Rasputin of the East

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There is no doubt that the history of the Republic of Korea is turbulent enough to be counted among the world history.

In 1910, the Korean Empire was forcibly annexed by Japan. At that time, due to the inexcusable incompetence of King Gojong and the tyranny of Empress Myeongseong, who fell into superstition, the talented people who could take responsibility for the future of the country were purged or driven out with their own hands, and the people who fell into tyranny and chaos fled abroad. The Joseon dynasty, which was held by Mangjo as expected, came to an end after 500 years of history.

However, the Koreans continued their resistance by declaring independence through the March 1st Movement and establishing a provisional government abroad on March 14, 1942, when the Russian Empire declared war on Japan and carried out Operation Storm, on April 1, all over the Korean Peninsula. came to liberate

Then, on May 27, 1943, the Japanese Empire, which was being trampled on by the mainland, officially surrendered, and on June 6, the end of World War II was officially declared in Schleswig in the East Sea, and the Republic of Korea was officially liberated.

The joy of liberation was short-lived, but before Korea, there were the problem of liquidation of co-workers, the need to establish a new country, and poverty and political confrontation.

The transitional government of the Republic of Korea, who came from a Russian study group, mobilized its own armed organization and collected documents and various tips from the Japanese government-general to execute punishments for co-workers of pro-Japanese anti-national acts. They also confiscated all of the Lee royal family’s property and permanently banned their descendants from returning to Korea.

Those who volunteered for the Japanese army and those who were suspected to have engaged in pro-Japanese activities were randomly arrested and executed. It suffered significant losses for the literate and the elite.

In addition, overseas independence activists and domestic independence activists did not recognize the pro-Russian transitional government, but it was clear that they could not compete with Russia, so they formed a political party and entered politics. The Constituent Assembly was formed.

The Korean government was established after Chuikov, commander of the Far Eastern Military District of the Russian Imperial Army, declared the end of military rule.

However, shortly after the establishment of the government, the government suffered a major rebellion by communist forces, including Park Hun-young, and after fierce confrontation between the legislative and executive branches, President Syngman Rhee resigned. The political turmoil lasted for decades, from the failure of a major coup d’état to the execution of the first public execution in constitutional history and hanging in Seoul Plaza.

Nevertheless, with the full support of Russia and the United States, the Republic of Korea reconstructed the country at a tremendous speed, and decided to nurture the heavy and chemical industry with the goal of exporting 10 billion rubles away from the existing agriculture and light industry.

Cast iron, steel, machinery, shipbuilding, and chemistry were the exclusive domains of advanced countries, and were one of the biggest causes of China’s downfall as a failed country as it required huge capital investment and nurtured technical manpower.

However, a lot of luck followed Korea. First, as a pure-blooded Korean, the Russian Empire under Mikhail II, who exiled to the Russian Empire as a child, married a princess and rose to the status of emperor, had a large-scale know-how in this development, and compensated for colonial damage by several factories in the Japanese Empire from the time of national foundation. He had experience in bringing and operating under the name of the Japanese Civil War, and in return for dispatching large-scale troops, he received a large amount of aid from the United States.

This served as a catalyst for Korea’s economic growth, and many Korean companies participated in Japan’s post-war recovery. In the 1970s, it reached the third largest economy in the world after the United States and Russia, and later became a non-permanent member of the United Nations, achieving great diplomatic achievements. In addition, it has taken a stable lead in the semiconductor industry and started to focus on high value-added industries, such as developing and mass-producing the world’s first ternary semiconductor, which was used in large quantities in Ogas.

In the 1980s, the economy continued to expand, and in 1991, per capita income surpassed Russia, and culturally developed, such as Seo Taiji and Boys, and other historical stars appeared, and culture such as Korean movies, animations, cartoons, and games. It was at this time that the industry began to develop extremely, and through the world’s third-largest defense budget, several new warships and the latest stealth aircraft were introduced, resulting in a significant increase in military power. It has the world’s second-largest naval power by introducing warships and aircraft carriers with ballistic missile defense capabilities, the F-23A stealth aircraft, early warning and control aircraft, etc. Since the Korean military service system was abolished in 2002, just before the collapse of the bubble, the South Korean military was seriously concerned about a decrease in human resources, but it was revealed that the bubble burst immediately after the abolition of the conscription system, which turned out to be nothing but a hoax.

There have been incidents such as Korean companies buying major overseas real estate and buying a number of artworks and sweeping the Christie’s auction house. When the Empire State Building became owned by a Korean company, there was a fear that Korea might dominate the global economy in the United States, and it was not unrelated to the fact that Korean culture appeared heavily in the cyberpunk genre that was popular at this time.

Imports of high-end German-made foreign cars have surged, and cultural infrastructure such as theme parks, various performance halls, and sports stadiums has also been greatly expanded. don’t

As there were not enough people to work for, each company hired anyone who wanted to work as a new employee, and this quickly disrupted the hierarchy within Korean companies. If you don’t like it, there are too many places to come, so just throw it away and leave, and even if you don’t get a job, you can make a living.

