I Became Park Jeong-ui’s Nephew - Chapter 295



Only Krnovel

He became Park Jeong-ui’s nephew. – (295)

[Is there no way to stop the power plant?]

[There is a method. The justification is the problem.]

[There’s an emergency inspection or something like that. Use your head.]

This is California, USA.

The conversation within the company sent shockwaves through American society.

This company produces electricity, and electricity must be produced by running power plants 24 hours a day.

When this was blocked, electricity prices skyrocketed, so companies took advantage of this by shutting down power plants, and as a result, the cost of electricity supplied to California jumped nine-fold.

In modern society, does it make sense for a private company to manipulate electricity, which is essentially a public good, as it pleases?

Society was outraged that money-crazy entrepreneurs had caused such a disaster.

“How is this any different than taking 30 million Californians hostage?!!”

“Those responsible must be caught immediately and sentenced to death!!”

“Where are these guys now?!! Where are they?!!”

Public opinion literally turned upside down,

But the company in question quickly filed for bankruptcy and ran away.

The people who took the money and ran, as well as the state government that gave them the permits, were all complicit, and public sentiment exploded, paralyzing the entire California area.

“I used to pay an average of $500 a month for electricity. But this month I paid $9,300 for electricity!! Does that make sense?!!”

“Who authorized this!! Call the person in charge!!”

California privatized 70% of its electricity generation market in 1988.

Even though the California Public Utilities Commission warned that “this would be a disaster for the citizens,” state officials pushed ahead with privatization, and this is the result.

Even in a capitalist society, there are lines that must be maintained.

How is this any different from corporations holding citizens hostage and demanding money?

As California got to this point, the Texas-New York region, which was pushing for electricity privatization, put the brakes on its privatization policy.

Now, the US federal government is stepping in to control electricity prices, but there is no other way since privatization has already taken place in many states.

According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. residential electricity rates have risen 21 percent this year, hitting a record high.

Does that mean companies will lower their electricity prices?

Since they have already monopolized production facilities, the U.S. government has no choice but to respond by increasing public power plants.

However, the U.S. government also has limitations in increasing public power plants due to financial constraints.

At the point where privatization was finally permitted, the U.S. government found itself stuck in a swamp from which it could not escape.

So is this just an American problem?

In fact, Korea was one step ahead of the United States in privatizing electricity.

Hyundai Group Chairman Chung Ju-young is proof of this.

The South Korean government has granted Hyundai Group permission to build a thermal power plant and instructed it to supply electricity to Korea Electric Power Corporation at a certain price level.

The problem starts from now on,

If the heads of public power plants had stopped the plants and put them into excessive maintenance to fill the pockets of the companies, the companies would have made a lot of money.

Since public power plants have stopped operating, other companies will have to produce electricity for the people to use.

But Korea is a thoroughgoing dictatorship, and if they do something like that, the heads of the organizations will be left with nothing left.

“What guy stopped the power plant? Huh?”

“Um… I’m just reorganizing for a moment.”

“You’d better hurry up and turn around. You know that the enemy is watching you with his eyes wide open. Do what you want. Should I send you to the executioners?”

The operating rate of public power plants in Korea is almost 100%.

If you stop for no reason, all the people involved will be kicked out.

What’s different about private companies? The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy assigns a set production quota to companies, and if they fail to supply, their business rights are confiscated.

The thermal power plant that Hyundai Group won was also merged into Daehan Transportation because it was not able to do so.

Currently, Korea’s power production structure is 90% public and 10% private.

In addition, 8% of that 10% is a share of Daehan Transportation.

Considering that Daehan Transportation is a company with the head of state of Korea as its chairman, electricity production in Korea is effectively a public good.

If the Korean leader had wanted to, he could have stopped public power plants and made a lot of money from electricity alone, but he didn’t.

While electricity prices in the U.S. have soared 48 percent over the past decade, in South Korea they have risen by just 19 percent, a gap that has widened real incomes between the two countries.

Now, Korea has surpassed the United States to become the country with the highest real wages, and all it did was control energy prices, and this is the result.

I wonder if Americans would be offended by this or not.

There are growing calls to throw all American politicians in the trash can.

“Let’s kill all American politicians!!”

“Let’s occupy the power plant!! Electricity is a public good!!”

Citizens rushed to the power plant and beat up company officials.

In Iowa, where electricity rates were recently raised by 60%, protests spread from the western and central United States to the eastern United States, with a businessman being murdered.

***

“Energy production will be no problem, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Scientists predict that this summer will be particularly hot, so everyone should take precautions.”

“You don’t have to worry.”

This is a thermal power plant in Busan.

I inspected energy power plants in each region with my aides.

The US is in chaos right now because of rising energy prices. Where is the guy who shuts down the power plants to raise energy prices?

It’s not the power plant that needs to be shut down, it’s their lives. The U.S. government did not rule out the possibility that the escaped corporate executives may have fled overseas.

South Korea also accepted the request and will actively cooperate in arresting criminals, but has already conducted internal crackdowns before doing so.

The energy market, where private companies benefit when public power plants stop operating, is going to be ruined by those 2% of rats.

If something like the US happens, they threaten to execute all those involved.

