[b][u]Government[/u][/b]

	[b]Name:[/b] Great Joseon State ([i]대조선국[/i]) - Joseon Dynasty of Korea

	[b]Flag/Badge:[/b] Still tbd until I find a historically accurate standard of the contemporary Joseon dynasty

	[b]Head of State:[/b] King Heonjong

	[b]Head of Government:[/b] Queen Sinjeong (Grandmother of King Heongjong)

	[b]Ideology:[/b] Korean Confucianism (Absolute Monarchy)


[b][u]Military[/u][/b]

	[b]Army Numbers:[/b] 75,000 members of the standing army. In wartime, a significant pool of volunteers and irregulars is drawn from the Korean tradition of [i]uibyeong[/i] - “Righteous Army.”

	[b]Navy Numbers:[/b] The contemporary Joseon dynasty maintains no significant naval forces, save for a robust system of coastal defenses.

	[b]Army Equipment:[/b] Line soldiers are equipped with metallic brigandine armor in the style of martial [i]hanbok[/i]. Unique to the Joseon dynasty, experimental bulletproof soft armor - [i]myeonji baegap[/i] - is fielded to some troops to protect against new firearm developments. Joseon firearms are referred to as [i]chongtong[/i] and are a fusion of traditional Korean weaponry with modern advancements. Joseon troops utilize rockets, cannon, mortars, and handheld muskets. Rifles are rare, as Joseon doctrine adapts to modern developments of Western militaries.

	[b]Naval Ship Types:[/b] Naval theory and posited modernization programs center on historical doctrine, deriving heavily from the pairing of the [i]geobukseon[/i] “turtle ship” and the [i]panokseon[/i] warship.


[b][u]History, Expansion, and Economics[/u][/b]

	[b]History:[/b] The Joseon dynasty emerged from almost two centuries of peace and prosperity at the turn of the 19th century. In the 18th century, kings Yeongjo and Jeongjo maintained a delicate balance between the warring factions of the Korean peninsula. This policy of [i]tangpyeongchaek[/i] resulted in the solidification of the Joseon dynasty’s power and rule over the Koreans. However, with the death of King Jeongjo, the Joseon dynasty began a significant decline with the rule of the “in-law” families. These rulers were ineffective: the resulting corruption and mismanagement sent thousands of Koreans into poverty. Korea became a “hermit kingdom”, increasingly isolationist and unwilling to communicate outside its borders.

	The 1830s were increasingly complicated in the Joseon political sphere. Illnesses, regents, and shifts of power were commonplace as the Joseon dynasty struggled to survive a turbulent period. By 1840, the Joseon dynasty was ruled by the thirteen-year-old King Heongjong through the regency of his grandmother, Queen Sinjeong. Despite reaching adulthood, Queen Sinjeong refused to give up her regency due to the supposed incompetency of Heongjong. Kept satisfied with a good life in the capital of Hanseong, King Heongjong kept a low profile from politics and instead utilized his nature as a royal to live a life of vice and playfulness.

	Queen Sinjeong, however, dealt with the increasing pressures of being surrounded by the Qing and the Japanese. With the dysfunction of her government rampant at every level, she sought to bail out a sinking ship. The Confucian ideals of bureaucracy had been tainted by clans, bribes, and all manner of impropriety. Despite this, there was no significant effort to improve the Joseon regime until 1844 when news of a revolution reached the Joseon palaces. The Shogun, who had left the Korean peninsula alone for decades, had been overthrown by an aggressive and assertive imperialist regime.

	That summer, after the rise of Shogun Kumiko, an advisor to Queen Sinjeong voiced his grievances during a routine meeting. The advisor, a wise elderly veteran of Joseon politics, reportedly stood up to Queen Sinjeong and called her a fool in front of the court for continuing the status quo. In an impassioned speech, the advisor laid out the threats posed to the Korean people by the Japanese. He evoked the Imjin Wars that the Joseon dynasty had fought in the last decade of the 16th century, and argued that a new invasion was imminent if they were allowed to advance uncontested.

	Normally, such impropriety towards the royal system would not be tolerated. But Queen Sinjeong pondered her advisor’s words and, after many days of thinking and consultation, the regent of the Joseon dynasty agreed to follow suit and prepare her country for the impending threat of the Japanese, Chinese, and Russians. Reactively, she sent her bureaucrats to find a solution to the rapidly modernizing threat of the Japanese across the East Sea. Their answer to her: send a diplomatic delegation to the United States across the ocean. Queen Sinjeong, after careful thinking, agreed.

	The Korean party came ashore to the Americas after a long voyage. Outside of Oregon, the Korean diplomatic element landed outside a settlement and asked to speak to the country’s leader. Through a highly charismatic and specially selected diplomat who had learned English from the British, the Korean-American Friendship Party traveled across the United States to Washington, where the group of “exotic Oriental” diplomats were granted a special session with President Clay to voice their message. This meeting resulted in the historic pact between the Joseon dynasty and the United States, where the Koreans became the first significant overseas partners of America.

	Until 1847, the Koreans received a significant amount of technological aid and investment from the Americans. Businesses and the government utilized Korea as a foundation to export their products, with the aim of defeating the Japanese and Russians across the sea. Korea, meanwhile, continued its modernization and professionalization of government and military. Queen Sinjeong, her view changed by the sudden encounter with an advisor, heavily utilized her bureaucrats to bring the Joseon dynasty back to the professional Confucian ways. It was now her responsibility to merge Western modernization with Eastern ideals.

	Korea, through its vast investment in help from America, seeks to modernize and improve itself in the face of a Japanese threat. With the threat of the Imperial Japanese Revolutionary Army just across the East Sea, the Koreans struggle to build themselves into a power that can resist yet another incursion upon their homeland. While the political and societal ramifications of this rapid change remain uncertain, Queen Sinjeong remains steadfastly dedicated to the preservation of Joseon Korea. American culture and ideas seep into the country, seeding the classes of people who may oppose the absolutism of the monarchy. As a new year in 1448 dawns, Korea and Japan have reemerged; they are rearmed, renewed, and ready.

	[b]Territory:[/b] The Joseon dynasty controls the Korean peninsula up to the Amrok (Yalu) River bordering China.

[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Korea_%28orthographic_projection%29.svg/480px-Korea_%28orthographic_projection%29.svg.png[/img][/center]

	[b]Economic Description:[/b] Will elaborate later.

	[b]Historical Claims:[/b] There are no external territorial claims north of the Amrok River. It is the longest-standing international border in history, with over 800 years separating China and Korea.