Republic of Korea in Yeokcheon - Chapter 191



Only Krnovel

#191 What kind of fame have you heard?

The new year of 1952 dawned.

January 2nd at 10 am.

Lee Kang-cheol stood in front of the camera.

This is to do a very special broadcast.

However, Lee Kang-cheol’s expression was not very bright.

“Oh, really! “Do I really have to do this?”

“Hehehe! The decision has already been made, why are you doing this in front of the camera? “It will be over soon.”

“… … .”

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Kim Kyu-sik tried to soothe him as if comforting a child, but Lee Kang-cheol still did not look very good.

But still, I had to do what I had to do.

Because it is truly a historic broadcast.

This special broadcast is the first broadcast in human history to cross the Pacific Ocean and reach the United States.

Through humanity’s first commercial communication satellite.

At the end of last year, the KSLV-III Venus rocket succeeded in putting humanity’s first commercial communication satellite, ‘Rose of Sharon 1′, into a synchronous orbit over the Pacific Ocean.

Although the launch of satellites such as KPS, the Korean satellite navigation system, and reconnaissance satellites was busy, there was also an urgent need for a commercial communication satellite that would provide real-time communication with the United States in space over the Pacific Ocean.

As the scale of trade and exchange with North and South America, including the United States, grew, a method for proper communication in real time was needed.

Undersea cable in the Pacific Ocean?

It was a time when there was no such thing.

Attempts to lay cables under the Atlantic Ocean are very old.

And after several failures, it was successfully installed in 1866.

At that time, Korea was in the Joseon Dynasty, and it had been three years since King Gojong came to the throne.

It was literally the time when Confucius said Mencius, and in those days, these guys crossed the treacherous Atlantic Ocean and installed an undersea cable, so you can guess how far behind the West the Asians were at that time.

In any case, such submarine cables could not be installed in the Pacific Ocean for a long time.

Because it was so far and difficult.

In addition, there were two world wars in between, so the trans-Pacific cable continued to grow distant.

Then, it was finally placed in the United States and Japan in 1964, the year the Tokyo Olympics were held, so you can see how difficult it was to install an undersea cable across the Pacific.

Currently, installation is being prepared together with the United States under the supervision of the Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, but there have been reports that installation will not be possible until 1954 at the earliest.

This is 10 years earlier than the original history, but considering the current urgency of communication with the American continent, it is too late.

In the end, a commercial communication satellite was first launched with a KSLV-III rocket in December 1951, last year, and after several tests were confirmed to be successful, President Truman and Lee Kang-cheol of the United States decided to connect and communicate through TV today.

I don’t know if it’s just a greeting with President Truman, but today’s broadcast will be broadcast live across the United States.

That’s why Lee Kang-cheol kept babbling.

Anyway, when the broadcast was connected, Truman was seen sitting on the TV screen.

First of all, it is a success.

“hello? Mr. President! I am Lee Kang-cheol, the President of the Republic of Korea. long time no see.”

“Hello, President Lee. “It’s really nice to see you in real time like this.”

It was considered awkward, but Truman added it.

Because I was a person with poor social skills.

“That’s right. And fellow American citizens! Nice to meet you. “I am Lee Kang-cheol, the president of the Republic of Korea, America’s greatest ally.”

“Nice to meet you too! Citizens of the Republic of Korea! “I am Harry Truman, the President of the United States, the greatest ally of the Republic of Korea.”

“… … .”

Truman seemed to have nothing to say, so he just copied Lee Kang-cheol’s words.

In any case, the historic meeting(?) between the leaders of the Republic of Korea and the United States using satellite broadcast ended successfully in an extremely awkward atmosphere.

“Cut! “It’s over, Mr. President.”

“Aaaah! What’s so embarrassing? “This is different from when it’s broadcast domestically, isn’t it?”

“I feel embarrassed. “Maybe you two are like sacks of barley that you left behind somewhere?”

“It’s noisy, it’s 11 o’clock, right? “Did you decide to have a separate phone call with President Truman?”

“Yes, 10 p.m. on January 1st local time in Washington DC, USA.”

“Are you sure about the security performance?”

“It will be so, as the Electronics and Communications Research Institute has assured us.”

“I get it.”

In this day and age, it is impossible to launch a communication satellite of this size and use it simply for commercial purposes.

Of course, a separate military security line was secured in secret, and its performance was planned to be tested during the 11 o’clock phone call with Truman.

Finally, at 11 o’clock, the secretary handed me the phone, saying that I had connected with Truman.

“Ah, Mr. President. Can you hear me well?”

-ha ha ha! I can hear you well. This is really interesting and useful.

“ha ha ha! Of course. Now you just need to make frequent calls in real time. Don’t worry about security. “I assure you that our technicians are ironclad.”

Security was very important because if the conversation between the leaders, especially the presidents of the Republic of Korea and the United States, were leaked, there would be an uproar.

If security is not guaranteed, it is better to communicate using the old method, even if it involves inconvenience.

-of course. But when do you think it will be connected to Europe?

“The global network will be completed within next year. “You just have to wait a little longer.”

-haha! All right. I look forward to it. By the way, I heard things are going well in China. You got the surrender in just one day? This is truly amazing!

“Well, it wasn’t a big deal. “Our Admiral Kim is so capable.”

