Chapter 15 Father's Political Lesson

Life as the first lady is like the process of a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon. I tried my best to fly out. In addition to undertaking the housework of the Blue House alone, I also devoted as much energy as possible to assisting my father in political affairs.Whenever my father conducts a land inspection or visits the enterprise site, I will follow my father to study, and most of the conversations with him are in the car.Dad was a great teacher and I was a serious student.He would talk about history, national defense, economics, etc. Before I knew it, I learned some valuable lessons from my father that money cannot measure.

Every morning, I would read the newspaper to my father, and ask him about his position and opinions on today's major news.My father would sometimes ask me for my thoughts and opinions.After a while, my father and I expanded our conversations to include defense and foreign affairs. "National interest first" is my father's firm political belief. He spent his life making the country prosperous and strong, and making people's lives stable.And I also began to change gradually. The job of the first lady has been handy, and at the same time, I have gained a lot of confidence.

In 1974, I was president emeritus of the Girl Scouts, and went on to start the "New Heart Movement" to make the first lady's activities more active.The so-called "New Heart Movement" has the meaning of concretizing and continuing the spirit of the "New Countryside Movement".While raising income levels was important, there was also an urgent need for people to have a level of awareness that matched income levels. In Korea at that time, posters such as "Please don't spit on the street" and "Please pay attention to hygiene and cleanliness" can be seen everywhere.To become a developed country, the people of the whole country must improve their ideological quality. I will emphasize this concept every time I participate in a speech.I especially spend a lot of time meeting teenagers because teenagers are the future of the Republic of Korea.

It is also very important to restore the public's confidence that "as long as you work hard, you can live a good life."When the wounds of the war have not yet fully healed, what the people need is a new hope, and the role that the government should play is to become the everlasting lamp of hope in the hearts of the people. I often accompany my father to cities other than Seoul, and I frequently participate in important events such as expressway opening ceremonies or national inspections.Every time my father would chat about history in the car, such as "This is the place where General Yi Sun-shin, Chungmugong, healed his injuries", "There is Mr. Lee Yuk-gok's cemetery there, let's go and see it" and so on.He is very interested in historical relics, and I naturally began to care about our country's cultural heritage.Even if it is for the sake of future generations, it is more important than any policy to preserve the existing historical sites and let them pass on for generations, so the "purification cause" was promoted at that time.

An example is "Seven Hundred Memorials".The cemetery of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives to defend the country was ignored. In addition to being overgrown with weeds, the entire cemetery was about to collapse.The father who heard the news was quite displeased, and repeatedly emphasized that "as future generations, we should preserve the final resting place of those great martyrs who died for the country." The restoration project of Suwon City, which was completely destroyed during the "6.25" war, started at this time.

In addition, my father is also committed to greening projects, which is no less important than the restoration of cultural heritage.If he sees a place where the trees have been cut down on the road passing by the car, he will immediately call to inquire and severely criticize. Before he hears that the improvement work has been completed, he will follow up and confirm it many times.My father has absolute love for the land of our country, and his love for the land is comparable to his dedication to economic development, the modernization of the motherland, and an independent economy.I wrote down in detail everything I saw and learned from my father, and I also compiled all the impressions left after visiting with my father into a book.

At that time, I was very interested in the electronics industry, and I chose to major in electronic engineering in college because I hoped that I could contribute to the country's economic development.It just so happened that my father also realized the necessity of the electronics industry at that time.Ever since he heard a proposal on electronics industry training from Dr. Kim Wan-hee, a professor of electrical engineering at Columbia University, a few years ago, my father began to worry about how to carry out this plan.At that time, South Korea had no industry that could be called cutting-edge technology. On the contrary, the United States began to actively carry out academic research on satellite communication, information communication, computer, and semiconductor industries since the mid-1950s.Because of the active development of the United States, the industrial structure of the world has also begun to undergo great changes.America has grown to take advantage of the electronics industry for huge profits when we can only export cotton products.

If you do not understand cutting-edge technology, it is very difficult to formulate policies related to the electronics industry, and it is relatively difficult to obtain support.If it cannot keep up with the rapid industrial development and technological pulse, this policy can easily become a scrap of paper.Moreover, if you want to cross the high threshold of the international market, it is even more urgent to use technological development to improve competitiveness. I have always believed that there must be active human and financial support for fields related to electrical engineering. In 1979, he finally persuaded his father to participate in the Electronics Exhibition of the 10th Korea Exhibition, hoping to improve the morale of workers in the electronics industry.

My father was very obsessed with science and technology. He said, "If South Korea, which has no natural resources and no money, wants to feed itself, it must rely on people to study science and technology."Afterwards, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology was established in Hongneung in 1966, and Korean scientists abroad were also called upon to return home to serve.Surprisingly, more than 200 scientists knew that South Korea's scientific research foundation is quite weak, but they resolutely decided to return to the country because of their patriotism.Then the Institute of National Defense Science was established and the research funds were vigorously provided. The selection of researchers was left to the director of the institute to decide personally, and all external interference and pressure were eliminated.When Dr. Shen Wenze was managing the research institute, he proposed to his father the self-discipline of personnel, organization and budget operation, and his father also readily signed the official document.In the future, whenever Dr. Shen encounters a personnel request that is difficult to refuse, he will show this document to the other party instead of answering.

My father often went to Daedeok Science Park to listen to the opinions of scientists and never forgot to encourage them.My father has absolute expectations and trust in science and technology workers, and he is also quite enthusiastic about the infrastructure construction of the defense industry. "Jinhui, remember: to look at a country's industrial level, you only need to look at their national defense industry. The national defense industry is the measure of that country's industry. A country needs a national defense industry for its own national defense, but It can also be used to develop automobile exports, tank production, etc., without looking at the faces of other countries, and relying on our technology alone can produce everything. Even if we now feel that the development of national defense industry and heavy industry and the construction of comprehensive ironworks are hard work It is heavy, but these will be an important industrial foundation for the survival of our people in the future, and will also be an important weapon to enhance national strength. Some people may think it is too early, but now is the best time. Leaders Readers must know how to open up a difficult road, and at the same time have their own opinions, even if they are scolded by the outside world, they must not shrink back in fear, and never forget the road they chose at the beginning.”

After inspecting the Daedeok Science Park, he participated in the opening ceremony of the diving bridge. On the way back, my father told me this personal belief.During the period when I assisted my father, I felt the great responsibility that my father shouldered as the president, as well as the troubles of being an ordinary person.