Seoul (1983: Doomsday)

Pre-Doomsday
History Seoul has a 2000 year history stretching back to 18 BC. It has been the capital of numerous Korean kingdoms, empires, and others, including the late Republic of Korea. The city is protected by massive walls and has several old castles and palaces right next to modern high-rise buildings and the famed Korean PC Baangs (PC 방), or PC rooms. Seoul was the capital of the Republic of Korea, which by Doomsday was an ally of the US with heavy US influence. It held 40,000 US troops, and was therefore nuked by the USSR with a single ICBM, which air-burst over Seoul with a yield of 920 KT, or about 61 Hiroshima-sized weapons.

Impact: Doomsday
Doomsday proved devastating for South Korea, and the entire nation descended into chaos as North Korea proceeded to invade its southern counterpart. Seoul was the capital of South Korea, as well as the headquarters for the Republican navy, army, and air force. South Korea itself was hit in five locations: Seoul, Pyongtaek, the US Air Force HQ that was garrisoned there, Gunsan, another major air force base, and the US navy base in Chinhae. All four mushroom clouds were visible across the peninsula. The North Korean capital of Pyongyang had also been hit, although its leader, Kim Il-Sung, was still alive due to the early warning the bombardment of South Korea provided. He has sought refuge in a bunker twenty miles out when Pyongyang was hit, and was therefore safe. He later emerged into a ruined North and South Korea. He later said in a speech to both North and South Korea, "It is time to unite the Korean peoples under one banner, one government, one rule."

Northern Invasion
North Korea seized the advantage by invaded South Korea with the focus on speed and resilience, pushing the South back as far as, in some places, 82 miles. Due to the fact that most South Korean leaders had been killed, in comparison to their Northern colleagues, meant that local officers organized the operations, and as a result, these were not as coordinated. However, then catastrophe struck the North: a Chinese "invasion". Wave after wave of Chinese refugees began pouring into North Korea. The South was spared, as that it had no land borders with any country except for North Korea. This momentarily disrupted the North Korean offensive and South Korea began pushing them back.

Cease-fire
In 1983, Seoul had a population of 9.3 million and was well on it's way to becoming a prominent metropolis in Asia. Immediately after Doomsday however, the population had declined to around 4.1 million, and gradually shrank as the background radiation forced many to move away, explaining its present-day population of 3.2 million city dwellers. However, Seoul was not the only one effected. While all the other targets were military targets, about 60% of South Korea's population lived within an hours distance of Seoul. This led to massive casualties as the radiation spread from the ghost town. As the North Korean army advanced, they took Incheon and the surrounding area, and was 9 miles from the smoldering wreckage of Seoul when Kim Il-Sung sounded the general retreat due to the refugees. As the refugee problem got bigger, North Korea had a Cease-Fire with South Korea. As soon as the cease-fire took place, Kim had his forces put in the North to repel the Cinese "Invasion". Most North Korean forces were sent there, and they were later criticized by the League of Nations for the massacre of Chinese refugees. As soon as Kim Il-Sung's forces began their retreat, the Southern forces began to push them back. Soon, they were back to pre-Doomsday borders. However, South Korea did not have enough resources to pull off an invasion without the help of the US.

Aftermath of Doomsday
Doomsday had extreme consequenses for South Korea, North Korea, and Seoul itself. Seoul was hit by a SS-18 Satan ICBM fitted with a 920 KT nuclear warhead. In the first few seconds, 4.5 of the 9.3 million perished instantly, and in the next few weeks, around another 700,000 people died from radiation, burns, or other. The population of Seoul in Post-Doomsday was in the 4 millions, then shrunk to it's present population of 3.2 million. However, most of these people live in buildings that have either no electricity, plumbing, etc, or with some structural damage from the nuclear blast. Howvever, efforts are being made to try to restore at least part of the city to part of its former glory. As soon as the immediate problem of the Chinese refugees were over, Kim and the remnants of the South Korean government began discussing reunification. Soon, the Korean Union was founded. Seoul was, then, rebuilt by the Korean Union. It was seen as a symbol of the old days of prosperity, but it also became a symbol of unification. Both Kim and the Southern government wanted to rebuild Seoul and use it as their capital, but feared the readiation was too great and so the capital was set up in Kaeson, one of the oldest cities in Korea. At then, the Korean Union was really nothing more than a treaty agreeing to recognize each other, but later, it formed into a democratic nation when in 1998, the 7 day war broke out which lead to the end of military rule and the beginning of democracy in Korea. Soon, newly elected President Shin Sun-Soo created a Constitution and Parliment similar to modern South Korea in OTL. President Shin stepped down from power after 2 terms fo 5 years, following what he called "the best decision George Washington ever made". The next President was President Lee Hyun-Jin, who was a woman. She was the first woman leader in modern Korean history, which led to controversy from several super-sexist groups, such as the KKKK, the Ku Klux Klan of Korea. There are Asian supremacy groups who gun down whites, blacks, Hispanics,etc. There are still many problems, and South Korea has much less freedom than OTL.