Republic of Korea in Yeokcheon - Chapter 258



Only Krnovel

#258. Later is later

January 20, 1957, 11:00 a.m. EST.

The third inauguration of U.S. President Harry Truman began in front of the U.S. Capitol.

Finally, Harry Truman placed his left hand on the Bible and took the oath with a solemn expression.

“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and that I will, to the best of my ability, support, defend and preserve the Constitution of the United States. So help me God!”

The time of the American presidency begins at 12 noon, but that doesn’t mean anything to a president who is serving a second term.

Anyway, Truman became the US president for a third term, following Roosevelt’s fourth term, and Roosevelt looked on with a pleased expression.

“Long time no see, Frank.”

After the meal, Lee Kang-cheol approached Roosevelt first and greeted him.

“Oh! Lee! Hahaha! Long time no see.”

“… … .”

It was Kang-cheol Lee who felt that he needed to organize his titles.

Even after leaving office, Roosevelt often visited South Korea for the sake of his own health, and he became close friends with Lee Kang-cheol. Roosevelt called Lee Kang-cheol by his last name, “Lee,” while Truman called him “Iron,” which seemed confusing to Roosevelt.

“Why didn’t you come in the second half of last year?”

“Haha! I’m a bit busy, you know.”

“Hey, what could a former president be busy with?”

“Why is this happening? You were super busy supporting Harry’s election last year, right?”

“Oh, right! That’s right.”

Even though he had been out of office for eight years, Roosevelt’s popularity was still almost as high as that of George Washington or Lincoln.

It was natural that he had no choice but to be called upon to support President Truman, whose third term was on the line.

“This election was a bit difficult, wasn’t it?”

“That was definitely the case. Even within our Democratic Party, there were many people who were not keen on a third term.”

“I’m glad it turned out well. Oh, and how is your health?”

“Hahaha! Well, it may not be as good as the care you get in your home country, but American medicine has advanced a lot these days. I’m still fine.”

“But since you don’t know, please come to our country during the first half of the year.”

“Haha! Okay, I understand.”

Roosevelt was born in 1882 and was around the same age as Kim Kyu-sik, but because he spent most of his time sitting around, he had to pay more attention to his health than usual.

In fact, if it weren’t for the expedition, I would have died a long time ago.

The next evening, I stopped by the White House at Truman’s invitation.

“Congratulations again, Harry.”

“Hahaha! Thanks, Iron. Thanks to your return, I was able to win.”

“Shh! You know what? If that gets out, there’ll be chaos.”

“I know.”

As expected, the final blow was the revelation that Nixon had received illicit funds, and if it had been revealed that the National Intelligence Service of the Republic of Korea had been involved, it would have been possible to impeach him.

Anyway, I won.

This is a happy outcome for both Truman and Lee Kang-cheol.

As the friendly atmosphere continued, Truman brought up the Republic of China.

“But Iron.”

“Yes, Harry.”

“Is it okay to leave Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China as it is? As its economy develops, its military capabilities are also rapidly increasing.”

“Hahaha! It doesn’t matter yet.”

“Honestly, we in the United States are not particularly concerned, but I think it would be bad for your country. As you know, the military industry in the Republic of China is developing, but we in the United States are also constantly receiving requests for aid. In particular, there are many requests for naval and air force weapons.”

While firearms and artillery for the ground forces can be produced relatively easily once heavy industry is established to a certain extent, the weapons systems for the navy and air force are a different matter.

Even if you pour in a huge amount of money and effort, it takes a long time to produce a decent product.

As a result, although the basic ground force weapon systems were produced independently by the Republic of China, the air force and naval weapon systems were still far behind, so it appeared that they continued to request surplus weaponry from their ally, the United States.

“Are you sure you’re okay? For now, if you think I’m going too far, I’ll just cut it off.”

“As long as they are not sensitive, it is fine. For the Air Force, as long as they do not give us jet fighters, and for the Navy, as long as they are not Gearing-class or higher combat ships or submarines, it is fine. In particular, submarines are absolutely not allowed.”

Even if the submarine is old, it is a huge burden to the South Korean Navy as long as it can dive.

So, I don’t know about anything else, but I had absolutely requested the United States to ban the donation of submarines.

“It’s a given. We, the United States, never give up our submarines unless they are returned to our country.”

“That would be fine. To be honest, it is a well-known fact that there are so many old frigates and destroyers from World War II that it is difficult to dispose of them, and the U.S. government cannot continue to refuse requests for donations.”

The United States produced a whopping 175 Fletcher-class destroyers during World War II, 70 Allen M. Sumner-class destroyers, which were produced between the Fletcher and Gearing classes, and 98 Gearing-class destroyers.

There were also countless frigates like the Butler class, but these had even more inventory than the destroyers.

The United States could continue to improve and use destroyers with relatively large displacement, but after the war, there was no place to use small ships like escort ships.

This is why most of the frigates are rotting away at anchorage, but when the so-called ally asks the Republic of China to give them to them, they cannot refuse.

“Please give us as many LSTs and frigates as you want, and destroyers up to the Sumner class are fine. Anyway, we have so many Gearing-class ships that we don’t have much in stock except for the ones the US military is using, right?”

“Hahaha! I think I have some free time now, but I won’t give you the gearing level anyway.”

“Yes, please do.”

“By the way, you’re going on a tour of Central and South America right now?”

