Chapter 256
Chapter 256
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Chapter 256 - 위협
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter 256: Threat
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The success of the Pyongyang Olympics had been monumental, but we couldn't afford to bask in it for long.
Our attention shifted back to the U.S. presidential election.
“Richard Nixon—the one true choice to lead the Republican Party to victory against the populist reds! The symbol of a united party!”
“To make the United States truly great, we must build the Great Society. Our leader in building the Great Society—Lyndon Johnson!”
As expected, the primaries had been won by Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson.
All that remained was to see which of the two candidates representing the Republicans and Democrats would prevail.
With a nail-biter of a race anticipated, November 3 dawned—the day of destiny.
“Your Excellency, Nixon will win this election.”
I hoped so, but elections never went exactly as planned.
I sat on the sofa with my staff, watching the live U.S. election coverage on TV.
“Your Excellency, why not get some rest?”
“I have to see the results.”
The razor-thin vote margins kept me glued to the screen.
The two camps were neck and neck.
‘I can’t call it.’
With the popular vote too close to call, victory would come down to the secured electoral votes.
I waited impatiently for the state results to tally.
Soon, the electoral vote counts for each side appeared on screen.
272 to 266.
The numbers didn’t sink in right away.
“Huh?”
The next moment, seeing my staff’s crestfallen faces, I knew.
Nixon had lost the election.
Of course, I’d figured the Democrats had the edge.
‘A slim margin means we’re not entirely out of the picture.’
I rallied my dejected aides.
“Hey, why the long faces? Did this Lee Seong-jun drop dead or something?”
I said it lightly, but I couldn’t shake the heaviness settling in my chest.
The era of the Democrats, who were itching to check Korea.
I exhaled my heavy emotions into a cloud of cigarette smoke.
The next day, I had a congratulatory telegram sent to the Lyndon Johnson camp.
“Prime Minister Lee Seong-jun, Your Excellency. Thank you for your friendly message of congratulations.”
Johnson wrapped up his reply by assuring that Washington would take Pyongyang’s goodwill into account, in return for Korea’s overtures thus far.
‘Sounds good, but I can’t take it at face value.’
How could anyone trust the words of a Democratic leader?
I wasn’t naive enough to fall for a few platitudes.
With confrontation inevitable, I needed to gauge Lyndon Johnson’s true intentions clearly.
I dispatched the foreign minister to Washington to test the waters with the Johnson camp.
“President-elect Johnson, Your Excellency. Where do you see the greatest barrier to U.S.-Korea friendship?”
“Trade issues, of course.”
Johnson’s answer sounded reasonable, but America’s real gripe wasn’t Korea’s massive trade surplus.
It was Korea’s sheer size—half that of the U.S.
If Korea had been smaller than the Soviet Union, Americans might have turned a blind eye to the surplus.
They might not have started checking us for another decade.
But Korea had grown too fast, surpassing its chief rival, the Soviets.
And now it was barreling toward America like the next target.
What hegemon would tolerate a competitor like that?
Unable to say it outright, they’d brought up trade instead.
“On the trade surplus, Korea is making every effort to address it. We’re increasing imports, slashing tariffs on imported goods to the maximum extent, and expanding factories in the U.S. to cut down on exports.”
“I know Korea’s making efforts. But they’re not enough for us to feel the impact.”
Johnson made it clear he wanted more concessions from Korea on trade.
That much, we could certainly accommodate.
‘But what if that’s not the end of it?’
Right after Johnson’s victory, I’d been closely monitoring reports from Brookings and other key Democratic think tanks.
They all pointed to the need to check Korea.
With Korea’s massive market influence, they argued against outright confrontation—instead advocating a gradual strategy to erode its market share.
“They don’t want to choke us outright. But they do want to clip our growth?”
The intent was clear: block Korea’s challenge without pushing it into the Soviet camp.
Would Johnson buy into this strategy?
‘Whether he does or not, it’s a problem.’
Ever since Korea’s meteoric rise, checks on us had become a given.
The key was the intensity.
If the Democrats came at us with kill-or-be-killed aggression, we’d have no choice but to draw our swords in self-defense.
