George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 346

The Great America of George W. Bush – Episode 345

Korea and Japan were seeing considerable profit margins. The country benefiting the most from the war in China was none other than Korea. This was partly due to collaboration with the United States, but also because they had absorbed North Korea, which had been the biggest source of instability recently.

They heavily emphasized the presence of a strong military force, projecting an image of a ‘safe country’ overseas, regardless of the actual situation.

Moreover, unlike the near-daily terrorist incidents in other countries, Korea experienced almost none. This was partly due to limited contact with potential perpetrators and the country’s small size, which allowed for more effective administrative control.

Historically, under the dictatorship, the police had suppressed citizens, leading to a generally docile temperament and response from the police force. However, a series of incidents involving terrible and reckless handling of affairs, along with the common practice of arresting innocent people to boost promotion rates, eroded public trust in the police.

In any case, with the widespread installation of CCTV cameras by both civilians and the government, people were generally aware that South Korea was statistically a safe country. However, distrust of the police and government created a gap between perceived and actual safety.

Recently, there had been a few incidents involving firearms smuggled from North Korea, but these were isolated cases. The primary issue was illegal possession, and the illegal firearms had only been discharged in three instances.

In any case, the political situation was considered stable, making it one of the few countries where this was the case.

Though the United States belatedly intervened in the Middle East, it eventually devolved into a full-blown war zone. Europe was slowly recovering from a surge in terrorism, but few residents of major cities could confidently say they felt safe.

Russia had always struggled with public safety, but their aggressive approach of eliminating anything deemed problematic, regardless of hostage situations, drew criticism from citizens while still maintaining a perception of safety. However, a major obstacle for companies looking to enter the market was the significant contraction of the consumer base.

Africa, where war was as commonplace as eating, defied description. Even if the fighting paused briefly this year, it would inevitably resume next year. Few entrepreneurs were willing to build factories in such unstable countries.

Imagine a peaceful day when war erupts, a bomb strikes, and the government nationalizes the factory, claiming it belongs to the state, not the company, and ordering you to leave. The question is whether you would even receive compensation, and appealing to the country seems futile. Who would invest in that environment?

In any case, the United States wasn’t exactly a paragon of public safety, but at least there was no imminent threat of bombing on a normal day, and as the heart of capitalism, it was a favorable environment for business.

Anyway, back to Korea. Among countries with stable political situations and prices, both in Asia and globally, Korea and Japan were among the few. Korea was naturally better positioned to capitalize on the war boom, primarily because of its proximity to the conflict.

Once considered the center of the world, China had extensive borders and numerous neighboring countries. However, Korea was uniquely trusted by both the United States and China. More precisely, the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] didn’t so much trust Korea as see it as the only useful pawn that wouldn’t betray them.

The basis for this was the United States. The United States would never abandon Korea, and Korea would consistently align with the United States as long as they invested in the North. Furthermore, the United States had allied with a faction within the CCP led by Li Keqiang, ensuring Korea wouldn’t betray that faction either.

Of course, Korea might briefly deceive Li Keqiang or the CCP, just as the United States had done to them, but the extent of the damage would be limited. Even if they did, China could always retaliate later, given Korea’s proximity and small size.

While Korea’s military power and economic scale were not insignificant, they were dwarfed by China’s vastness. If China chose to, they could easily swallow Korea.

However, that was impossible. First, the war had created too much internal turmoil to allow for territorial ambitions. Second, with the United States watching closely, China was unlikely to expand its territory in the foreseeable future.

At best, they could reduce Korea to a protectorate, but never an autonomous region like Tibet.

Anyway, back to the story of Korea.

At the time, most Koreans believed that reunification with North Korea would bring positive effects in ‘every aspect,’ from the economy to national security. This belief was fueled by the aggressive promotion of President Kim Ji-hoon’s administration.

Even so, they weren’t entirely optimistic, and everyone anticipated a temporary recession similar to Germany’s experience. However, the economic disaster that followed exceeded all expectations.

The gap that South Korea had widened by dozens of times in its relentless competition with North Korea proved to be a significant burden.

First and foremost, the excellent welfare system, which ranked among the top globally, was threatened. The number of people requiring welfare benefits increased exponentially, while tax revenue became severely limited.

The government desperately tried to find new sources of revenue, but there were none, driving them to despair. In response, the National Assembly unanimously proposed a pathetic measure: ‘Shouldn’t we start a gold-collecting campaign again?’ The president felt his heart breaking every day.

The public would no longer support a gold-collecting campaign. While some would proudly donate, many now understood or acknowledged that the foreign exchange crisis was triggered by the government’s ‘careless and massive release of foreign exchange and irrational operation of foreign exchange reserves’ and ‘the reckless management of large corporations and collusion between politics and business.’ Those who didn’t were either blindly supportive of lawmakers or the president, or naive elementary school students who believed the manipulated textbooks claiming, ‘The foreign exchange crisis was caused by the public’s overconsumption.’

The only reason they could breathe a sigh of relief was thanks to the Kim family’s ‘slush fund’ obtained from the merger with North Korea. Many former North Korean party members were eager to secure positions in the new Korea.

