiang Zemin sighed, everyone looked at him.

At that time, the Minister of Foreign Affairs cautiously told Jiang Zemin his thoughts.

“Your Majesty, but Korea’s current attitude is a bit strange.”

“You think it’s strange? What do you mean?”

“They are moving military bases and building missile systems as if they were nothing.”

Jiang Zemin asks again with his eyes wide open.

“Tell me more. Are you saying that as if you were doing something?”

The Foreign Minister speaks his mind a little louder.

“Yes. All the information we’ve received recently about South Korea’s missile deployments and military flag deployments feels more like information that South Korea gave us than information that we obtained.”

“Is that story saying that Korea is deliberately showing us that side of itself as if to show off?”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs nodded and continued speaking.

“Yes, that’s right. It feels like Korea is showing off its power rather than going to war. It’s like they’re showing us their power.”

Jiang Zemin begins to get an idea of ​​what to do.

“then…….”

“That may be a little bit true, but if we give in to what Korea wants and show a humble attitude, Korea will definitely not start a war first or anything like that.”

As soon as the word “sit down and go in” came out, the conference room became noisy.

“What are you talking about, Minister of Foreign Affairs? Do we have to bow down and go to a place like Korea?”

“Are you telling me to bow my head to a country that has been our de facto vassal state for thousands of years?”

“You have such impure thoughts!! Didn’t you receive money from Korea?”

There was a huge backlash, but Jiang Zemin remained silent and thought deeply.

‘I’m going to stay in Korea and sleep… ‘

Jiang Zemin quiets the crowd and asks the Foreign Minister:

“So, what exactly does Korea want?”

The Foreign Minister hesitates for a moment and then speaks to Jiang Zemin.

“Probably what they want is a permanent seat on the Security Council.”

‘Should we give it a permanent seat? … .’

Jiang Zemin’s worries deepen.

* * *

Although less so than in China, the Japanese government was also in chaos.

This is because with the introduction of missile systems and military bases in Cheonghae-do, South Korea is literally pointing its guns right in front of their own territory.

In particular, some high-ranking officials, including the Japanese Prime Minister, could not help but be more sensitive because they knew that South Korea had dropped nuclear weapons on their soil several years ago.

Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, who took office a few months ago, was at a loss as to what to do.

Morihiro Hosokawa.

He was a non-LDP prime minister who broke the 55-year monopoly of the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan.

He showed a different side from the previous LDP prime ministers.

It showed Japan’s reflection on and apology for its past history.

Originally in history, he was almost assassinated by the Japanese right-wing forces because of this appearance.

“We should also develop nuclear weapons now!”

“That’s right. If things continue like this, we don’t know what Korea will do next!”

Instead, some of them suggest to the Prime Minister that Japan should also quickly develop nuclear weapons to counter South Korea’s provocations.

But Prime Minister Hosokawa knew how nonsensical the development of nuclear weapons was.

Although there would be strong opposition from neighboring countries, it was unlikely that the United States would agree more than others.

To begin with, given that South Korea’s military power had already been strengthened to that extent, there was no reason for the United States to allow Japan’s military power to grow in order to check Russia and China.

Prime Minister Hosokawa says with a sigh.

“Haa, will America just sit by and watch… … .”

“Even if we have to cut ties with the United States, we must now defend ourselves… … .”

Some radical ministers say that we should strengthen our national defense capabilities even if it means severing ties with the United States.

“Stop talking nonsense!”

The Prime Minister shouts.

These people could not have been unaware of what it would mean if Japan were to cut ties with the United States.

No matter how active the domestic market was, Japan could not survive without severing ties with the United States.

It was clear that the economic blow would be incredibly severe.

And beyond the simple economic blow, the implications of the breakdown of the US-Japan alliance were even greater.

“And if we cut ties with the United States, will Korea just sit still? Starting from Hokkaido on that day, we will push all the way to Okinawa! Will Korea really wait until we cut ties and finish developing nuclear weapons?”

No one can respond to Prime Minister Hosokawa’s words.

He was a prime minister with a sense of reality.

“First, we need to talk to the President of South Korea. We need to talk to him and find out what the intention is behind the deployment of these weapons.”

Then a secretary comes running in a hurry.

“Prime Minister! This is the President of the Republic of Korea!”

I never dreamed that you would call me before I even called you.

Prime Minister Hosokawa began to feel slightly uneasy about the phone call from the South Korean President.

‘You’re not asking me to give up my land in Hokkaido, are you…?’

Clearly, he was a president who was cold-hearted toward Japan to an extreme, including when he dropped nuclear weapons.

This time, I still had no idea what they would ask for.

But President Kim Jong-guk’s attitude when he received the call was very different.

“Hahaha. Prime Minister Hosokawa, it’s nice to meet you. I’ve been so busy lately that I’m calling you so late.”

His attitude was so polite and kind.

* * *

“This is really great that someone I have always respected has become the Prime Minister of Japan. I should have called you earlier, but I am sorry for calling you now.”

The word respect was a lie, but after actually searching, I didn’t feel bad about this person.

At least this Prime Minister Hosokawa made many efforts to improve relations between Korea and Japan throughout history, and often showed an attitude of apology and reflection regarding Japan’s invasion.

This is because he was a person who paid a lot of attention to Koreans in Japan, which the Korean government had difficulty paying attention to.

Unfortunately, he resigned after only a year due to the consumption tax issue and political funding law issues, so these things did not last long, but at least he was a much more communicative and rational person compared to the other LDP prime ministers.

‘If this kind of person had been the Prime Minister of Japan for a long time, there would have been no need to go as far as launching nuclear weapons.’

“I am embarrassed that a world-class star president has even spoken of me with such respect.”

“The reason I’m contacting you is because I have something to ask of you, Prime Minister Hosokawa.”

“Oh, yes. Why is that… …. Please speak comfortably.”

Hosokawa’s voice was slightly trembling, but he tried his best to hide it and waited for Kim Jeong-guk’s next answer.

“This time, our country, Korea, is trying to become a permanent member of the Security Council.”