Republic of Korea in Yeokcheon - Chapter 80



Only Krnovel

#80. Let’s live while looking 100 years ahead.

In just a little while it will be 1946.

Lee Kang-cheol and Go Seok-man were drinking soju at a bar in Yongsan.

“There was a lot of hardship this year too.”

“What is it, everyone is having a hard time.”

“But I feel at ease because I got all the big things done.”

“Hehehe! That’s right, brother, we have definitely laid the foundation for becoming a great power. “We have secured a large territory and resources, and not only has the population increased naturally, but the inflow from outside has also increased tremendously, right?”

“yes. Now, all we have to do is strengthen our internal stability and make our country a prosperous and strong country. “It won’t be that difficult if we don’t lose our original intention…”

“So brother, please take care of your health too. No matter what anyone says, the new Republic of Korea is centered around you.”

“Don’t just take words, do you have anything? “Even so, it’s been hard to get up in the morning these days.”

“My wife prepared some nutritional supplements for my brother, so don’t forget to eat them.”

“ha ha ha! After all, I only have Mr. Jesu!”

“Eh? Don’t say anything weird, right? “Why have someone else’s wife?”

“You’re the weird one, dude! “Are you just saying something and taking it strangely?”

“Hehehe!”

“Hehehe!”

It’s a truly peaceful New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Eve.

Maybe it’s because I had a good year.

By defeating the Kwantung Army, the vast territory of Manchuria was annexed, and with Japan’s defeat, it officially secured large islands, including Hokkaido and Sakhalin, as a victorious country.

The newly secured territory amounted to a whopping 1.32 million km2, and when combined with the existing 220,000 km2 of the Korean Peninsula, Korea’s land area exceeded a whopping 1.54 million km2.

It has become a great country seven times the size of the existing Korean Peninsula, and has thus fully secured the foundation to become a powerful country.

In a way, we have secured the largest river area in the history of the Korean people, so can we farm for the year? In terms of quality, it couldn’t be better than this.

“Anyway, for the time being, the Chinese will be fighting among themselves to the point of sheer blood, and the Soviets won’t be able to pay attention to the Far East for a while either. In other words, there will be no major wars for the time being. “It buys us incredibly valuable time.”

“You can probably get more than three years. In the meantime, we must develop national defense and the economy as much as possible.”

“Damn, I thought drinking alcohol would help me feel better, but when I think about the future, I start drinking again…”

“Hehehe! Don’t do that too much. Time passes. “The busier you are, the faster it will pass.”

“Not really. By the way, which one do you think comes first? “Are you a Chinese or a Ross?”

“Don’t you think Roskae will come first? First of all, we can control China to some extent, right? “If you feel like one side is too crowded, you can apply.”

“Is that what you think? The Soviets will definitely come first. “We will continue to touch your nerves.”

“China’s civil war must last as long as possible. It has to last until at least 1950 or later. If that happens, the Soviet Union will definitely provoke in the meantime. “After about three years, the Western Front will stabilize, and the damage from the war will be resolved to some extent.”

“Then we can look at it three to four years from now.”

“I expect something like that.”

In original history, China’s Second Chinese Civil War ended on December 7, 1949.

However, the two hope to drag it out a little longer, and are also thinking about encouraging it to happen.

That’s how we can divide China as much as possible and drain its power.

“Whoa! We need to be conservative and expand our national power like crazy over a three-year period. To achieve this, we must strongly push for integration. Oh, when do you think it will air on television? “There’s nothing better than TV broadcasts when it comes to national integration and education, right?”

“According to the director of the Electronic Communications Research Institute, it will not be possible until 1949 in earnest.”

“What’s the problem? Why is it taking so long? “I heard that the UK and US are already broadcasting black and white?”

“Is that easy? To put it bluntly, broadcasting is possible even now with the equipment we brought.”

“however?”

“The problem is television. Nowadays, we can’t import expensive televisions from the U.S. We have to make them ourselves, but we have to make all the parts, right? They say that it takes a lot of time to build electronic components anyway, since they require a lot of communication equipment and other things, so you have to build the foundation first.”

“Then black and white?”

“Hey, we are people from modern times, so how can we broadcast in black and white? “We’ll start right away with a color broadcast.”

“Isn’t that too fast? “It might look strange overseas, right?”

“It wasn’t like that. I asked that because I didn’t know, and they said that American kids started broadcasting in color in 1951. “It started in earnest in 1954 due to the aftermath of the Korean War.”

“Was it that fast? wow! “I watched black and white TV until I was in the first or second year of elementary school.”

Lee Kang-cheol was really surprised.

I knew that Korea’s color TV broadcasting was a bit late, but the United States had color broadcasting at a time when radio was rare in Korea.

“They say that’s why our country was late in the first place. “It is said that Japan also started in 1960, 15 years after the war.”

“Huh, it looks like our country has really had a terrible time.”

“It is not because of that, but the government at the time blocked it, saying it would create a sense of disharmony between classes and encourage a trend of extravagance. I heard that color TVs were being produced and exported a long time ago. They say it could have been done in the late 1960s if one had put their mind to it. “They said all the broadcasting stations were preparing.”

“Damn…”

“Hehehe!”

“Anyway, aren’t they producing color TVs starting in 1949?”

“no. Production will begin around the spring of 1948. “Don’t you need to install a TV first to broadcast?”

“Oh, that’s right.”

“So, pilot broadcasts will begin in the second half of 1948, and commercial broadcasts will begin in earnest in 1949.”

“Then that’s a relief. “Then how many inches is the TV?”

“It looks like we’ll start a little bigger, at 20 inches. “I heard it was small in the old black and white days?”