With their active cooperation, the Kim family’s slush fund was thoroughly emptied and deposited into the national treasury of South Korea. All the money was used to improve North Korea’s infrastructure, create jobs, collect taxes, and implement welfare programs.

Corruption was inevitable in a situation involving such large sums of money. Cases of slush funds ending up in the pockets of corrupt lawmakers instead of the national treasury were commonplace, a well-known aspect of government corruption.

As the lives of ordinary people became increasingly difficult, it was impossible for lawmakers to suddenly acquire 10 billion won [approximately $8 million USD] without attracting attention. Moreover, there were numerous witnesses among the surviving party members at the time. Secrets are hard to keep when many people know them.

The Blue House [South Korean presidential residence] sacrificed a few individuals who had received excessive amounts of money in an effort to quell the corruption scandal. Ideally, they would have rooted out all the corrupt lawmakers, but that would have left fewer than ten lawmakers in the National Assembly, making it impossible.

The important thing was that even though some were profiting, the slush fund was being returned to society. The problem was that this fund was solely for welfare and wouldn’t last indefinitely. The Korean government maintained public safety by attracting overseas businesses to the North and exploiting soldiers to build the foundation for those businesses.

Korea in the 2000s demanded compulsive workaholism, a trend that persisted through the 2010s and even the 2020s. Perhaps it would continue into the 2050s.

Everything operated under a ‘hurry-hurry’ culture, a double-edged sword of Korean society.

And this time, it benefited ordinary people. As opportunities and capital emerged, small and medium-sized enterprises quickly sprang up in the North, strangely threatening the chaebol system [South Korean conglomerate], which had steadily solidified itself for about 60 years.

Typically, the chaebols could exploit smaller companies through unreasonable subcontracting or acquire promising ones with their capital. However, the North was not a place that large corporations could completely dominate. While they could potentially achieve full dominance in about 10 years, that timeframe was more than enough for new competitors to emerge.

Still, large corporations were building factories everywhere, running them at full capacity to produce military supplies and daily necessities for China. This process created more jobs, even temporarily, which positively impacted the economy.

Still, it wasn’t enough. The Korean economy, just beginning to recover, struggled to support the people of the North. Large corporations that had secured workers and expanded their market were thrilled, but the president was so desperate that he seriously considered suicide every night.

Around this time, large corporations were shifting from simple mass production and low-price competition to brand premiumization and quality enhancement. To be precise, they had been doing so since the mid-1990s, but their efforts were now ‘bearing fruit.’

It goes without saying that this process required a large pool of cheap labor, and the North Korean residents, unfamiliar with the law, were perfect targets for exploitation. In short, South Korea had become one of the cheapest and most stable labor markets in the world, albeit illegally.

This practice wasn’t limited to large corporations; small and medium-sized enterprises actively utilized this free labor market, and the government tolerated it to some extent. If they cracked down on all of it, the North would immediately collapse.

They would face criticism, but by properly filtering out truly egregious companies, they could manage to maintain the system. In particular, they cracked down on companies that cheated on taxes or treated workers worse than they had been in North Korea. The former was undoubtedly a matter of resentment, and the latter was due to fear of a coup.

It may be an exaggeration to say this now, but the last unification war was not a war at all. In fact, according to the government’s official position, it wasn’t even a war. It was a rather sudden but truly peaceful unification, and the military only moved to secure administrative power, establish the rule of law, and maintain public safety, considering the geopolitical specificity of North Korea.

Knowing this, companies acted accordingly. It was fortunate if they only slashed wages; sometimes they didn’t pay at all, but at least they provided rice and meat soup for meals. Large corporations often engaged in charitable activities, which slightly alleviated the dissatisfaction of the North Korean residents.

It would take 50 years for North and South Korea to truly become equal. In other words, the people of North and South Korea were not equal now. In this era, rights were something to be earned, and the government’s welfare programs were designed to encourage that.

Moreover, to overcome the national crisis, the government was subtly modifying all welfare programs to ensure that the benefits went to those who actively sought them, rather than those who were passive.

This was economically acceptable, but it was not a positive development for ordinary people. Whatever the intention, it was disadvantaging ordinary people, and the intention itself was questionable.

To the outside world, Korea was a steadfast rock amidst the turbulent international situation, but to the people inside, it was a rubber ball bouncing around wildly.

There was a country carefully observing this, and that was Japan, which had more expertise in spying on Korea than any other nation.

There’s an old saying that if your cousin buys land, you get a stomachache. Even if your cousin simply buys something, you feel envious. So, if it’s a sworn enemy, would it end with just a stomachache?

Japan knew the sweetness of that war boom well. Naturally, they thought they could fully savor the blessings of the war boom since there was a war in China, but the reality was that Korea was enjoying all the sweetness, so how could they not be jealous?

So, Japan, sharpening its knives to tear apart its cousin’s stomach, investigated Korea’s distorted reality in detail and reported it to the world.

This was when the Communist Party reached a dramatic agreement with the Guangzhou-Nanjing coalition and occupied the Three Gorges Dam.