Republic of Korea in Yeokcheon - Chapter 270



Only Krnovel

#270. It was fucking worth it

January 1959.

The great famine that swept through East Asia soon began to subside when South Korea brokered and released large quantities of grain imported from the United States, Argentina, and other South American countries. In particular, the People’s Republic of China, where tens of millions of people had once again nearly starved to death, began to revive from the brink of death.

But there were countries that did not welcome this situation.

January 20th.

Office of the President of the Republic of China.

“What the hell! Why on earth did the South Koreans sell food even to the communists?”

“… … .”

As Chiang Kai-shek became increasingly irritable, the conference room seemed to freeze over.

This was because it was rare for Chiang Kai-shek to show such a violent temper after the end of the Chinese Civil War.

“Damn it! What a waste! When will I ever get another chance like this?”

“… … .”

“… … .”

Chiang Kai-shek, who had been irritable, was now lamenting.

When will I ever get another chance like this?

It was the Chinese Communist Party that was collapsing on its own.

If this situation had continued just a little longer, just a little longer, the dream of continental unification could have become a reality rather than a dream.

Of course, tens of millions of lives in the North would be put at risk again, but since it wasn’t his doing, he didn’t have to feel too guilty.

If the Great Leap Forward had continued for just two more years, no, just one more year, or if South Korea had not sold food, we could have pushed north.

But that divine opportunity was disappearing like a bubble, and the anger was directed at South Korea.

“You damn bread-heads! Just wait and see! I’m going to see tears of blood flowing from your eyes!”

If you do ten things well and then do one thing wrong, you will naturally start to feel resentment.

The memory of Chiang Kai-shek personally visiting South Korea to receive food aid just a year ago had already faded away.

On the other hand, the People’s Republic of China began to flourish again once food supplies began to arrive in large quantities and the famine was resolved.

“Whew! For now, I’m relieved. In most parts of our republic, the famine has been resolved or is in the process of being resolved.”

Although Tian Yun looked tired, he still opened his mouth with a bright expression.

“Anyway, at least no one will starve to death, right?”

“Yes, Comrade Joo.”

“Ha, then that’s fine. As long as you stay alive, that’s fine. Thank you for your hard work, Comrade Tian Yun.”

“No. It was possible because imported food arrived sooner than expected.”

“Anyway, isn’t that it? Hahaha!”

“ha ha ha!”

“haha!”

It’s been a really long time.

It’s funny to see someone smiling like this at a meeting.

“Okay! Now that the urgent fire has been put out, we still have a long way to go. We must put back to the place where everything that was ruined by that damned Great Leap Forward was. We must urgently increase the number of sparrows and abolish the people’s communes.”

“First of all, let’s quickly get rid of the toilet bowl that spits out shit!”

The People’s Liberation Army suffered great damage from weapons made of shit iron.

For Pung Dehwai, just thinking about the law of tombs was enough to make him vomit.

“Of course, Comrade Feng. Almost all the smelting furnaces in the country have already been eliminated. Starting this year, the steel mills will begin operating normally.”

“It was close. There were countless reports that the Jangga guy in the South was moving when he saw us being ruined.”

“He won’t have that chance. You can rest assured now. And while it’s good to put back what was destroyed by the Great Leap Forward, we need to do more than that. Not to mention South Korea, neighboring countries like South China, Vietnam, and Burma are all developing, but we are far behind.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I plan to take this opportunity to actively introduce capitalist market economy elements into our economy.”

“What? Are you saying we are introducing a capitalist market economy?”

“Oh! Don’t get me wrong. Our Communist Party’s economy will still be based on communism.”

“But?”

“The framework will still be communist, but we will also introduce market economy elements to partially improve productivity.”

“Is that okay?”

“Is there any reason why not?”

“No, but still… … .”

“Look here, Comrade Feng. Why did we make a revolution? To put it simply, wasn’t it so that we could all eat well and live well?”

“… … .”

“To do that, the economy needs to develop. But how much will the economy develop if we do the same thing as we are doing now? You know what I mean when I say it’s an extreme example? A people’s commune where we share everything and move together.”

“Ahem!”

When the topic of the people’s commune came up, I had nothing to say.

Because it was truly a mess among messes.

“So, what I thought was, let’s introduce some market economy elements, even if it’s just a part of it. That’s what our Comrade Deng Xiaoping said.”

“What are you saying?”

“It doesn’t matter whether a cat is black or white, a cat that catches mice is a good cat.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches mice well?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t that too radical?”

“Yes, I know. It’s too radical. So I’m not saying that we should introduce all of Comrade Deng Xiaoping’s new ideas. Comrade Deng, Comrade Chen Yun, and I discussed it together, and Comrade Chen Yun also said that it was too radical.”

“Of course. The idea that any ideology, whether capitalism or anything else, is good as long as you live well is clearly problematic. It is also against our revolution.”

“So, in general, we decided to follow Comrade Tian Yun’s opinion. As I said before, the basic idea is to have a planned economy based on a shared system, but since we cannot suppress the people’s desires indefinitely, we should guarantee a certain amount of private property ownership and autonomous market economic activities.”