This kind of foreign investment was not in vain. Korea has been able to consistently earn tremendous profits from this, and its external net assets and foreign bond size have remained unrivaled in the world even after the collapse of the bubble economy. This is because it has become an inseparable entity from the Korean economy to the extent that it is called the last bastion in the economy of Korea.

In the period of bubble economy and rapidly changing society, generational conflict was also prominent, but development continued nonetheless. Korea, which has the ambition to one day become the world’s largest economy, has reached its highest level of heyday and erected a mega-building that symbolizes its development.

When huge projects including the gates of liberation, Seoul Plaza, and the construction of the prime minister’s and president’s residences were completed, it was thought that Korea would stand forever in the status of an immortal wealthy country.

However, the jinx of the skyscraper did not miss this time either. Within eight months of the completion and operation of the Seoul Complex Administrative Complex and other annexed buildings, the Republic of Korea was hit head-on by a mega-economic depression, and the bubbles that had accumulated over the years collapsed all at once.

Korea, engulfed in the worst global recession and deflation in history, had to spend nearly 20 years to recover its previous level of income when the bubble burst in an instant. At about the same time, there was a huge economic crisis in South America and Africa, and the global economy also crawled.

Even the greatest natural disasters, including earthquakes, occurred one after another during this period, and the public sentiment in Korea became extremely atrocious, and violent incidents increased rapidly.

As a result, in the case of Incheon International Airport, which was planned as the world’s largest airport as an external airport in Seoul along with the Seoul Administrative Complex, the bubble burst during construction and deflation was reversed during construction. As I was writing, my budget was greatly tightened. However, now that attempts to change or reduce the design in a less costly way have been concluded that the cost will be higher, the port can barely be opened after carrying out construction with a teaspoon for nearly three times the planned construction period. there was.

The irony is that, nevertheless, Korea, which suffered from the aftereffects of the collapse of the bubble economy of the past 20 years, achieved the greatest cultural industry development in history at the same time. It was during this period that K-pop spread all over the world, and Gangnam Style and BTS appeared and shook the world.

The job market froze quickly. Nevertheless, until just before the American Revolution, the youth employment rate in Korea was maintained at 90%, and even after the American Revolution, it was only less than in the past, when it was close to 100% employment and full employment on a global scale, but it showed an employment rate of about 70% worldwide. The employment rate is also in the rankings.

At that time, even though the Korean government significantly increased the recruitment of civil servants, the competition for employment for civil servants who were said to be unpopular because they were not popular because of the low salary intensified was intensified. The competition for recruiting outside has become so fierce. It was the aftermath of job cuts and recession.

There is a common perception that civil servants are iron rice bowls, but Korea and other countries that have introduced Russian-style direct systems are by no means iron rice bowls. On the contrary, promotions are more stringent than private companies, and internal audits are very thorough, so if you get caught on anything, you’re in a situation where you have to just hope that you won’t get fired.

In Korea, which is very sensitive to strengthening the qualifications of civil servants, such as all civil servants having to go through a re-appointment review every year unless they are elected, civil servants who paid salaries did not have any merit. The impact of deflation was huge.

The same was true of the Korean army. South Korea’s security topography does not require large-scale troops because most threats are blocked by blocking the sea. Korea, which has never made an operational plan for Russia in the first place, has invested heavily in the air force and navy to maintain maritime supremacy, knowing that it is not only an ally with Russia, which is the only country facing land, but also has a 100% chance of being defeated if there is a war. This has led to an emphasis on advanced human resources such as the rank of noncommissioned officers and officers. Simply because there are only a large number of soldiers, it is not helpful at all to the navy and air force, which have to deal with cutting-edge equipment, and in the case of the army, where the effect of simple force increase is the most intuitive, it has nothing to do except maintain domestic security or dispatch overseas troops in the first place.

Therefore, since the 1970s, the conscription system has been gradually reduced, and in the past, when men and women were completely drafted, only a few percent of the top group eligible for men and women conscripted were drafted, and the rest of the group paid national defense tax, and the period of service was continuously reduced. They were choosing to maintain the quality of the officers and non-commissioned officers while tightening the examination for active duty service of the military non-commissioned officers and officers.

However, when the unprecedented enlistment crisis occurred, such as high-level personnel rushing to apply to the military, the South Korean military, whose infrastructure itself was not prepared in the first place, could not help but panic. Of course, although this served as an opportunity to expand the military’s human resources, the actual size of the military remained the same.

However, as it achieved economic growth again for the past 20 years, it succeeded in catching up with the peak of the bubble economy in terms of per capita income, although it was not the same rapid growth as before. Of course, I didn’t get to be second in the world, which I desperately wanted. Anyway, Korea is still the third largest economy in the world.