1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 94



Only Krnovel

Episode 94

The global situation began to change rapidly.

China’s rapidly rising momentum was dampened, and wandering Russia fell into further political chaos when Yeltsin stepped down from the presidency.

And in the midst of such a chaotic political situation, it was Korea that received the most attention.

Korea’s status on the international stage has changed as a permanent member of the Security Council and a founding member of the AEU.

In the early 1980s, Japan gained a level of global recognition, or even a much higher status, on the international stage.

Korea had military power and diplomatic standing that Japan did not have.

Now, there are people who openly refer to Korea and the United States as G2.

But even in all that, America was still America.

Even though South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund and national pension fund bought so many shares in American Big Tech companies and launched products ahead of American ones in many fields, America’s superpower position remained solid.

Good quality, spacious land.

A population of nearly 300 million and an ideal population pyramid.

Underground resources that come out just by digging there.

And excellent human resources.

I thought I had followed them for a long time, but before I knew it, America was running away again.

* * *

July 1998.

The UN General Assembly is two months away.

The United States wanted to hold the South Korea-U.S. summit immediately after the UN General Assembly.

Perhaps he wanted to know about the reestablishment of relations with Korea, which has changed, and Korea’s current attitude toward the United States.

And just like the rapidly changing international situation, domestic politics also began to change in many ways.

In particular, the biggest change was that many of the State Council members changed.

Prime Minister Lee Hwa-sung and Chief of Staff Lee Dae-sik both stepped down from their posts.

I tried to persuade them several times, but they both resigned for their own reasons.

“Prime Minister Lee, if not Prime Minister Lee, who else can be Prime Minister? Why can’t you stay in office for a few more months, at least until the next presidential election?”

“Mr. President, I don’t know if it’s right for me, as a former military general, to say such a weak thing, but my eyes are now so dim that I can’t even see clearly. I think it would be a national nuisance for me to continue to hold public office.”

He is now in his seventies.

It wouldn’t be particularly unusual to feel unwell.

I said with a sigh.

“Huh, is that so… … .”

“If I had maintained my health like the President, I would have been a little more ambitious, but it would be impossible.”

Kim Jeong-guk, the original owner of this body, was born in 1924.

His current real age was already well over seventy.

But for some reason, no matter how much you beat me, I still look like I’m in my fifties.

‘It’s probably a reflection of Han Myeong-ho’s appearance.’

“Okay. It would be greedy of me to hold on to more. I will accept your resignation.”

Actually, it was my greed that got me this far.

[Lee Hwa-seong / Died: 2002.]

When I searched on my smartphone, the year of his death that came up was 2002.

No matter how I searched, I couldn’t find the year of Kim Jung-guk’s death, but I was able to quickly find the year of death of other people.

Prime Minister Lee Hwa-seong’s cause of death was a chronic illness.

In some ways, it would be correct to say that Prime Minister Lee Hwa-seong died of old age, given his age.

‘It wouldn’t be humane to make you suffer any longer… … .’

Many things in history change, but one thing that doesn’t change much is the question of whether a person lives or dies.

When someone dies due to an incident or accident like me, the year of death can be changed by changing the incident or accident, but in the case of chronic illness or old age, no matter how much you know in advance and manage it, it rarely changes.

“Prime Minister, thank you for your hard work. The Republic of Korea has been able to develop this much because of people like you.”

I gave him a final handshake.

“I am honored to have been able to work under the President for so long. As a soldier and as a citizen of the Republic of Korea, I am happy to have been able to work in the Republic of Korea with the President.”

“Haha. This guy… is really… making me cry… .”

Prime Minister Lee Hwa-sung has resigned, and Chief of Staff Lee Dae-sik has also resigned from his post.

However, unlike Prime Minister Lee Hwa-seong, he did not have health problems.

He seemed to want to go into politics.

“No, what are we going to do if even the Prime Minister and the Chief of Staff resign?”

I tried to talk him out of resigning, but it was impossible to change his mind once it was made up.

“I’m sorry, Mr. President, but I would like to try living a slightly different life now.”

I hesitated for a moment and then said to him.

“Politics is never an easy path. Rather, the upright personality of the Chief of Staff could be detrimental to politics. Do you still want to do it?”

“Yes. I don’t know how much longer I have left to live, but I would like to live a slightly different life. But if the President objects… I won’t do it.”

I said, shaking my head.

“Would anyone dislike someone as upright as President Lee Dae-sik going into politics? It’s just that politics is not an easy path.”

President Lee Dae-sik did not have much success in his original political career.

That’s why I was worried that he, a war hero, would ruin his image in his later years by going into politics.

“Where in the world is there an easy path? I have been a soldier my entire life, and have been the Chief of Staff for over 10 years. Now I want to come back down and start from the bottom. I want to go back to my hometown and try to run for the provincial assembly.”

It was unexpected.

Of course, since he was involved in politics, I thought he would naturally run for National Assembly.