“Huh?”

“Do you understand? If we maintain the basic revolutionary spirit and just keep the framework, then what are we afraid of if we introduce some market economic elements? What do you think, Comrade Feng?”

“I think that’s okay.”

“Hahaha! Good.”

“ha ha ha!”

In this way, Northern China was attempting to make a frightening leap forward by introducing a market economy.

Just as Lee Kang-cheol worried.

***

March 1, 1959.

It’s Samiljeol.

But today is a special event day, so the eyes of the entire nation are turned to Goheung.

That was because it was the day that the first manned spacecraft in human history was launched.

“Let’s go, Harry.”

“Haha! I want to see this soon.”

“We’ll be there soon, we’ll be taking a helicopter.”

Lee Kang-cheol boarded a private helicopter with President Harry Truman and his wife.

What about Harry Truman?

President Harry Truman arrived two days ago to witness today’s launch in person.

The reason things turned out this way is because the Venus 5 manned space rocket launched today was a joint launch by South Korea and the United States.

Originally, South Korea was planning to launch a manned space rocket on its own, but Harry Truman put the brakes on the plan.

He said that it would be difficult for South Korea to advance too far alone.

It was somewhat disappointing for South Korea, but in the end, we had no choice but to accept President Truman’s claim.

I also felt like I was going too far ahead of myself, and as Truman said, I was worried that if I went too far, public opinion in the United States would turn against me.

Moreover, there were many practical aspects, such as not having to shoulder the astronomical development costs alone, and being able to receive help from the United States.

Also, President Truman is someone who knows the true identity of the expedition team.

Although they did not say it out loud, they may have thought that South Korea was stealing America’s glory, so the joint launch became a fait accompli.

However, since it was not agreed that the launch would be from South Korea even if it was jointly launched, it was decided that today’s launch of the first manned space rocket in human history would be from the space base in Goheung, Jeollanam-do.

Two astronauts were selected: South Korea’s first astronaut was Colonel Park Young-in of the Air Force, and Chuck Yeager was selected from the United States.

Originally, America’s first astronaut was Alan Shepard, who successfully flew into space in 1961, but that was changed to Chuck Yeager, who was the first pilot to break the sound barrier.

The reason this happened is because the South Korean side actively recommended Chuck Yeager.

Originally, Chuck Yeager was excluded from the astronaut selection because he was a high school graduate, but this time, he was pressured into doing so by South Korea, which was virtually leading the development of the rocket.

Why did you cry?

It was nothing special.

It was because Air Force Chief of Staff General Jeong Ji-woon was really pressuring him, and the reason was simply because he was a Chuck Yeager fan.

It’s funny, but when it comes to flying out of South Korea, no one could ignore Jung Ji-woon’s words, and there was no reason for them to.

Because it didn’t matter who the American astronaut was anyway.

The Goheung Space Base was literally teeming with people.

Reporters and broadcasters from South Korea, the United States, and all over the world rushed to the scene, and hundreds of thousands of South Korean and American citizens awaited the launch of this historic rocket.

“Wow! This is amazing!”

Truman was amazed when he saw the standing Venus 5 rocket.

“Hahaha! Isn’t that cool?”

“Yes, that’s really cool!”

It was the Venus 5 rocket that displayed truly tremendous majesty.

Originally, the rocket that the United States launched as the first manned space rocket was a much smaller rocket, the Mercury-Redstone rocket, but now the launch vehicle of choice is a giant rocket that is almost as big as the Saturn rocket that sent the Apollo into space.

Since South Korea has already passed the stage of launching rockets of the Mercury-Redstone level, there was no need to develop small rockets again.

Soon, the launch count began.

“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Fire! Go! Venus!”

Kuooooong!

The person doing the launch count added a useless comment like ‘Go! Typhoon!’, but no one seemed to care about that now.

Kuwaaaaang!

All I could do was watch the giant rockets soaring into the sky and into space.

“Wow!”

“Go up! Go up!”

“Wow, that’s cool!”

“I’m definitely going to ride that!”

The Venus 5 rocket, filled with the expectations of the people of both Korea and the United States, continued to soar.

And after a while, applause erupted from the control center.

For now, the launch appears to have been successful.

Now, if we can safely communicate with the astronauts who have already flown into space, humanity’s first space mission will be complete.

And after a while, a radio call came to the control center.

– Goheung! Goheung! This is Independence No. 1! Colonel Park Young-in!

“Wow, wow, wow!”

―The Earth is truly beautiful! Long live the independence of Korea!

“Wow, wow, wow!”

This March 1st Independence Movement Day, cheers for independence reverberated from space to the entire world.

Independence 1 remained in space for more than six hours and returned safely through the sea off Yugu.

And a celebration party that evening.

“Iron, what’s your next plan?”

“What do you mean? We have to go to the moon?”

“Let’s go with that too.”

“Hey, until when?”

“Hahaha! I don’t know! Let’s just buy value!”

“… … .”

It was fucking worth it.