Korea (Napoleon's World)

The Republic of Korea is a nation in East Asia, which up until 1947 was a kingdom. It is part of the so-called "East Asian Bloc" along with China and, at times, Japan, although the Sino-Korean Alliance is a far more appropriate moniker due to traditional Japanese independence, and the dependence of Korea upon their neighbor. The current President of Korea is Lee Myung-Bak, who succeeded the office following the suicide of his predecessor. The primary language is Korean, although there are sizeable Japanese and Russian minorities. Buddhism is widely practiced, although Christianity has rapidly been on the rise since Korea opened its borders to Western missionaries in 1949. The country currently has a population of approximately 85,000,000. The capital is at Hanseong, and other major cities include Busan, Incheon, Pyongyang, Gwangju and Daejeon.

Fall of the Kingdom of Korea, Civil War and Turbulent Reform
By 1929, when Korea officially withdrew from the Pacific conflict, King Seungheong had lost most, if not all, of his popular support. The ports of Busan and Incheon had been ravaged, the Siege of Vladivostok had been one of the most vicious in the history of warfare, and the Japanese had been so hemorrhaged by the Americans that they could no longer protect the Koreans from assaults in Asia itself. The Chinese were, as per usual, slow to react and themselves haggard from the courageous Siberian, Tibetan, Burmese and Siamese efforts to assault their homeland. The Pacific War had ravaged Asia. The Asian Powers were running out of bodies to throw at more careful enemies.

With the Hilo Accords signed in 1929, the Pacific War was over, and nobody had gained much of anything, except for Japan's refusal to give up occupied coastal territory in Siberia. Korea soon found itself embroiled in a new conflict - in 1935, Japan and China engaged in war once again, and Korea was once more the battlefield. Korean troops managed to hold the underequipped Chinese army at bay, but the modern Japanese occupied most of the southern half of the peninsula.

A brave Korean general by the name of Pak Mae-Hyeong organized the embattled Royal Army, which had been hammered by the Japanese a few days before, at Hanseong, the capital. There, while Seungheong and his consorts fled north, Mae-Hyeong protected the capital throughout the three-month Siege of Hanseong, from August to October 1935. By late October, starving and with most of his original 200,000 man force dead, Mae-Hyeong managed to secure the surrender of the main Japanese army besieging the city and brokered the retreat.

Mae-Hyeong's victory helped encourage guerilla warfare throughout the Korean peninsula, and what was referred to as the "Korean Campaign" soon ended thereafter. The Japanese finally formally recognized the Kingdom of Korea as a legitimate nation (having still considered them a "protectorate" since the end of the Yellow Sea War) and in 1936, the Japanese finally defeated the Chinese. Korea was, for the time being, safe - at least from foreign troubles.

Seungheong and his flight from the capital, and in turn Mae-Hyeong's victorious survival of the Japanese siege despite staggering casualties, deepened the distrust in Korea for the royal family. Seungheong died in 1939 after nearly 25 years on the throne and his successor, nephew Junsaek, was eager to restore the country.

Two camps began to slowly emerge in opposition to Junsaek in the early 1940's, both of them seeking to overthrow the monarchy. One side, the Republicans, was led by Mae-Hyeong and other more politically adept members of the government. The other camp, the Communists, was composed mostly of peasants, and led by the young idealist Kim Il-Sung, who while young was eager to form a communist state in Korea, one that could compete with the vast population of China and the modern empire of Japan.

On June 3rd, 1942, with Korea still poor and recovering from its devastating recent two wars (the Pacific War claimed almost five million Korean lives, the Korean Campaign of the Sino-Japanese War claimed about one and a half million) the Communists assassinated Junsaek and seized control of Hanseong. The Hanseong Riots over the course of the next two weeks resulted in nearly ten thousand dead.

The Republicans at first sought to work with the Communists against the "Monarchists," but a skirmish in the Baekdu Mountains and the murders of seven Republican leaders in Pyongyang soon ended such hopes. A three-way civil war soon began.

Between 1942 and 1945, the Korean Civil War claimed an additional three to four million lives, most of them civilian. Finally, in 1945, Mae-Hyeong led a brave offensive against the Monarchist stronghold of Daejeon. The Battle of Daejeon resulted in nearly 60,000 dead combined, but it resulted in the capture and eventual execution of Monarchist leader Syngman Rhee on March 20th, 1945. With the Republicans in control of much of the peninsula besides the Hanseong-Incheon region, a ceasefire and power-sharing agreement deal was finally struck with the Communists.

On December 8th, 1946, tensions flared up again in what was called the "Incheon War." Communist agitators tried to attack Republican lawmakers attempting to form a new government in Hanseong, and the Republicans struck back in a fifty-two day campaign in the central region of the peninsula. Kim Il-Sung was shot to death in Pyongyang in early February, and the Communist effort had all but failed.

Mae-Hyeong held a meeting on April 1st, 1947, to officially form the Republic of Korea, thereby forming the first real government the country had had since 1942. The conditions during the Korean Civil War have often been compared to those of the English Anarchy, and finally it was over.