-oh! Admiral Kim! Anyway, he is a great person. Not only high-ranking officials in our Navy, but also General LeMay of the Air Force gave great praise.

Lee Kang-cheol thought to himself that they got along well together, but he didn’t show it.

“ha ha ha! I was also lucky. “Don’t be like that.”

―Ah, you are too humble. Anyway, I’m glad it ended well. I was secretly worried that it might turn into a war.

“Is that possible? We are sick of war. There will be peace for a while. Do not worry.”

―It seems like there is something to be said about “for the time being,” right?

“ha ha ha! “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.”

No matter how close I became to Truman, I couldn’t tell him everything I knew right now, so I just glossed over it.

The acquisition of Haenam Island and the Neuju Peninsula area proceeded smoothly.

First, Bai Chongxi and his subordinates were sent to Leizhou, treating them not as prisoners of war, but as prisoners of war. As soon as Bai Chongxi crossed the strait and reached the Leizhou Peninsula, he was transported to Fuzhou along with agents from the Kuomintang government.

They said agents would take him away, but in reality, they didn’t just handcuff him, it was like he was arrested.

It was inevitable that more than 8,000 of Bai Chongxi’s subordinates died in this battle, and the number of injured was nearly 25,000, which was more than three times the number of those killed.

Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to punish him.

Even if his achievements in the anti-Japanese struggle were taken into consideration, he would have to spend the rest of his life under house arrest at best.

“What about Haenam Island residents?”

“He’s anxious, but he doesn’t seem too shaken. “I think it’s because they were people who were hit one way and another.”

“The thing is, it is a borderland among borderlands, and all kinds of bastards crawl in because they covet it or are pushed out from the central plains… … .”

Haenam Island.

This land was called Hainan Special Administrative Region by the Kuomintang government until it was transferred from the Republic of Korea, and this island, far away in the central plains, had a truly turbulent history.

It was originally the territory of ethnic minorities such as the Li people, but in BC it became the land of Nanyue and was incorporated into Chinese history by Emperor Wu of Han.

But it was literally ‘incorporation’.

It is extremely difficult to manage the remote land next to Vietnam 2,000 years ago.

In the end, it was used as the best place of exile among all places of exile, and it was said that once the place of exile was decided, one would never be able to return home again, so he left a will.

The island, which had not received much attention, began to receive attention in modern times.

The Empire of Japan, which won against the Qing Dynasty in the First Sino-Japanese War, was originally ceded the Liaodong Peninsula through the Treaty of Shimonoseki, but this was in vain due to the Three Kingdoms’ Intervention, and Japan was given Hainan Island instead.

Of course, even in the 1890s when the First Sino-Japanese War took place, Japan did not have the confidence to manage the distant Haenam Island, so it eventually gave up and received money instead.

After that, with the fall of the Qing Dynasty, it came under the control of the Guangdong warlords, and was ultimately led by the National Revolutionary Army Li Zhixian’s expedition.

As an ethnic group, it is less than 30km away from the Neuzhou Peninsula, so the Han Chinese already account for more than half of the population, but later on, more Han Chinese came into the area, and by 2020, the minority population was only 15%, and the rest became Han Chinese.

Anyway, as of now, there were quite a few ethnic minorities, and the population was only 2.5 million, larger than the combined area of ​​Gyeongsang-do, so it was really good for Korea to absorb.

“Anyway, it’s really good! “It’s the harsh winter in Seoul right now, but it’s so cool here.”

“ha ha ha! The temperature today is said to be 20 degrees Celsius. “It may be extremely hot in the summer, but this is absolutely perfect in the winter.”

“yes? “It is not for nothing that our great master coveted this place.”

“Would you like to play a game later when we build a golf course?”

“call!”

“ha ha ha!”

It was then.

smart!

“hmm? come in.”

“Mr. President, Vice President Peng Dehuai of the People’s Republic of China has arrived.”

“uh? okay? “Tell them to come in.”

“All right.”

Officially, the area around Haenam Island and Noeju Peninsula was received by the People’s Republic of China from the Republic of China in exchange for the area near Shanghai, and then transferred to the Republic of Korea upon signing a non-aggression pact with the Republic of Korea.

Therefore, a formal transfer procedure with the People’s Republic of China was necessary, and the person dispatched accordingly was Peng Dehuai, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party.

Kim Jong-woo also knew well the role Peng Dehuai played in the Korean War, so he was not happy to meet him, but he had no choice but to meet him.

After a while, an old man wearing civilian clothes came in accompanied by someone who looked like an aide or an aide.

“welcome. “I am Kim Jong-woo, commander-in-chief of the Korean Expeditionary Fleet and Chief of Staff of the Republic of Korea Navy.”

“I have heard of your reputation. Nice to meet you. Peng Dehuai, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People’s Republic of China.”

“hmm? You heard of my reputation? What reputation have you heard?”

“… … .”

To be honest, Peng Dehuai did not know Kim Jong-woo very well.

This is because his notoriety was never known to the Communist Party.

Nevertheless, the reason why it was so well-known is because it was simply one of the greetings commonly used in China.

It’s like in martial arts, ‘I have heard your name well.’ That way.

But when I questioned it so openly, I was at a loss for words.

‘Why are there all these kids?’

This was Peng Dehuai’s first impression of Kim Jong-woo.