Republic of Korea in Yeokcheon - Chapter 294



Only Krnovel

#294. Money rules the world!

When the war between South Korea and Indonesia ended, the reactions of each country were, as expected, varied and surprising.

That’s understandable, because even though South Korea is an emerging superpower, Indonesia is also a country that farts a bit in Southeast Asia.

Sukarno is not stupid.

He had tried to increase national power in his own way, and military power in particular was his greatest interest.

Moreover, although Indonesia was limited to Sumatra and Java, Java was one of the few countries with a large population at the time, and Indonesia had the natural defensive advantage of being an island nation.

That’s why most countries naturally thought that South Korea would win, but that it would still have a hard time.

Some countries even predicted that the expedition would fail, citing the hardships suffered by American troops during the Pacific War.

But it was easy, too easy.

It was easier than an adult twisting the wrist of a five-year-old child.

It was surprising how they mobilized so many troops in such a short period of time, but as soon as they arrived, they were unilaterally beaten and crushed, and then news came that the war was simply over.

This war was reported more vividly than other previous wars in South Korea because of the ambassadors and staff members stationed in Jakarta who quickly reported the news of the war to their home countries.

They all said the same thing.

“There wasn’t even a battle. They just beat them with cannons and burned them to death.”

In the home country where the report was received, everyone was in an uproar, asking what kind of war report was this, but soon it became known that it was true, and everyone kept quiet.

And depending on the relationship with South Korea, they were either happy or scared.

Naturally, Vietnam, which claims to be the only blood ally in Asia, was delighted as if it were its own business.

“Hahaha! I knew it!”

“We had to wait in line for a really long time!”

“Let’s just go and look at the butt of our brother from the Republic of Korea!”

This was the main reaction, and Burma, which called itself Vietnam’s next ally, was not much different.

But Thailand’s reaction was somewhat subtle.

What should I say?

Should I say it’s quite shaky?

The relationship between South Korea and Thailand has been somewhat unusual.

From the beginning, not only Lee Kang-cheol but even Kim Kyu-sik were fed up with King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s bat-like antics and his willingness to sell off territory for the sake of royal power, and they secretly despised him.

Of course, outwardly they were friendly and economically active in trade, but they could not have been unaware that the South Korean government was not pleased with them.

As a result, it was a strange relationship where they were neither friends nor enemies but pretended to be friendly, so the Thai government secretly hoped that South Korea would suffer in this war.

But, far from causing trouble, we only ended up confirming the might of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, so we can’t help but feel indifferent.

“Is this true? No, I know the Indonesian army is not easy either, but you crushed them so easily?”

“Damn it! Shouldn’t we be careful too?”

“That’s true. The South Korean government already has a negative view of Thailand.”

The atmosphere was something like this.

The ‘example’ shown to Indonesia was clearly effective.

The same was true of the Federation of Malaysia.

The Federation of Malaya did not support Indonesia because it had a conflict with Indonesia, but it did not support South Korea either.

They, too, originally had a desire for northern Borneo, just like in history, but they were unhappy when South Korea stepped in and made the entire island of Borneo independent.

So I wanted the two of them to fight each other in a good mood and suffer losses, but instead of suffering losses, South Korea crushed Indonesia with overwhelming force, which made me feel chilled.

“Hey, if we look at this wrong, we’ll all be killed in one blow.”

“Oh, really? The British guys’ warning was right. I was wondering why they were warning us not to do useless things to South Korea.”

“Didn’t you say that you hate monarchies so much? Don’t you think we should be careful too?”

“Hey, we’re a constitutional monarchy, so it shouldn’t matter?”

“Anyway, let’s be careful. Don’t even open your mouth about Borneo. Didn’t they say they’re building a naval base right under our noses?”

As someone said, South Korea is now facing a direct threat.

Because when Indonesia broke up, they gave up the Natuna Islands right in front of their noses.

In any case, the ‘alarm bell’ has clearly rung as the South Korean government intended.

And this ‘alarm bell’ rang for them too.

“How can we conquer Indonesia so easily? Does this make sense?”

“It’s true, Father. Not only was the report from our embassy in Jakarta the same, but so were the reports from the intelligence agencies that had been working hard to prepare for this war. They say they were just beaten up for a few days.”

“This is incredible… … .”

I was so shocked by the report from Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek’s son.

When Chiang Kai-shek first heard the news that South Korea was going to invade Indonesia, he was delighted.

Because he, who had been at war for decades, judged that South Korea was taking a risk.

In my experience, invading a country the size of Indonesia was extremely risky.

Isn’t that an island country too?

So I thought I’d take this opportunity to somewhat undermine the power of the Republic of Korea Navy.

But what the heck is this?

Didn’t Indonesia surrender unconditionally after not being able to hold out for more than a few days due to South Korea’s overwhelming firepower?

Moreover, according to reports from the embassy and the intelligence agency, there was no damage to South Korea.

What kind of war is this?

It was a one-sided punishment.

“Damn it! We definitely need to increase our naval power! Isn’t this just a firepower battle?”

“Father, isn’t that a problem? The US won’t even sell us anything more than old destroyers, let alone donate them… .”

