Korea (Concert of Europe)

Korea (Korean: 한국 Hanguk, Japanese: 朝鮮 Chōsen), officially the Empire of Korea (Korean: 대한제국 Daehan Jeguk, Japanese: 大韓帝国 Dai Han Teikoku), is a country in a crown union with, consisting of a large peninsula in and sharing a land border with  and  to the north. Once home to a large and powerful kingdom in the Chinese sphere of influence, Korea initially became a Japanese protectorate in the final years of the 19th century, corresponding to Japan's rise to prominence in the world stage.

After being a Japanese protectorate, the Korean peninsula was forcibly annexed by Japan. This was followed by a large influx of Japanese settlers and forced policies of cultural assimilation. In the final years of the, the Japanese government, fearing questions about the legitimacy of its rule in Korea and at the same time wanting to avoid pro-Korean nationalist sentiments rising in the territory, set up a new, formally independent Korea, but with the Japanese emperor as its monarch, following the French-Algerian model. While the country is de jure autonomous, its government depends heavily on the Japanese one, and Japan is responsible for Korea's military and naval defenses.

Geographically, the country is mountainous in the north and the east, while the rest of the peninsula is mostly flat and dominated by rolling hills. Korea's culture is quite diversified, because of the numerous influxed it received from China, Japan, and European missionaries, who spread Christianity in the region: today Korean Christians form a quite large minority. A very large ethnically Japanese population exists. Korea's economy developed largely thanks to Japanese investments, and sees agriculture and industry as its main sectors.