“From what I remember, it was common for small-scale homes to have 19-inch screens in the living room and 14- or 15-inch screens in the master bedroom. Why are you in the living room? “The one with sliding doors on both sides?”

“Puhuhuh! I don’t know until then. The first TV broadcast I ever saw was in color. “If you think about it, my brother and I are five years apart, so there’s a subtle generation gap, right?”

“Crazy guy, I vaguely remember it too. Anyway, of course it’s a cathode ray tube TV. “A cathode ray tube with a convex belly.”

“That’s true, but they say they plan to make it as flat as possible. According to the director of the research center, the goal is to be around the level of TV in the 1990s. So, once this is produced in earnest, it will sweep the world. “You can see it as scraping money with a rake.”

“ha ha ha! “It’s fun just thinking about it!”

“ha ha ha!”

It was then.

Damn!

A bell was heard from afar.

“ah! It’s the sound of the Bosingak bell! “It’s a new year now?”

“I see. “Happy New Year, brother.”

“Yes, good luck to you too.”

The new year of 1946 has arrived.

* * *

Even though the year changed, it was still hectic.

There are only three to five or six years left for the Soviet Union to regain some strength and for China to be sorted out in some way.

In the meantime, the Republic of Korea had to be completely transformed.

There was so much to do.

“Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, please report.”

“First of all, it is a rail transportation modernization project. The railway transportation modernization project is divided into two parts. First, there is the locomotive modernization project to replace steam locomotives with diesel locomotives and the project to modernize existing railroads.”

“Yes, please continue.”

“First of all, the locomotives are being replaced with diesel locomotives imported from the United States. So far, about 200 locomotives have arrived, and about 600 locomotives are scheduled to arrive within this year. The total number of imported vehicles is approximately 1,200.”

“You can’t cover 10,000 weeks with that, right? What if it’s the Korean Peninsula?”

“of course. “This is only the direct import volume, and domestically produced locomotives are scheduled to be released from the second half of next year, so from then on, we will replace them with domestically produced locomotives.”

“oh! Of course, it has to be domestically produced.”

“Yes, Chairman. Diesel engines are key not only to trains but also to the entire industry. “Because it is used in many areas, including automobiles, generators, and trams, we are developing it as a priority project.”

“Of course it has to be superior to engines developed in this era, right?”

“of course. Technology is not a problem because all related technologies were brought from Hyundai anyway. However, it is only delayed due to the lack of a manufacturing base for parts, so when it is made, it will not be at a level comparable to the products of this era. “It will be at least the same level as in the 1970s.”

“That’s great.”

It was ahead of its time by more than 20 years.

It was probably the best thing to do under the current circumstances.

“Railway modernization involves improving the signaling system and, most importantly, double-tracking of single-track railways. “For now, we will double-track most routes within the Korean Peninsula by next year, and then we plan to start operating in Manchuria.”

“Hmm, won’t we also start construction in urgent areas in Manchuria together?”

“Yes, we plan to do that for some sections.”

“Yes, please.”

“Next is the highway project. The Gyeongui Expressway from Busan to Sinuiju is also scheduled to be completed by next year. At the same time, routes from Daejeon to Mokpo, Seoul to Gangneung, and Mokpo to Pohang via Busan will also be completed.”

“Hoo? Does it happen that quickly? “It’s only been a few months since the highway was designed and land expropriation began, right?”

Lee Kang-cheol asked, surprised at how fast the speed was.

“ha ha ha! “I think you are thinking too much about modern times.”

“No, but that’s true, right?”

“Except for the construction of some tunnels or bridges, highway construction is not inherently a time-consuming construction project. However, the reason it took 10 years to do it in modern times is because there were too many obstacles in modern times.”

“Ah, something like land compensation or civil complaints?”

“That’s right. I spent a lot of time doing that. In addition, all kinds of politicians were obsessed with deciding the route and interfered by telling them to do it this way, do it that way, and even went to the mountains.”

“But that doesn’t happen now.”

“you’re right. All we have to do is go ahead with our plan. When the Gyeongbu Expressway was built, it took less than two and a half years. Construction began in February 1968 and was completed in July 1970.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes, but we can do it much faster now. We have the technology to build tunnels and bridges, and our financial resources are incomparable. In addition, sufficient heavy construction equipment is being imported from the United States. “Honestly, I’m telling you, I’m holding on to enough of what I’ve caught until next year.”

“haha! okay. “The road has 10 lanes, right?”

“Yes, our policy is that highways must have 10 round-trip lanes, and newly created major national highways must have at least 6 round-trip lanes. “If we’re in a hurry, we’ll secure the land first.”

“Keep doing that. “Let’s live while looking 50 or 100 years ahead.”

“ha ha ha! That’s what we’re doing. “I don’t like spending time on the road when it’s congested.”

In modern times, how many times have there been cases where two lanes each way were built as highways without being able to foresee even an inch ahead, but later on, land prices rose and they were unable to do anything?

“It’s okay to not have a car for a while. “Make sure to make the roads wide.”

“All right. And the West Coast Expressway and East Coast Expressway are scheduled to be completed by next year. “In particular, we plan to speed up the West Coast Expressway because it needs to connect directly to Manchuria.”

“I knew. Is land expropriation going well?”

“At this time, the price of land is so cheap that people are accepting it at almost full price, so there is not much opposition. However, there are some cases of opposition due to prenatal care, but we are persuading them well and proceeding.”

“Land reform will be implemented soon, so consider that and compensate. And even if not immediately, buy up all the places where you think you will build railroads or roads in the near future. “It just costs more money to buy it later.”

“Yes, I will.”

Arteries in South Korea were opening at an alarming rate.