Chapter 305
Chapter 305
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Price of Hatred
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To the advanced nations of the First World, the Republic of Korea was a madman waging reckless economic warfare.
"Lee Seong-jun must've lost his mind completely in his later years."
Whenever the First World nations thought of Korea, this was the first thing that came to mind.
But to the underdeveloped countries, the Republic of Korea was an appealing nation with sophisticated diplomacy, a bright and friendly image, and solid economic power.
Honestly, they felt more drawn to Korea than to Western society.
"It's all talk about killing the opponent in a game of chicken, but the only ones crying are the First World advanced nations."
Korea continued its economic war, backed by this kind of global "support."
"See? Everyone says it's fine to keep fighting."
In this brutal war, the blood shed by the great powers became fertilizer that nurtured the Third World nations.
"Economic war? Sweet as pie. This is the trickle-down effect."
1969, the year when all the great powers were coughing up blood, became a record-breaking year of growth for the Third World nations.
Even countries with low growth rates achieved over 6% high growth, and the highest one hit 20%.
Heavyweights like India and Indonesia also recorded 10% economic growth rates.
"Whoa, the economy's skyrocketing. Just open your eyes, and the league's changed!"
EA was no exception.
"The Vietnam War boom was nothing. This is the real war boom."
The Republic of China (Nanjing) and the Japanese commonwealth also posted average 10% growth amid the economic war's fallout, driving EA's expansion.
Even Korea, the only one that faltered a bit, leveraged Third World growth to maintain over 8%.
The Second World, led by the Soviet Union, wasn't doing badly either.
Buoyed by the commodity market boom, the Soviet Union notched rare high growth in the 6% range for once.
"This is Moscow's true power."
The Eastern Bloc nations excluding the Soviet Union also managed decent 5-7% growth, thanks to Soviet economic expansion and trade with Europe.
On the surface, the First World showed respectable growth too.
Consumer stimulus via subsidies and trade with the Soviet Union produced decent visible indicators.
Europe hit around 4%, while the UK and US managed around 5%.
But when it came to fiscal deficits from those subsidies, the story was different.
Every country faced the worst deficits since World War II.
"We can't handle these deficit budgets anymore."
Central banks and finance bureaucrats alike waved their hands, saying they could no longer afford the spending.
"Don't tell us there's no money—cough it up. Are we stopping the subsidy war here?"
Crushed by the blood-draining deficits, European governments pulled out their ultimate weapon.
"If we can't cover it with revenue, we'll print money. Hey, fire up the printing presses!"
European nations started cranking their printing presses.
Of course, you might wonder about this.
"Even so, marks or francs are just domestic currencies. Without foreign exchange, isn't it pointless?"
The EC wasn't stupid.
"Why save currency swaps for making soup later?"
European nations had currency swap agreements with the US to exchange their currencies for dollars.
"Here are our marks and francs. Please convert to dollars."
This was the EC's ace in the hole.
The problem wasn't dollars.
They could get dollars from the US, but they couldn't fix the side effects of printing money right away.
The massive influx of currency into circulation sparked inflation.
Exchange rates started fluctuating wildly immediately.
"Feels like their currencies are plummeting, doesn't it?"
"Sell. Their money will be worthless paper soon."
Foreign players, led by Korean and American firms, quickly dumped marks, francs, and the like, converting to dollars, won, or gold.
The foreigners' exodus accelerated the currency crashes.
"We should do what the foreigners are doing, right?"
Even Europe's rich followed suit.
The famed Rothschild family was no exception.
"Switch to safe assets immediately."
Europe hadn't been printing long before it recorded historic exchange rate plunges.
Prices shot up just as fast.
"Who'd buy anything when marks and francs are worth shit?"
By January 1970, average annual inflation hit 75%.
The sad fact was that this was just the beginning.
"This is just the start? Are you insane?"
European nations knew this was madness.
But they couldn't just hand over high-tech industries—their future lifeline—without a fight.
