Chapter 165: That Time I Implemented a Cultural Promotion Policy in South America (3)

TL: Skye

What works to make a society more open?

Festivals?

They certainly help.

A one-off festival won't have much effect, but regular festivals go a long way toward creating a more open social atmosphere.

After all, doesn't Brazil's samba festival alone make quite a contribution to the birth rate?

The same goes for religion.

People gathering freely, sharing their beliefs, and forming communities does a great deal to make society more open.

But something else works best of all.

Culture.

In the broader scheme of things, festivals and religion are both part of culture, after all.

Culture is also very important if a country is to become a developed nation.

Over the past few days, Yu-jin had thought long and hard about promoting culture.

And the result of all that deliberation was on the agenda at today's cabinet meeting.

“Today, we'll discuss the cultural promotion policy.”

The senior secretaries sat up straighter as Yu-jin began.

Their expressions made it clear that they were wondering what he was about to start this time.

First the Caribbean Belt, then social liberalization, and now culture.

The thought of overtime crossed their minds yet again.

“At present, San Marcos has nothing that could be called culture.”

“We do have a culture of hard work...”

“That's not the kind of culture I'm talking about.”

“I'm sorry.”

Aman, the senior secretary for industry, bowed his head.

“I've been thinking about it, and it seems San Marcos is lacking in traditional culture.”

That was it.

This was the fundamental reason San Marcos was so lacking in culture.

A Spanish fleet had descended on an island inhabited by a small indigenous population and turned it into a colony.

As in other countries on the South American continent, the colonizers bought slaves from Africa and made tidy profits from plantation farming.

In time, Francisco Franco y Bahamonde ceded San Marcos to Portugal in exchange for military assistance to help him win the civil war.

This history meant San Marcos had no ethnic or regional culture of its own.

All it had was a little of the distinctive Iberian culture left by its colonial rulers.

The only saving grace was that the Marcos regime had punished racial discrimination harshly, so white people of Iberian descent, mulattoes (mixed-race people), and black people of African descent all got along.

Faced with this situation, Yu-jin decided to follow K-culture's tech tree.

“Korea, which is known as a cultural powerhouse, was once a cultural wasteland too. It endured a long period of Japanese colonial rule, and an ideological war laid waste to the entire country. Even after the war ended, culture failed to flourish. Under the military regime, people were forbidden from going out at night, foreign culture was kept out, and listening to the radio was their only form of leisure. What do you think? Doesn't that sound like San Marcos today?”

The apt comparison drew small nods from the senior secretaries.

“But Korea underwent tremendous changes after that. Beginning with the 1988 Seoul Olympics, society opened up, and color televisions spread across the country. As televisions became widespread, popular music grew and TV dramas were made. And as movie theaters spread, Korea became a cultural powerhouse.”

“We can't leave out K-pop, either.”

Resa, the senior secretary for natural resources and tourism, chimed in.

“Exactly. But going back to the beginning, it all started very modestly. A few TV stations and radio channels were all it had. But what about now? K-pop, K-dramas, K-films. Whatever anyone says, Korea is now a cultural powerhouse.”

Yu-jin looked around at the senior secretaries.

“It's the same for San Marcos. Our culture will grow on its own if we put some basic infrastructure in place. The people have already proven their creativity and passion, haven't they? So, with that in mind...”

All eyes turned to him.

“How about setting up a broadcasting station?”

“A broadcasting station?”

“But we already have a broadcasting station...”

Yu-jin shook his head and answered.

“I mean a private broadcasting station, not a state-run one.”

“But setting up a broadcasting station costs a tremendous amount of money. There's no need to waste the country's resources on something like that...”

“No. We need it.”

Yu-jin's eyes were filled with conviction.

“Culture begins with diversity. But our current public broadcaster only makes programs that favor the government. It can't produce creative programs.”

Isabella nodded and quietly took notes.

She did, however, slightly misinterpret what Yu-jin meant.

‘He's trying to shift the public's attention from politics to entertainment over the long term. True, if people get absorbed in dramas and variety shows, they won't have the time to take an interest in politics.’

Of course, she didn't say any of that aloud.

“Second, I intend to establish public libraries.”

“......”

“Books are the beginning and end of culture. We need plenty of places where people can read books comfortably and freely. Of course, it will improve their knowledge as well.”

As the senior secretaries nodded, Isabella took more notes.

‘Prominently displaying books about His Excellency's achievements will be a natural way to educate people. Stocking storybooks about His Excellency for children should help start their education early, too.’

Isabella was under the mistaken impression that she knew exactly what he wanted.

“Finally, I intend to create a professional football league.”

At this, the atmosphere in the conference room changed completely.

Football and baseball.

For Latin American men, these two sports were practically religions.

More countries actually preferred baseball to football, but San Marcos, with its strong Iberian influence, preferred football.