He is someone who has even been mentioned as a presidential candidate. A person like President Lee Dae-sik would naturally be a worthy candidate for a National Assembly seat, and would also be worthy of running for party leader.

But I never thought I would run for local council member.

“A member of the provincial assembly? There are also members of the National Assembly, so there must be many positions that can be filled.”

“I think I am a veteran when it comes to using the military, but I am a newbie as a politician. Shouldn’t I start from the bottom? As a provincial assembly member, I will try my best to develop my hometown.”

I nodded and shook his hand.

“I am grateful for the hard work you have done for the defense of the Republic of Korea as the Chief of Staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I will continue to support General Lee Dae-sik as a politician.”

“Thank you. It has been an honor to work for the Republic of Korea. And I am happy to work with such a great leader as the President.”

The two people who were called his closest associates left.

The position of Chief of Staff was quickly replaced by a general who was considered to be of decent ability.

But the problem was the position of Prime Minister.

There may have been a time in the past when the position of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was more important, but now that it is not an era in which the military can stage a coup, the position of the Prime Minister is more important than that of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Prime Minister Lee Hwa-sung has served as Prime Minister without a hitch for nearly 20 years since I first began my term as President.

At least no one could deny that Prime Minister Lee Hwa-sung had made a great contribution to the unification process and that he conducted himself well during his term, to the point where there was no major fault to be found.

Most people thought that the position of Prime Minister was one that would not change for life.

The image of Lee Hwa-seong as the Prime Minister was also ingrained in the public.

But since the position of Prime Minister was suddenly changed like this, everyone was curious about who would be the next Prime Minister.

There were over a dozen people who were considered as candidates for the position of Prime Minister.

At first, I thought it would be good if one of them took on the role, so I sounded out both of them to see if they would be willing to take on the role of Prime Minister, but the answers I got from both of them were the same.

“I don’t mind the presidency, but I refuse to accept a position like the number two guy.”

“I don’t mind the president, but someone like the second-in-command is a no-no, Kai.”

Both men were enjoying life as wild men, and if they were to return to politics it would only be as president.

Eventually, as Yang Jin’s recruitment fell through, they began looking for other candidates, and after going through several verification processes, three candidates were ultimately left.

I looked at the paper with the resumes of the three candidates and thought about who I should ultimately nominate as Prime Minister.

These were candidates based on party and public opinion.

No one was left out.

The first candidate was none other than Chairman Oh Wang-guk.

He has now effectively stepped down as the successor, handing over the throne to his son.

He was a person with outstanding personal ability, to the point where he created one of Korea’s leading companies, Hyunjoong, with his bare hands.

He was a person with good national recognition and favorability, and his relationships with figures within the ruling and opposition parties were also good.

There was just one big problem.

[O Kingdom / Died: 2001]

That he only had a few years left to live.

To begin with, Chairman Oh Wang-guk was born in 1915 and was older than me.

Even if I don’t say anything, you’re probably someone who has been taking care of your health for a long time.

Even if you take extra care of your health here, your life expectancy will not significantly change.

As someone who usually prefers to work with someone for a long time once they start working with him, Chairman Oh, who I could only work with for two years at most, was not a good choice.

‘Pass for now’

Open the following file.

The next candidate was a former judge.

The name is Lee Hae-chang.

It was a familiar face.

No, I couldn’t not know.

He is a person with an image of a big-headed judge. Although he did not serve as the chairman of the National Election Commission or the chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection as in history, he is currently a Supreme Court Justice with a fairly high level of public recognition for his image of big-headedness and integrity.

‘It’s not bad… … .’

Contrary to his image as a big shot, he was not authoritarian, and although he was originally a conservative in history, he was a person who tried to implement many reformist policies.

However, the drawbacks were also clear.

‘You are too assertive.’

As befitting his image as a big shot, he was a very assertive person.

If he becomes Prime Minister, he will inevitably clash with me on many policies.

There should have been different opinions within the government, but it was not a good direction for the president and the prime minister to have different opinions and act accordingly.

I put the paper down and opened the file containing the final candidate.

The last candidate was a former military candidate.

Prime Minister Lee Hwa-sung also has a military background, so there may be backlash if a person with a military background is nominated as prime minister twice in a row, but at least in the case of this person, there will be no backlash simply because of his military background.

That’s understandable, because although this person was from the military, he was more famous as a businessman.

Park Dae-chun.

He was the founder of POSTO, which led the economy of South Korea in the 1970s, and was called the steel king of Korea.

The character was okay.

Of course, his ability is recognized as one of the best among Korean businessmen, and he is a man of integrity and conviction.

Of course, he was a decent person whose national recognition was comparable to that of Chairman Oh Wang-guk.

The problem, of course, is that he has a military background.

“Haa… It’s not easy.”

I put down the paper, took a cigarette for a moment, and started thinking about who I should nominate as the next prime minister.

And after a few more hours of deliberation, we finally chose one candidate.

‘This person is the best after all.’