They had to leave themselves at least enough to rub their fingers together.
"We're all in now."
France focused subsidies on aerospace, Germany on semiconductors and machine tools.
Even with scaled-back investments, Europe struggled against the US and Korean onslaught.
Their relative lack of competitiveness made it worse.
"No finance means the body's gotta suffer."
The UK was better off than the EC in foreign exchange procurement.
"The British Empire has the City of London."
The world's second-largest financial hub provided the massive funds that were Britain's weapon.
The UK dragged out the subsidy war using foreign currency raised there.
The problem was interest.
City of London capitalists didn't lend to the British government on favorable terms.
"We care about profit, not patriotism. You know Anglo-Saxons keep accounts precise, right?"
The UK government scraped by for funds but couldn't handle the deficits piling up at terrifying speed.
"What can we do? Cut spending."
To trim deficits, the UK government slashed national welfare mercilessly.
"Not even the NHS?"
"There's not much left to cut anyway."
The UK had already gutted most welfare under neoliberalism.
Now, only essentials like healthcare remained.
"No money means no treatment—die then?"
"Then pay up more."
Unlike Europe, the UK plummeted quality of life in a different way.
As a result, far-right groups, quiet since fascism's fall, rose again.
"Why are we living like this? Greedy politicians? Or the US abandoning its ally?"
They pointed to Korea as the new enemy that sparked the "subsidy war."
"The reason we're suffering is those Koreans who started the economic war."
Far-right groups in Europe and the UK fanned anti-Korean hostility amid the toxic social climate.
They said it was about Koreans, but it was really hatred for all East Asians.
"You're Korean, right?"
"I'm Chinese."
"Don't lie."
Anti-Asian terror by European far-right groups became commonplace.
The Korean government took this seriously.
"Your Excellency, racial crimes against Asians are rampant in Europe."
Hearing the report, Lee Seong-jun didn't frown—instead, he stroked his chin.
Korea's cool-headed politician saw opportunity in tragedy.
"This could turn into a good opportunity."
"Pardon?"
Lee Seong-jun brought Europe's racial crimes against Asians into EA for propaganda.
"No matter how much we fight among ourselves, Westerners see all East Asians as one category."
Korea effectively used far-right attacks on Asians to solidify EA unity.
"The Koreans aren't wrong about that."
Even Republic of China folks who hated Korea couldn't deny it.
Western far-right hatred targeted all East Asians.
Unless you changed skin color, you couldn't escape being lumped with Koreans.
"So let's get along. We'll take good care of you."
Korea started subtly protecting Republic of China people via "Pyongyang's influence."
It was like giving poison then the antidote, but it worked.
"If you face racial crimes in Europe, go to the Korean embassy. They handle it better than the Republic of China one."
Chinese people felt Korea's help directly and indirectly, fueling strong desires to join EA.
Chinese nationalism?
Who cared about that crap?
EA offered a better life and protection than a homeland that couldn't safeguard its people.
This mindset hit British colonies Hong Kong and Singapore too.
"See? Claim you're British all you want—they just see 'Asians.'"
Korea fanned these sentiments by diligently spreading Asian hate crime cases to Hong Kong and Singapore.
"It's not lies. Last time in London, I got beaten for no reason."
Among Hong Kong and Singapore's overseas Chinese, talk emerged of independence and joining EA instead.
"Honestly, Korea—same yellow race—might be better than white nations. Their markets are bigger too."
Korea's targets weren't just Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Republic of China.
Korea protected East Asia—and all Asia—from racial crimes, reinforcing that the Third World was one family.
"From the Japanese islands to Arabia, our Asia is one."
The hatred from European far-right fueled the pan-Asianism championed by superpower Korea.
Regrettably for the West, many Asians readily agreed.
"If they didn't want this, they shouldn't have committed racial crimes."
In the end, opposition to Korea's ascent in Asia vanished.
The name "Korea" no longer belonged just to Koreans.
Daehan represented all of Asia.