Chapter 132
Chapter 132
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Postwar (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Congratulations. You’ve been selected in the housing lottery.”
“Really?”
Families with many children received extra points in the lottery for new apartments.
Lee Young-ja, who was raising eight kids, let out a whoop of joy.
“Honey, we’re middle class now.”
The thought of moving from a cramped room where they’d raised eight children to a three-bedroom apartment left her feeling nothing but gratitude for the nation’s grace.
“This is all thanks to the Prime Minister. Let’s live every day in thanks.”
“Of course.”
Mr. and Mrs. Lee Young-ja bowed toward the portrait of the Prime Minister hanging on the wall.
No one knew exactly when it started, but people had taken to saying “the Prime Minister’s grace” about everything.
Scooping rice into their bowls was the Prime Minister’s grace. Working at their jobs was the Prime Minister’s grace. Living without worry about the country was the Prime Minister’s grace. Staying healthy was the Prime Minister’s grace.
Even the cynics among them had quickly changed their tune once the North China Railway Company started selling off its assets, sparking a construction boom with the influx of cash.
“It’s all because His Excellency is feeding us, right?”
The Republic of Korea’s economic growth rate had languished in the low 2% range during the war years, but as postwar reconstruction kicked off, it rocketed into double digits.
The postwar boom had begun.
“You lot should head back home soon, too. Squeeze every penny you can before you go.”
Even the German POWs who had decided to repatriate threw themselves into the public works projects arranged by the Korean government.
Reclamation projects along the West Sea coast, railway expansions—major initiatives poured out without end.
The Korean government made proposals to the conglomerates as well.
“Optics, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, machinery, chemicals. Anyway, we’ve prepared these as your takeaways. What do you chairmen think?”
Having seen the equipment and technicians plundered from Germany, the chaebols sensed the potential and jumped into the new ventures with gusto.
“Seongseong will take optics and pharmaceuticals.”
“Geundae will bolster automobiles.”
“Eunseong will invest in machinery and chemicals.”
“Hukyung will go into oil.”
The companies snapped up the business opportunities handed out by the government.
The equipment and technicians from Europe instantly boosted the competitiveness of Korean firms.
Of course, these benefits weren’t limited to the conglomerates awarded the new ventures.
Small and medium enterprises supplying them, and their subcontractors, also reaped the rewards of Europe’s plundered technological civilization.
“This is the radio tech from a German SME. With this, supplying the big boys will be a breeze.”
The universities were no different.
On campus, you could easily spot elderly professors lecturing in German, with Korean interpreters explaining the content.
Korean society across nearly every sector was surging with unprecedented vitality.
“I don’t know what His Excellency’s done, but you can feel the country growing.”
People sensed that Yi Seong-jun was governing well.
It was growth bought with German blood and tears, but did ordinary Koreans need to know that?
Korea’s explosive growth surpassed even the Soviet Union’s postwar rates, startling Moscow.
“We’re seeing high growth from postwar reconstruction—how the hell is Pyongyang doing it?”
“It’s the effect of dumping massive capital in a short time, isn’t it? If we could pull in capital like Korea, we could match them easily.”
Of course, with tensions rising in the West, securing such funds was impossible.
Stalin knew that much.
This wasn’t the 1930s, when Roosevelt was investing in the Soviets.
“Either way, we can’t fall behind Korea. Squeeze the Eastern European occupation zones harder.”
Stalin ordered another round of exploitation from Eastern Europe.
In any case, seeing Korea’s postwar surge, the fascists began to stir.
They had long believed the ideals of Korean-style democracy were correct, and now with hard evidence of explosive growth, they raised their voices louder to the masses.
“Hitler was the mistake, not fascism. Look, one form of fascism—Korean-style democracy—is succeeding, isn’t it?”
“Behold Yi Seong-jun. See how far a state prioritizing substance over form can grow. We’re becoming second-rate, shackled by outdated traditions, and failing to see it. It’s time we changed.”
Following Oswald Mosley, France’s Pierre de Léotard raised his voice as well.
Having entered politics as the successor to La Rocque, Pierre de Léotard was a harder-line fascist than his predecessor, advocating the abolition of liberal democracy—something La Rocque wouldn’t have uttered.
“The nation comes before the individual. Look at Korea today, unified under one banner, poised to surpass Britain. Chaotic democracy is useless to the state. Only collectivism for the community can lead a nation to victory in competition.”
The fascists were convinced that the developmental dictatorship Yi Seong-jun demonstrated was the ultimate direction fascism should pursue.