“Fucking Truman! How much did you eat to be able to fight over those bastards like that? What about Europe? If America won’t sell it, we can just buy it from Europe.”

“The same goes for Europe. Even in the UK, when you inquire about purchasing, you are asked to first obtain South Korea’s consent. The same goes for France.”

“There’s Italy too!”

“Father! Do you really want to buy traps from the Italians?”

“… … .”

That wasn’t it.

Italian shipbuilding technology was incredible at the time, if not later.

“In the end, we have no choice but to build it ourselves at our shipyard. We are trying our best to recruit retired engineers from the West, so please wait.”

“I get it.”

Chiang Kai-shek became increasingly impatient.

For a while, it seemed as if Mao Zedong was trying hard to regain control of the North, but after Mao Zedong fell, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, who led Northern China, ruled very well.

The country, which had been torn apart by the Great Leap Forward, was quickly being restored and was developing day by day.

Of course, the Republic of China was connected to the West, and it had gritted its teeth and made rapid progress, but it was fundamentally on a different level from Northern China, so if it had pursued them in that way, it could have been caught at any moment.

In the meantime, he had already turned seventy.

Although he was still healthy, he knew full well that the health of the elderly was not guaranteed.

I felt suffocated.

“Haa! Will I be able to cross the Yangtze River again before I die?”

It seemed like my lifelong dream was slipping away.

***

October 7, 1959.

Seoul Government Complex.

The first State Council meeting, including Kim Kyu-sik, was held after the end of the war with Indonesia.

“This expedition also ended well. Mr. Usagi worked especially hard in the hot place.”

“Haha! What did I do? General Kim Jong-woo and the soldiers worked hard.”

“Haha! We plan to reward our soldiers properly as soon as they return.”

“I think that would be a good idea.”

“Okay! Now, let’s forget about Indonesia. We have punished them as we intended, and we have sounded the alarm in the surrounding areas.”

“All right.”

“So, I have something to tell you.”

The Minister of Strategy and Finance raised his hand.

“Oh, Minister of Planning and Finance. Go ahead.”

“You said you secured the Natuna Islands this time too, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. I heard that there’s a lot of genetic material there. I’m planning on taking it slow though, since I can see the development. Hahaha!”

“So what I’m saying is, if we continue like this, it will be difficult to handle the inflow of foreign currency.”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

“There are more than one or two oil fields that our Korea National Oil Corporation is working on. And we boast a 100% success rate. Well, it’s no different from fraud, since we know where the oil will come from.”

“Huh! A scam? Let’s be careful with what we say.”

“That’s what I’m saying. Some of the oil that we develop and import is used for domestic purposes, but a significant portion is refined and exported, right?”

“Why is that? Is it a problem?”

“If this situation continues, it will become a problem.”

“Yes? No, why?”

“The problem is that too much foreign currency is flowing in. Our export products are already sweeping the world, wiping up all the foreign currency, and recently, even oil export proceeds have been flowing in explosively. If this isn’t a problem, then what is?”

“… … .”

“… … .”

Normally, it’s normal for there to be chaos due to a lack of foreign currency, but it can also be a problem if too much comes in at once.

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. It would be better for the Governor of the Bank of Korea to explain this, but since he is not present today, I will explain it on his behalf. Our won is already overvalued, which is not good. The relevant organizations are working together to control it as much as possible, but frankly, it is burdensome.”

“Is that it?”

“Ha, of course. Our country’s current account surplus exceeded 15 billion dollars last month. It is increasing every month. It is difficult to continue like this. Right now, we are somehow reinvesting in overseas safe assets to prevent inflows, but this is inefficient. It also reduces profitability.”

“Then what should we do? Isn’t there a solution?”

“There is a solution.”

“What is it?”

“We are creating a sovereign wealth fund, and a very large one at that.”

“Sovereign wealth funds? Isn’t that what Middle Easterners do?”

“That’s right, but the Middle Eastern countries’ sovereign wealth funds were famous, but the Chinese, Singaporean, and Norwegian sovereign wealth funds were also very large and famous. In terms of ranking, the Norwegian government pension fund was first, and the Chinese investment company was second. Both were well over $1 trillion in size.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t you feel anything here?”

“Why don’t you just tell me?”

The Minister of Strategy and Finance looked at Lee Kang-cheol, who was shamelessly coming out, for a moment before opening his mouth again.

“When a country makes a lot of money by developing natural resources such as oil, or when there is an excessive inflow of foreign currency due to a large current account surplus, it usually falls into two categories.”

“How?”

“Like Venezuela, the people either play around and live off the money they earn from resource development, or they create a national wealth fund to prepare for the future. By doing so, they can prepare for the future while also stabilizing the foreign exchange market.”

In that case, South Korea is obviously the latter.

“So, are you saying we should create a sovereign wealth fund too?”

“Of course. Let’s create our own sovereign wealth fund and make it the best and largest sovereign wealth fund in the world! We will rule the world with money!”

“… … .”

“… … .”

If there are those who rule the world with guns, the Minister of Finance’s idea was to rule the world with money.