“Yes, Central and South America are so far away and there is no special connection between us, so I have never been there before. I plan to visit there this time.”

“Haha! It’s really far.”

It was really far.

In particular, South America is a place that even in modern times requires a minimum of one night and two days to travel, so it is a place that you cannot even think about going to unless you have a lot of time.

“It’s fortunate that we went via the United States. No matter how good the airplanes are, if we had tried to go straight there, we would have died.”

“Maybe so. Oh, and you’re close with President Peron of Argentina?”

“Yes, the First Lady was sick, so we treated her. That’s why she has been visiting Korea often recently.”

“Haha! Those people are just lucky.”

“It’s true for the Perons, but it’s also true for Argentina.”

“Yes, but Iron.”

“Yes, Harry.”

“I’m asking because we’re talking about Central and South America. Is the United States doing well right now?”

Since the Roosevelt era, the United States has actively accepted Lee Kang-cheol’s advice and boldly changed its policy toward Central and South America.

During the Cold War, the United States, thinking of itself as the garden of the United States, supported vicious dictators without regard to good or evil as long as they were pro-American, and did not hesitate to even overthrow democratically elected socialist regimes.

Eventually, it boomeranged and most of South America became filled with anti-American sentiments.

But this time, there was no communist regime, at least not one that supported communism, as the Soviet Union had lost its power when it was defeated by South Korea, although there was a socialist regime.

Moreover, while the United States, following Lee Kang-cheol’s advice and advocating ‘proper politics,’ mercilessly sanctioned undemocratic and morally Andromeda regimes, no matter how much they praised the United States, and even went so far as to help anti-regime forces with democratic tendencies.

This is why America’s image in South America could not possibly get worse.

Moreover, since Kissinger, who had been influencing US foreign policy since the late 1960s and had turned South America into hell, had already gone to hell, there was little concern that US policy toward South America would change in the future.

“Hahaha! Were you worried about that?”

“Haha! That’s right. It certainly doesn’t seem that bad, but I’d still like to hear your own opinion.”

“Don’t worry, you’re doing well. If you just keep doing what you’re doing now, there won’t be any problems. For example, Cuba is peaceful and prosperous now, right?”

“Of course. That damned Sergeant Batista was blown to hell a long time ago, and the current President Carlos Prío Socarrás is actively controlled by our government. Thanks to him, the gap between the rich and the poor has been reduced dramatically.”

Extreme inequality between rich and poor is the root of all evil.

In such an absurd and distorted social situation, so-called subversive ideas are bound to sprout and gain power.

That is why Lee Kang-cheol advised that we should be careful not to let the gap between the rich and the poor in Central and South America get worse. However, there are limits to interfering with sovereign states, and many countries still have a large gap between the rich and the poor.

But in Cuba, things were a little different.

The country of Cuba itself was originally a country that the United States had ceded from Spain along with Puerto Rico and the Philippines as a result of the Spanish-American War, and so even if it had become an American territory like Puerto Rico, there would have been nothing to say.

However, at the time, the United States achieved independence in 1902 in order to show the world that it had no imperialistic desires, but this has been considered by American historians to be the worst mistake.

Anyway, because of this history, Cuba was a country that was almost like a half-American territory, with the United States holding diplomatic and financial power for a long time after independence, so it was still possible to strongly interfere in its internal affairs, as Truman did.

Of course, it was better for Cuba too.

“Cuba did really well. Thanks to that, I found out that ‘that person’ who had caused so much trouble in the US was now living a hard life as a lawyer.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Yes, I heard that he has become an ardent pro-American. He even goes around shouting that we should merge with the United States.”

“What the… … .”

“ha ha ha!”

***

Around the time when Lee Kang-cheol was touring Central and South America via the United States.

In the People’s Republic of China, the Great Leap Forward was not only active but also fierce.

This was because it was now the second year of the Great Leap Forward, and there was a sense of impatience throughout the Communist Party that this year was the year that something had to be achieved.

The harassment by Mao Zedong, who had absolute power, was also severe.

“This month’s quota has increased by 30% compared to last month! That means increasing steel production by another 30%!”

“No, how can you produce 30% more? We don’t even have iron ore to put in the blast furnace. And what are you going to use to light the blast furnace?”

“Shut up! All those who spit on the Great Leap Forward are reactionaries! They are American imperialists!”

“… … .”

“If you don’t meet your quota, your food rations will be reduced accordingly!”

“No, there’s no such law… … .”

“That means match the production volume!”

“… … .”

If you raise any further objections here, you will be labeled a real reactionary.

Then, seeing the world will be my last.

But what on earth is steel made of?

“Oh, what should we do? If we can’t meet production targets, they’ll reduce food supply, right?”

“Damn it! We’re starving to death already, and you’re going to cut down even more? We can’t help it. Let’s throw away everything made of metal. Bring all the old plows and other farm tools!”

“So, you, are you crazy? Then how are you going to farm?”

“Then? Are you planning to starve to death right now?”

“… … .”

“Later is later! You want me to watch my wife and children starve to death right now? I’ve seen that happen.”

“No, but is that so?”

“I heard that the village next door dismantled the latest tractor that they had recently received and gave it to Goro as food. But is a plow worth anything? Anyway, bring it to me quickly! If you don’t want to starve!”

“Oh, I see.”

Today, the People’s Republic of China was having a lively day thanks to the Great Leap Forward.