Of course, that was unlikely.
Even if the Democrats wanted to push hard against Korea, they couldn’t entirely ignore the Republicans and military on the other side of the equation.
Besides, this Democratic victory wasn’t a landslide.
‘Still, we need to get our own house in order.’
I summoned the economic bureaucrats and instructed them to compile countermeasures for a potential trade war with Washington.
The options they presented were as follows.
“First, tariffs.”
The main card America could play in checking us would inevitably be tariffs.
“Tariffs, huh.”
The bureaucrats proposed proportional retaliation on U.S. goods.
“If they sanction ten items, we hit back with ten of our own.”
“Matching them blow for blow to break their momentum?”
Even America, like Europe, had limits on sanctioning our goods.
“Exactly.”
The bureaucrats predicted that escalating tariff damage would force both sides to compromise.
“But our losses would be far greater—would negotiations even happen?”
“Of course, we’d have to concede some ground at the table.”
A bit of posturing to make bending look voluntary.
Better than folding without a fight, but it felt a tad flimsy.
“Next?”
“Export controls.”
They suggested sanctioning 300 key pieces of equipment and materials to choke America’s industries in one go.
“Touch something like semiconductors, and they’ll push for self-sufficiency.”
“Of course, we could exclude must-avoid items depending on the scenario. But fewer items mean a weaker strike.”
The bureaucrats advised going all-in for a decisive blow.
But would that force America to back down?
I doubted it.
Even the original-timeline Korea had flailed against Japan’s export curbs—America, a superpower, would be another story.
“Hitting core industries would bring massive blowback. Next?”
“Selling off U.S. dollar assets. Unlike the other options, it strikes the right note for signaling Korea’s displeasure. If they persist despite warnings, we could scale up sales to shake the dollar itself.”
Korea’s vast dollar reserves.
The bureaucrats proposed wielding them as a weapon.
It was the same tactic original-timeline China had used against America.
The downside? Every time China dumped U.S. Treasuries, other countries snapped them up, blunting the impact.
Sure, advanced economies were fiscally strained, but the world had more than a few cash-rich players.
Oil-rich sheikhs, for one.
‘Too many variables.’
The economic bureaucrats had laid out their options, but none fully satisfied me.
Of course not.
You couldn’t come out ahead against the world’s top superpower.
Every swing from us demanded a counter from them.
That’s why fighting America was so exhausting.
“Good work, everyone.”
I dismissed the bureaucrats and sank into thought.
If economic options fell short, what about diplomatic ones?
First: Advance ties with the Soviets.
“Look, you pushed Korea right into the Soviet camp over nothing.”
Moving enough to prod the Republicans might cool their checks somewhat.
But by showing we could become a real ‘enemy,’ we risked unimaginable backlash post-Cold War.
‘That’s a scary thought.’
Second: Flex Third World might.
“Korea’s this big. You sure you want to poke us?”
Inflate our bloc’s size like a frilled lizard to intimidate America.
Even if Democrats itched to check us, our displayed clout might make them hesitate.
This wasn’t one-on-one—it was a 1:1:1 with the Soviets as the third party.
Still, post-Cold War, it could harden checks against us.
If we could stomach the side effects, diplomacy might work.
As I mulled these over, one idea struck me.
‘Do we have to be the only ones agonizing over checks?’
Make America sweat the same dilemma, and they’d tread carefully.
I leaked much of Korea’s diplomatic and economic response options to U.S. think tanks.
‘What’ll you do if Korea hits back like this? Fight Korea to mutual destruction with the reds at your front door?’
By flashing our scabbard, I made clear Korea had a blade ready to thrust at America.
It was overt intimidation.
U.S. think tanks didn’t flip their tone overnight.
But columns pushing Korea checks dropped noticeably.
Proof they were starting to agonize too.
‘Washington won’t decide easily.’
America would need time to sort its thoughts.
But I didn’t expect the threat to hold forever.
Rain falls eventually.
When it did, confrontation between Pyongyang and Washington was inevitable.
In a war that would only leave scars, how much could we protect?
I silently watched raindrops trickle down the window.