Chapter 1171
The sitting President of South Korea was—as always—being crushed by an endless stream of state affairs.
The workload, unimaginable to him before he took office, left him with constant headaches. Problems cropped up from too many unexpected directions, forcing him to make split-second decisions with far-reaching ramifications. Whenever those choices turned out to be wrong, the backlash was on a level far beyond any praise he ever received when they were right.
Still, people had begun to say things were finally looking up. Thanks to the new material acquired from Tionis through the Sacred Group, South Korea was enjoying a substantial trade surplus.
The biggest problems with nuclear power plants had always been meltdowns and waste disposal. However, if those two issues could truly be resolved, then the energy produced by nuclear power could become nearly limitless.
“Mr. President, we've received a report that the operation rate at the Uljin Nuclear Plant is very stable.”
“Phew. That’s a relief! Nothing went wrong, after all.”
“Indeed, sir. Even though a consistent supply of the new material is still needed for continued waste treatment, nothing in the past has ever neutralized radioactive waste so perfectly.”
Naturally, other countries were eager to build friendly ties with South Korea in order to gain access to such critical resources. Among them, Japan seemed to have grown especially close to succeeding in negotiations.
Originally dominated by far-right political parties, Japan had always operated a significant number of nuclear plants. With the Fukushima disaster still fresh in public memory, they were more concerned than anyone about radiation neutralization.
Their stance was clear, believing that maintaining good relations brought greater benefits than being hostile and seeing no reason to pick fights. The same logic applied to other countries as well.
With foreign diplomacy seemingly on the right track, the president had more time to focus on domestic affairs. Thanks to that, public sentiment had grown surprisingly favorable as well. Some extreme supporters had even gone so far as to say it wouldn’t be a bad idea to allow him another term.
However, that would be difficult to pull off in reality. The president himself wasn’t keen on the idea of serving another term, as well.