Prime Minister Lee Myung-bak was one of those rats who crawled around on their own.

“Prime Minister Lee, it seems like you’ve been meeting with businesspeople a lot lately?”

“Ah… No, Your Majesty, that would never happen… .”

“I warn you clearly: never touch electricity. If you touch it, your life is over. This is your first and last warning.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

The rat bastard showed his true colors after being let loose a little, and was caught on the radar of the Central Intelligence Agency while trying to privatize part of the electric power industry.

If you privatize it like that, wouldn’t it be easy for him to get a job at an electric power company or somewhere else after he steps down as prime minister?

Outrageous, the government recently revised the law to block retired government officials from finding new employment in private companies.

Those bastards who are privatizing public goods while colluding with each other, we could just kill them all, but if we kill them all, there won’t be anyone left to treat as slaves.

So I whipped his back and squeezed every last drop of sweat out of him.

As long as I am alive, privatizing public goods is out of the question, and both bureaucrats and businesses are trembling in fear.

But if you just whip them, even slaves won’t work.

I gave some slaves a chance to lick my feet.

“The Gosung Thermal Power Plant was built in 1960, so isn’t its production a little low?”

“Yes, sir, if we tear it down and rebuild it with state-of-the-art facilities, we can triple our production.”

“Then let’s tear it down and build a new one, and let companies bid on it.”

The first private power plant construction permit in 20 years

From a business standpoint, this is literally a windfall.

Who wouldn’t bid if they could make hundreds of billions of won in profit by selling the permit to another company without building a factory?

They are making a fuss about what they will do to each other,

They competed with each other and even lowered their production costs.

“Your Majesty!! We promise you a 100% power plant operation rate!! We will produce electricity without stopping!!”

“Anyone can say that. We will produce electricity without fluctuations in price!!”

“No!! Give us permission!!”

I handed over the power plant permit to the Dongyang Group.

The license price is approximately 49.3 billion won.

The company’s stock price jumped 7% just after it received a power plant permit.

In addition to this, the government will also provide subsidies for electricity production, so while it will not be able to empty citizens’ pockets like unscrupulous electric companies in the US, it is expected to generate a net profit of 6 billion won per year.

If you manage it well for about 5 years, you can recover your investment.

If you roll it over for 10 years, you can earn more than 45 billion won.

Of course, I secured 49.3 billion won in return for issuing business licenses to Wonsoobu companies, and I reinvested this in overseas territories.

Overseas territories are also part of Korea, so we cannot afford to have electricity supply cut off here either. We added four public power plants.

And we invested 9 billion won in Chinese company Lianxiang to produce electricity and make it self-sufficient.

***

“It’s 9 billion won in cash. Please confirm.”

“Thank you. Please tell your enemy that I am grateful.”

“All right.”

This is Yan’an, the capital of China.

Lianxiang’s leader Wang Guiying met with a Central Intelligence Agency agent who had flown in from South Korea.

This money was given to the South Korean president to be used for the construction of a power plant. If this money is invested properly, Lianxiang can earn 1.4 billion won in profits every year.

To that extent, electricity is an important public good for the lives of residents and the development of businesses.

Based on this investment, Wang Guiying built two power plants in Yan’an.

The driving force behind China’s economy, which has suffered from decades of civil war, is now threatening its lifeline.

These were the local warlords who opposed Lian Xiang. When Lian Xiang gained the trust of the Korean leader and received investment funds, the local warlords felt alienated.

If this situation continues, won’t China’s hegemony eventually fall to Lianxiang?

The warlords, feeling a sense of crisis, invaded Yan’an and raided the construction site.

Is this a challenge to Lianxiang or a declaration of war against the Korean government?

Wang Guiying, the leader of Lianxiang, smiled and said that it was all for the best.

“Tell the Korean leader that the mob has attacked the construction site and caused major damage.”

“Then we should also prepare thoroughly so that we can attack them together with our enemy?”

“If I say two words, it’s just nagging. Gather everyone.”

“All right.”

Lian Xiang gathered 670,000 militiamen.

If the Korean army advances to Yan’an, they plan to respond and annihilate the local warlords.

After receiving Lian Xiang’s request for support, Korea led an army of 170,000 troops into the heart of China.

In response, Lian Xiang’s 670,000 militia and 840,000 troops carried out military operations in each region.

In fact, it is closer to a massacre than a military operation.

Lian Xiang had been at odds with the warlords of each region for the past 20 years, and thanks to that he knew where the enemy’s heartland was.

The Korean military cooperated with Lianxiang to focus its attacks there.

After only 40 days of military operations, the heart of the warlords was reduced to ashes.

The international community has pointed out the indiscriminate massacre of the Korean-Lianxiang allied forces, but will that be effective?

No matter how much the AOPR’s Commander-in-Chief shouted that this was a military operation being carried out by the Korean Marshal and the man who held real power in the world’s military, it was just an echo in the air.

In this way, Lian Xiang took control of the Central Plains with the power of the Korean army at his back.

South Korea’s Supreme Leader also permitted Lian Xiang to establish a unified government.

On the day that Central Plains practically went over to Korea, this incident elevated Korea to the status of a hegemonic power with 27% of the world’s GDP and a population of 520 million.