I Will Stage A Coup D’état - Chapter 132



Only Noblemtl

EP.132 Before and After (2)

“Congratulations. You have won the lottery.”

“Really?”

Families that have many children receive extra points when applying for new apartments.

Lee Young-ja, who was raising eight children, screamed with joy.

“Honey, we’re middle class now.”

When I think about raising eight children in a cramped room and then moving to a three-room apartment, I can’t help but feel grateful for God’s grace.

“This is all thanks to the Prime Minister, so let’s always live with gratitude.”

“Of course.”

Lee Young-ja and her husband bowed to the Prime Minister’s portrait hanging on the wall.

I don’t know since when, but people have been living with the phrase ‘the Prime Minister’s grace’ on their lips.

Serving rice and wine was all thanks to the Prime Minister’s grace, working at a job was all thanks to the Prime Minister’s grace, living without worrying about the country was all thanks to the Prime Minister’s grace, and staying healthy was all thanks to the Prime Minister’s grace.

Even those who had been cynical about this quickly changed their attitude when the money from the sale of North China Railway Company was used to stimulate a construction boom.

“Your Majesty, you have fed and kept us alive, yes.”

South Korea’s economic growth rate was low at 2% during the war, but jumped to 10% as the post-war economy began.

It was the beginning of the post-war boom.

“You guys, it wouldn’t be good if you returned home quickly. Earn as much money as you can before you go back.”

German prisoners of war who decided to return home also took part in various public works projects arranged by the Korean government.

A never-ending stream of major projects, including the West Coast reclamation project and the railroad expansion project, poured in.

The Korean government also proposed new businesses to companies.

“Optics, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, machinery, chemistry. Anyway, I have prepared food for you to take. What do you think, Chairman?”

The conglomerates, sensing the potential of the equipment and technicians plundered from Germany, competitively jumped into new businesses.

“Our company will take over the optical and pharmaceutical industries.”

“Modernity will strengthen the automobile.”

“Our Eunseong will invest in machinery and chemistry.”

“We will invest in oil.”

Companies have been eagerly taking up the business opportunities the government has handed out.

The equipment and technicians imported from Europe immediately increased the competitiveness of Korean companies.

Of course, these benefits were not limited to large corporations that received new business licenses.

Small and medium-sized enterprises and partner companies that supply large corporations also benefited from the technological civilization plundered from Europe.

“This is the radio technology that came from a small German company. If we have this, supplying to large companies will be no problem.”

It was the same at university.

On campus, it was not hard to find scenes of older university professors giving lectures in German and having a Korean interpreter explain the content.

Almost every area of ​​Korean society was buzzing with unprecedented vitality.

“I don’t know what Your Majesty has done, but I feel that the country is growing.”

People felt that Lee Seong-jun was ruling well.

It was growth that came at the expense of Germany’s blood and tears, but there is no need for Koreans to know that.

South Korea’s explosive growth rate surpassed that of the Soviet Union’s post-war growth rate, surprising even Moscow.

“We have a high growth rate because we are recovering from the war, but what happened to Pyongyang?”

“Isn’t this the effect of investing a large amount of capital in a short period of time? If we can attract capital like Korea, we can easily follow suit.”

Of course, it was impossible to secure such resources in a situation where friction with the West had begun.

Stalin knew that much too.

This was not the 1930s when Roosevelt was investing in the Soviet Union.

“Anyway, we must not fall behind Korea. Let’s squeeze out some more of the occupied Eastern European territory.”

Stalin once again ordered the squeezing of Eastern Europe.

Anyway, as Korea showed great progress after the war, the fascists also began to move.

The fascists, who had long believed that the ideals of Korean-style democracy were correct, raised their voices even louder toward the public when indicators of Korea’s explosive growth emerged.

“Hitler was wrong, fascism was not wrong. After all, wasn’t Korean democracy, which was a form of fascism, successful?”

“Look at Lee Seong-jun. How far can a country that values ​​substance over form grow? We are so caught up in old traditions that we can’t see that we are becoming second-rate. Now, we too must change.”

Following Oswald Arnold Moseley, Pierre de Léotard of France also raised his voice.

Pierre de Léotard, who entered politics as La Roque’s successor, was a more staunch fascist than his predecessor, and advocated the abolition of liberal democracy, something that La Roque would never have even mentioned.

“The nation comes before the individual. Look at the reality today, when Korea, organized under a single line, is trying to overtake Britain. A confused democracy is of no use to a nation. Only collectivism for the sake of the community can make a nation win in competition.”

The fascists had no doubt that the developmental dictatorship shown by Lee Seong-jun was the ultimate direction that fascism should pursue.

If there was a utopia and a clear path to take, there was only one thing for them to do.

Moving forward.

“We demand! We want a politics that is truly imperial! We want an alternative to the British Empire!”