If there was an ideal vision and a clear path forward, they had only one task.
To advance.
“We demand true politics for the Empire! Alternatives for Great Britain!”
Riding this momentum, Mosley founded “Alternatives for the British Empire.”
“Now we must usher in a new era! We are that alternative. Follow me, trust me. I will show France the morning star of glory!”
Pierre de Léotard also rallied his supporters to form the “French Golden Dawn Party.”
As fascists gained steam in France and Britain, Nazism began twitching again in the German occupation zones.
“Don’t we need to revise Nazi ideology in the right direction and raise the flag once more?”
They were a faction inheriting the Nazi Party’s left wing, advocating reconciliation with the Soviet Union.
Coincidentally, their foreign policy line resembled Yi Seong-jun’s, so even the Nazis began seriously considering the Korean-style democracy model.
“True, the Führer’s Führerprinzip is too outdated. Yi Seong-jun’s refined governance is the way.”
“What should we name the party?”
“The German Socialist Fatherland Party sounds about right.”
As the winds of Korean-style democracy blew fiercely across Europe, Spain felt the effects too.
“Your Excellency Führer, we need to mimic Korean-style democracy.”
“What reason do we have?”
Franco quite disliked Yi Seong-jun for strong-arming him into the Allied coalition, so he consciously rejected Korean-style democracy.
But that was Franco’s view; his subordinates thought differently.
“Isn’t it a stretch to legitimize Your Excellency’s rule through these illegal means? It’d be better to adopt the form of popular acclamation like Yi Seong-jun.”
“Didn’t Yi Seong-jun himself say substance over form?”
“Still, we can’t ignore appearances.”
Though reluctant, Franco accepted Korean-style democracy.
“If it helps the regime, so be it.”
As more countries adopted Korean-style democracy, American politicians panicked.
“They’re not even embracing liberal democracy, but this pseudo-democracy stuff. What if Korea builds its own bloc?”
The Truman administration wasn’t fazed.
“No need to worry. They’re not copying Korea because they love it—they’re just mimicking it to hold onto power.”
As Truman said, the countries following Korean-style democracy weren’t revering Korea.
They were simply imitating Pyongyang as a tool to seize or solidify power.
Their alignments hadn’t changed.
Democracy or dictatorship, as long as they were America’s bastards, Washington could overlook it.
“Dictatorship isn’t some huge issue anyway.”
The Truman administration explained to Congress that Korean-style democracy was just a form of dictatorship, not a concrete ideology.
Of course, even this non-ideological ideology could gain real vitality if given substance.
If Korea became a superpower rivaling the US and USSR.
But that was absurd.
Korea’s population was less than half of America’s, a third of the Soviets’.
Its economy was even further behind: one-fifth of America’s, just under half of the Soviets’.
Such a country rivaling the superpowers equally?
Pure fantasy.
For that, Korea would need to annex Japan and China.
Yi Seong-jun had forsaken that path himself.
Thus, Korea wouldn’t emerge as a global hegemon challenging the US-USSR.
At least, that’s what Truman thought.
This view was limited to the US government, however. Britain, immediately threatened by Mosley’s “Alternatives for the British Empire,” saw Korean-style democracy as a grave challenge.
“That damned Korean-style democracy. Why are they so obsessed with this sugarcoated dictatorship nonsense?”
“Because they have no other options.”
The fascism poster boys, Hitler and Mussolini, were dead.
The surviving fascist leader, Franco, was a shut-in clinging to the status quo, while other would-be fascist dictators faced war crimes trials.
In this situation, what could fascists believe in?
Only Korean-style democracy, which looked like pseudo-fascism.
“No way to muzzle them?”
“Absolutely not. It’d damage our cabinet’s image and turn them into martyrs of persecution.”
Home Secretary James Chuter Ede flatly ruled out using police force.
That could spark a full-blown crisis for the Empire.
With the Empire already in dire straits, they couldn’t afford more chaos.
“Your Excellency, take the long view. How long can Yi Seong-jun keep winning? Dictators always fail in the end.”
Liberal democracy is the answer because it can oust a failing leader.
Dictatorships lack that self-correction.
“Let’s watch and wait.”
Even this rootless Korean-style democracy would face its reckoning someday.
Attlee decided to bide his time.
But Britain wouldn’t get that chance.
Before anything happened in Korea, the bomb dropped on Britain first.
“Aid cut off suddenly? What the hell does that mean?”
America’s claws, vying for hegemony in the Free World, struck London without warning.