Chapter 368
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Information Revolution
The completion of Korean democracy.
In truth, this task was just as important as "surpassing America," but it wasn't an urgent matter right now.
'We can switch to a democratic system later.'
My top priority at the moment was still surpassing America.
I'd proposed the Eurasian Economic Union to counter America, which had brought up the Anglo-Saxon Alliance, but that alone felt insufficient.
The Soviet Union might falter during its reforms or deviate from my plans.
In the end, until the very last moment, the only thing I could truly rely on was our own capabilities.
In that context, the card I trusted was.
"Information Revolution."
The Third Wave that Alvin Toffler had spoken of.
I planned to ride this wave and turn Korea into the world's largest economic powerhouse.
'In the original timeline, America dominated by leading the information revolution. We'll seize that position.'
This wasn't mere delusion.
We had all the conditions needed to replace America's status.
Just one puzzle piece was missing.
The infrastructure to ignite the information revolution.
Once that was in place, we could usher in the era of PC communications.
PC communications meant using dedicated networks or wired public phone lines for data exchange.
In fact, PC data communications were already happening on a limited scale in Korea right now.
My goal was to make it more accessible to the masses.
The first task was building proper PC communications infrastructure.
"You want to build an information exchange system via PCs? Making it usable for the public would cost an astronomical amount."
The Ministry of Finance immediately voiced its concerns.
That's exactly why the state needed to step in.
I made my position clear.
"In the long term, information innovation will be the keyword that determines the survival of the Republic of Korea. To avoid falling behind in this race, we need to move one step faster than everyone else."
"Ahem."
"As Minister Bae said, the speed of information and communications will determine the speed of national development. We can't skimp on the budget for information infrastructure."
The Minister of Information and Communications agreed with my argument.
No department ever turned down incoming budget allocations.
The cabinet meeting's conclusion came easily.
"We'll allocate 3 billion for infrastructure improvements."
That amounted to over 4.5 billion U.S. dollars.
We decided to start by laying dedicated lines in major cities first.
We also demanded that universities, companies, and research institutes develop phone dial-up modems to make PC communications more efficient.
We allocated massive separate funding for that as well.
And that was the end of preparations for the information revolution?
Far from it.
"The core of the information revolution is information exchange."
To that end, I decided to massively open up government agency information to the private sector.
"Pardon? Open government information to the private sector?"
"Our companies and citizens need to use that information to create value, don't they?"
I envisioned a world where those who accessed information faster and processed it more efficiently would win.
Having seen that truth, there was no reason to cling to administrative data.
In fact, if the infrastructure was ready, I was even willing to create a 21st-century electronic government where everyone could access all information from their desks.
The private sector was stunned by my information openness declaration.
"The country is providing geographic data this detailed?"
"Isn't Bae Seong-jun afraid of spies?"
There were voices of concern, but I didn't bat an eye.
One advantage of dictatorship was that the leader could push through their convictions without compromise.
Next up after information openness was civilian access to military assets like GPS (satellite navigation systems).
"Pardon? GPS to civilians?"
"What if an enemy nation exploits weaknesses in our system?"
"The benefits civilians gain from using military systems outweigh those risks."
This support included cryptographic materials produced by the Korean Intelligence Service, which had hired massive numbers of mathematicians.
"Wow, insane. The academic info was nothing compared to this."
"Our stuff was child's play. The Intelligence Service is on another level."
The materials we released advanced Korean mathematics and cryptography by over a decade.
Why release to civilians what the government should hoard?
'Because that's how the entire Republic advances.'
In the original timeline, U.S. government agencies held tech and academic data 10-15 years ahead of the private sector, but they kept it locked away.
Did that superiority last forever?
No.
They were quickly overtaken by AI tech from private companies that grew on the back of a massive market.
If private firms would catch up anyway, wasn't it better to support their growth?
That's how I saw it.
'To beat America, we must nurture our private companies.'
The security of the shared materials wouldn't hold forever, but militaries weren't immune to leaks either.
Even in the original U.S., everything from F-35 designs to funding sources had been completely compromised—their top military secret.
Sharing military intelligence.
This alone was already a radical preparation.
But it wasn't enough.
I judged that this level wouldn't fully power the information revolution.
"To spark an information revolution, kids need to know computers inside out."
I reduced the emphasis on social studies, sciences, arts, and PE in the curriculum and boosted computers.
"We still need balanced education to see the world clearly."
Ah, that balanced education?
I didn't agree with such talk.
It wouldn't help much in the coming era.
"The language that will explain the future world won't be human speech—it'll be machine language."
With that, I made sure kids learned coding from the start.
Computer classes: four hours a week.
The Ministry of Education expressed concerns about the curriculum change, but I shut them down with one word.
"Comply."
I had no interest in persuading them step by step.
Results would prove it.
I increased engineering's share in universities too.
Especially for computer engineering, I expanded education subsidies.
"Other fields desperately need subsidies too, Director. You can't just support computers."
"The future is where I see it. Where do you see it, Minister?"
I crushed all opposition.
Preparing talent pipelines for the computer industry.
But even this didn't mean we were fully prepared.
"Prepare startup support programs."
I centered them around Pyongyang University, setting up funds to make it easy for engineering students to launch ventures.
The system was revamped: immediate 100,000 won for student startups, up to 3 million won if sharing equity with the government.
"Director, clueless rookies taking subsidies and starting companies will go bankrupt fast."
I knew.
Who wouldn't know the odds—one in a thousand might succeed?
Still, new opportunities would emerge from that slim success rate.
This investment required massive funds.
I decided to cover it with debt.
"Debt again?"
The Lee Seong-jun era's extreme aversion to debt had made Korean bureaucrats pathologically allergic to government bonds.
But modern nations' debt wasn't just "debt."
It was something they never truly had to repay.
Interest would keep flowing out, sure.
"To fight America, we need solid ammunition."
The final puzzle for the information revolution was the Third World.
Its abundant talent.
We had to attract them to surpass America in the information revolution.
For that, I referenced the UK's High Potential Individual Visa policy, offering job opportunities to top engineering graduates.
"They'll be exempt from the 1.5x minimum wage rule for foreigners as a special measure."
Thanks to this Korean policy, thousands of foreigners flooded in immediately.
Most were from India and Overseas Chinese communities, but others came too.
Even some from North America and Europe.
So why come to Korea, where the language barrier was huge?
For German immigrants and similar groups with expat communities, the reason boiled down to one thing.
"They pay a ton."
That alone made Korea's appeal sufficient.
Of course, the Korean government wasn't without concerns about this influx.
"We can't trust Europeans and Americans, no matter what. We should exclude them from key fields as much as possible."
In summary, their view was: can't put unreliable Westerners in important spots.
"If we keep weeding people out, we'll have no one left to use."
I disagreed.
White and yellow skin.
Deep as the divide was between those identities, skin color didn't explain everything.
Korea already had white-skinned citizens devoted to the nation.
Considering them, kicking out talent we'd just acquired would be idiotic.
They weren't steeped in extreme Han supremacism like original-timeline China, so no need to sharpen blades that much.
The best was to extend goodwill and absorb these talents who'd come to Korean soil as much as possible.
I overrode the bureaucrats' opposition and enforced my policy.
Preparations for the information revolution.
I began sharpening the blade to surpass America and claim the top spot.