Republic of Korea

대한민국 (Korean)
Daehanminguk (Revised Romanisation of Korean)

**Korea**, officially the **Republic of Korea** (**ROK**), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the Korean Peninsula and borders the United Socialist Republic of China to the north, Japan through the Sea of Japan to the east, and Taiwan to its west. It has a population of 86 million, of which roughly 3/5s live in the Seoul Capital Area. Other major cities include Pyongyang (the Second Capital of the Republic), Incheon, Busan, and Daegu.

The Korean Peninsula was inhabited as early as the Lower Palaeolithic period. Its first kingdom was noted in Chinese records in the early 7th century BCE. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea into Silla and Balhae in the late 7th century, Korea was ruled by the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) and the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897). The succeeding Korean Empire (1897–1910) was annexed in 1910 into the Empire of Japan. Japanese rule ended following Japan's surrender in World War II, after which Korea was divided into two zones: a northern zone occupied by the Soviet Union, and a southern zone occupied by the United States. After negotiations on reunification failed, the southern zone became the Republic of Korea in August 1948, while the northern zone became the communist Democratic People's Republic of Korea the following month.

In 1950, a North Korean invasion began the Korean War, which saw extensive American-led United Nations intervention in support of the South while China intervened to support the North with Soviet assistance. After the war's end in 1953, South Korea entered into a military alliance with the US, and its devastated economy began to soar, recording the fastest rise in average GDP per capita in the world between 1980 and 1990. Despite lacking natural resources, the nation rapidly developed to become one of the Four Asian Tigers based on international trade and economic globalization, integrating itself within the world economy with export-oriented industrialization and currently being one of the largest exporting nations in the world, along with having one of the largest foreign exchange reserves in the world. The June Democratic Struggle led to the end of authoritarian rule in 1987, South Korea being considered among the most advanced democracies in Asia.

In 1953, the Korean Armistice Agreement brought about a ceasefire and established a demilitarized zone (DMZ), but no formal peace treaty was signed until the 2020s. Post-war North Korea benefited greatly from economic aid and expertise provided by other Eastern Bloc countries. However, Kim Il Sung, North Korea's first leader, later purged both pro-Soviet and pro-Chinese elements from the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and promoting his personal philosophy of *Juche* as the state ideology. Pyongyang's international isolation sharply accelerated from the 1980s onwards as the Cold War came to an end. The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 then brought about a sharp decline to the North Korean economy. From 1994 to 1998, North Korea suffered a famine that resulted in the deaths of between 240,000 and 420,000 people.

In the 2020s, the Two Koreas began to become closer, the Kim Dynasty loosing its grip over North Korea, with Tong-il, the unification of the two states commencing in May 2027, with the substantially stronger South Korea forming the basis of the new state, Tong-il presented many challenges, such as the merging of the North and South Cultures and Languages, a process still underway. The Republic of Korea inherited the weaponry of both North and South Korea, including the North's Nuclear Devices, all were deactivated at the request of Japan's National Diet.

In the 2100s, Korea maintains a close relationship with Japan and Taiwan, the three forming the East Asian Defence Pact, in which they shall come to one another's aid, no matter what. Korea has a booming economy, the Won pegged to the Yen and New Taiwan Dollar. By the modern age, only a few Koreans feel the split between North and South, almost all elderly, the current President, Kam Yoon-Ji, believing that Korea is entering a new period of true prosperity. Kam is a popular figure, serving her second term.