Moseley rode this momentum to found the Alternative for the British Empire.

“Now we must face a new era! We are the alternative. Trust me and follow me. I will show France the morning star of glory!”

Pierre de Léotard also rallied his supporters and founded the French Golden Dawn party.

As the fascists in France and Britain gained ground, Nazism began to stir again in German-occupied territories.

“Don’t we also need to correct the ideology of Nazism and raise the flag again?”

They were a faction that succeeded the left wing of the Nazi Party and advocated reconciliation with the Soviet Union.

Coincidentally, since Lee Seong-jun and his diplomatic line were similar, the Nazis also began to seriously consider Lee Seong-jun’s Korean-style democratic model.

“Well, the leadership principle of the President is too old-fashioned. A refined style of governance like Lee Seong-jun’s is the right one.”

“What would be a good name for the party?”

“I think the Socialist Fatherland Party of Germany would be suitable.”

As the winds of Korean-style democracy blew strongly across Europe, Spain was also influenced.

“Your Excellency, we also need to imitate Korean-style democracy.”

“Why should we do that?”

Franco was consciously rejecting Korean-style democracy because he really hated Lee Seong-jun, who had threatened and forced him into the Allied Forces.

But that was Franco’s position, and his subordinates thought differently.

“Isn’t it difficult to justify Your Majesty’s rule in such an illegal manner? I think it would be better to adopt a form of receiving support from the people, like Lee Seong-jun.”

“Lee Seong-jun himself said that substance is more important than form.”

“Still, we can’t ignore the appearance.”

Franco, although reluctant, decided to accept Korean-style democracy.

“If it helps the regime, then do it.”

As the number of countries accepting Korean-style democracy increased, American politicians were greatly embarrassed.

“You like pseudo-democracy so much, not even liberal democracy. What if Korea creates a faction?”

The Truman administration was not surprised by this turn of events.

“You don’t have to worry about that. Those guys don’t like Korea, they just imitate Korea for their own power.”

As Truman said, the countries that followed Korean-style democracy did not support Korea.

They simply imitated Pyongyang as a means to take power or solidify their regime.

Their positions remained unchanged from before.

Whether it was democracy or dictatorship, it was possible to acquire as much as Washington.

‘It’s not like being a dictator is a particularly important issue.’

The Truman administration explained to lawmakers that Korean-style democracy was a form of dictatorship, not a specific ideology.

Of course, even such an ideology that doesn’t seem like an ideology can come to life as a real ideology when given substance.

If Korea had become a superpower capable of standing up to the US, it could have done so.

But that was absurd.

The population of Korea was less than half or a third of that of the United States or the Soviet Union.

There was also a big difference in economic power.

South Korea’s economic power was only about one-fifth of that of the United States and one-half of that of the Soviet Union.

Can a country like this compete on equal terms with Smile?

That was an impossible delusion.

For that to be possible, Korea would have to annex Japan and China.

Lee Seong-jun himself gave up on that path.

So, there was no chance that Korea would emerge as a global hegemony competitor to the US.

At least, that’s what Truman thought.

However, this view was limited to the U.S. government, and the British government, which was immediately threatened by Moseley’s ‘Alternative for the British Empire’, recognized the threat of Korean-style democracy as a serious challenge.

“That damn Korean-style democracy. At best, it’s just sugar-coated nonsense that mixes dictatorship with development. Why do they follow it so much?”

“Well, they don’t have any other alternatives.”

Hitler and Mussolini, the two leading figures who once represented fascism, are dead.

The leader of the surviving fascists, Franco, was a hikikomori in a corner, obsessed with maintaining the status quo, while the rest of the fascist dictators were on trial for war crimes.

In this situation, what would the fascists believe and follow?

The only country that seemed similar to fascism was Korea.

“Isn’t there a way to muzzle those guys?”

“That is absolutely unacceptable. It will only tarnish the image of our cabinet and give us the image of a martyr being oppressed by the bastards.”

Home Secretary James Choutere-Ede has been firm in his stance that police forces cannot be used at all.

If that had happened, the British Empire might have been in for a real fight.

The empire was already in difficult circumstances, and it couldn’t afford such chaos.

“Your Majesty, you need to look at the situation in the long term. How long will Lee Seong-jun continue to rise? Dictators are destined to fail in the end.”

The reason liberal democracy is the answer is because it is a system that can bring down leaders before they fail.

Dictatorships lacked such self-correcting powers.

“Let’s just watch for now.”

Even that Korean-style democracy, which has no foundation, will have a terrible fate someday.

Atlee decided to be patient for now.

But Britain’s chance to be patient never came.

Before anything happened in Korea, the bomb was dropped in Britain first.

“Suddenly stopping aid? What do you mean?”

The United States’ claws for hegemony over the free world have stormed London.