Chapter 372
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Felt Improvement
Time is not on the side of authoritarianism.
It's both true and false.
Why?
"Because regimes like Communist China, the ultimate form of authoritarianism, evolve into Big Brother and can suppress democracy."
If they had a censorship system like China's Golden Shield, they could at least somewhat keep the masses in check, if not completely.
I agreed with that point.
But if it developed that way, it would end up as an authoritarian dictatorship closer to Communist China than a democratic state.
To avoid that outcome, the only path was to suppress discontent through economic growth.
Just like Park Chung-hee had done in the original timeline.
In a way, this model resembled the strategy of Vladimir Putin's first term in power in Russia.
However, to achieve the same level of stability as Putin's first term, one more thing was needed.
National pride.
"National pride? You planning to start a war or something?"
Vladimir Putin had solidified national support and ascended to the throne through the Second Chechen War.
But we weren't in a position to fabricate and fight a war like that.
We didn't even have a place to wage one in the first place.
Even if we did go to war,
"Ah, but who pays for that war?"
Unlike the past, modern wars required unimaginably massive costs.
Just think about how much the U.S. spent on the Iraq and Afghan wars after jumping in lightly.
If we started a war just to boost regime support ratings, we'd end up in the same mess.
'I have no intention of even thinking about fighting a war.'
So the answer I proposed was cheap propaganda.
"Propaganda? You mean idolization?"
"Who said anything about crude stuff like that? We need sophisticated methods."
I had the broadcasting authorities produce a series like Japan's national pride hits that dominated the 21st century.
"Korea, Amazing!"
Foreigners, like a Chilean uncle gasping in shock at a taxi door opening automatically, would freak out in exaggerated reactions whenever they saw something novel in Korea.
"Korea, Amazing!" put foreigners on TV to praise Korea's wonders—it was the essence of national pride content.
By 21st-century standards, it was so outdated it was laughable, but for this era, it was fresh spring water.
Koreans started off puzzled by the program, but soon wore pleased expressions as the national pride sank in.
"They say foreigners don't have subways as clean as ours?"
"Even our tap water is the cleanest, right?"
Of course, the propaganda was based on facts.
To avoid headaches from rebuttals.
But the foreigners weren't truly awestruck by Korean civilization.
They were a bit surprised, sure.
"Wow, that's neat."
That was the extent of it.
So why the over-the-top reactions?
Because all the foreigners on "Korea, Amazing!" were extras we hired.
"Good work. Here's your daily pay."
This kind of national pride was useless for actual national development, but it had one redeeming quality.
"Regime support ratings."
By boosting the regime's support ratings, we could suppress democratization challenges to a manageable level.
There'd be no reason to make it otherwise.
Of course, we couldn't rest easy on "Korea, Amazing!" alone.
"You need to feel like things are getting better for national pride to work."
I rolled out a series of policies that would let people tangibly sense the world improving.
"From now on, we'll replace tokens and tickets with magnetic cards."
"What? Tokens and tickets with magnetic cards? Isn't that tech only for credit cards?"
People were confused, but the strength of a dictatorship was ignoring such voices.
Through magnetic card rollout, we drastically cut metal demand for tokens.
Citizens griped about the cards at first but soon realized they were convenient.
"You charge it at the bank or station, right?"
"Yeah, that's it."
Next after magnetic cards came bus-only lanes, like MB had implemented.
"The central lane for buses only?"
"Roads are getting too congested; we need to sort it out."
Bus-only lanes drew massive backlash initially.
"What the hell. I can't even tell where to board the bus!"
"It's confusing as shit. Can't we just keep doing it the old way?"
I rammed it through with dictatorial power.
No different this time.
"There are inconveniences, but some conveniences too."
Roads got cleaner, fewer mix-ups finding bus directions.
After magnetic cards and bus lanes, the next policy was misdemeanor crackdowns.
Until now, street urination, spitting, and drunk antics got a pass in cities.
I decided on harsh penalties for such acts.
"Fine 1% of annual income per misdemeanor?"
"That's why you shouldn't do it."
Singapore-style strict punishment.
As crackdowns began, street conditions improved rapidly.
"Let's improve public safety too."
I decided to redeploy police forces.
"Reassign personnel from the Public Security Investigation Office and other security departments to criminal affairs."
"What? That'll make it hard to monitor tutoring academies."
Didn't matter.
Intelligence agencies could handle that.
Misdemeanor crackdowns, safety enhancements.
These changes weren't felt overnight, of course.
But over time, everyone would notice.
I also touched food and distribution.
"Distribution's handled by merchants; anything to touch there?"
Yes.
Korea's small-scale self-employed farmers meant a middle stage for collecting harvests.
I arranged for conglomerates to swallow that middle stage too.
"Does that make sense? What do we live on then?"
"Switch industries."
Same for marts.
I crushed opposition to hypermarkets and let them devour street commerce.
"Conglomerates can't take over street shops too!"
"Follow capitalist logic. Cheaper for consumers is right."
Even if left alone, markets and small marts couldn't compete long.
Instead, I supported their closures policy-wise.
The effects of my policies soon synergized.
People couldn't explain it, but they felt life improving skin-deep.
'Need to make it visual too.'
I started urban river restoration.
"That won't be cheap."
It cost, but nothing was as visibly impactful as cleaning plague and stench breeding rivers.
I kicked off river restoration with the Daedong, Imjin, and Han River basins encompassing Korea's largest metro area.
Next: Nakdong, Yalu, Amnok in major industrial zones.
River restoration was billed as the largest since Dangun, but mainly sewer pipe upgrades.
Insufficient sewer pipes and facilities meant dumping sewage straight into rivers.
"What? Triple the current sewer capacity?"
For Korea's metro sizes, it seemed outrageous.
But a measure considering the future(?).
"Think ahead to city growth."
To prepare, upsizing sewers was essential.
Same logic for stormwater drains.
River cleanup didn't stop at sewers and facilities.
Dredge rotten riverbed mud, build weirs midway.
"Won't that turn rivers into stagnant lakes?"
Problematic, but unavoidable in low-flow Korea to keep water in rivers.
I set 10 years for river cleanup.
Long timeline to spread annual investment burden.
After rivers: community sports facilities.
Ordered soccer fields and such per locality.
"Fund sports facilities with national taxes?"
"Healthy citizens ease medical insurance burdens—think about it."
Sports rollout existed before, but these were small neighborhood ones.
Investments drew quick reactions.
"The Yi Seok-gyun regime seems to get a lot done. Building sports spots locally."
"Hearing they dredged the Daedong and more."
No one ignores visible, felt policies.
We made a show of working hard.
"Actions over words, substance over form. Yi Seok-gyun builds an active Korea."
We dissed opposition as all-talk, solidifying regime legitimacy.
The opposition didn't just take it sitting down, of course.
"We acknowledge Yi Seok-gyun does much for the people. But merit doesn't cover faults. Terrorism and violence behind growth—we must face their ugly crimes."
Opposition tried framing favorably, but we held initiative.
"Democratization's still a pipe dream."
Until we slipped.
I huddled with cabinet to prep next policies to dazzle the public.