“The final World Cup qualifiers are coming up, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to establish a professional league. A domestic league will let players compete, improve their skills, and give people teams to cheer for.”

Yu-jin explained his plan.

“I've already gotten the companies on board.”

“Which companies...?”

“Tortilla Foods, Tortilla Energy, Tortilla Farm, Tortilla Construction FC, Tortilla Bank, and International Steel say they’re planning to form professional teams.”

“......”

With the exception of International Steel, they were all Tortilla subsidiaries, essentially business operations of the Presidential Palace, but the senior secretaries said nothing.

“All we have to do is build the stadium.”

Yu-jin spoke as though everything was already settled, and Ramos, the senior secretary for construction, asked in response.

“What size do you have in mind?”

“Well, how about fifty thousand seats?”

“Hmm... Libertad will be buzzing on match days.”

“That's exactly it.”

Yu-jin grinned and addressed them all.

“Now, there's no time to waste. Please return to your posts and give this everything you've got.”

As soon as the cabinet meeting ended, Publica Street, San Marcos's furnace, sprang into action.

Of course it did.

A private broadcasting station, public libraries, and a professional football league.

They had just been handed three megaprojects at once.

“Will the lights on Publica Street ever go out?”

“The day His Excellency retires?”

“Will that day ever come?”

“I can't remember the last time I had dinner at home...”

For all the civil servants' sighs, nothing changed.

After all, failing to do their assigned work properly would hurt their performance reviews and could mean being passed over for promotion, or even getting dragged off to Tortilla Farm.

That fear was what drove the civil servants of San Marcos.

The one consolation, perhaps, was that Yu-jin prided himself on giving as well as taking, so he made sure they received their overtime pay.

In any case, the first ministry to scream was the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.

Senior Secretary Resa, a member of the secret society UJF and unofficially number five in the government, called an emergency staff meeting.

“Draw up a plan to establish a professional football league as quickly as possible.”

The words were simple, but the work was anything but.

The stadium, of course, but also training grounds, referees, and equipment.

Even organizing an early-morning amateur football league meant a mountain of work.

A professional league would mean more work, certainly not less.

That night, the lights in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism's offices never went out.

The same was true of the Ministry of Construction.

“Our goal is to finish the stadium design by the end of this month. We also need to build five national libraries in Libertad, so please work on those at the same time.”

The Ministry of Construction's staff ended up working all night, every night.

Responsibility for the broadcasting station was a little less clear.

It didn't quite fall within the Ministry of Industry's remit, and it certainly didn't fall under the Ministry of Administration's.

In the end, an argument between the two senior secretaries was settled by shoe tossing. The Ministry of Industry lost badly and had to take charge.

And so Publica Street began to blaze with light.

The lights stayed on all night in every ministry building, and employees could be seen coming and going even in the early hours of the morning.

Nearby grocery stores ran out of coffee and energy drinks.

“What's His Excellency starting this time...?”

For Libertad's citizens, the lights on Publica Street had become a kind of indicator.

The brighter those lights, the surer the sign that Yu-jin was pushing ahead with a new policy.

And their efforts bore fruit.

In just two weeks, a draft of the professional football league's regulations was completed, and the stadium renovation plans were finalized. Yu-jin also approved the proposal for San Marcos's first private broadcasting station.

Of all the projects, the national library was completed the fastest.

Converting existing vacant buildings took less time than constructing new ones.

Libertad National Library, Branch No. 1.

Citizens began lining up on opening morning.

A striking number were mothers holding their children by the hand.

When the doors to the children's reading room opened, the children cheered and rushed to the shelves.

Picture books with colorful covers stood neatly on the shelves.

One child pulled out a picture book.

[The Man Who Made Our Fields]

The cover had an illustration of people tilling the fields.

The child opened the book.

[Once upon a time, a man named UJ came to this country.]

The story began with a cute illustration.

It showed a man arriving in an empty wasteland, stepping off a ship with a shovel in hand.

[The villagers frowned when they first saw UJ. But UJ always smiled, even when they treated him badly. He said things that gave the people around him hope. “We can do it.” “Let's all do our best together.” “Anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it.”]

[But the villagers didn't listen to UJ. They were angry because they were hungry.]

[When UJ saw this, he began tending a vegetable patch. Snow fell and bitter winds swept across the land, but UJ didn't give up. Eventually, after spring and summer went by, the seeds grew and grew, turning the vegetable patch into a great big farm.]

[UJ brought in a big harvest and shared it with the villagers. With their hunger gone, the villagers began tending the farm with UJ one by one. As time passed, they no longer went hungry and began to live comfortably.]

The villagers were shown thanking UJ.

[Thank you, UJ!]

The author's pen name appeared at the end of the last page.

[Bella]

*****

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