Baeguk

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The Dankioray
September the Ninth, 5643

"CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE" - Imperial Household More Unpopular Than Ever
Republicanism sees rise in Popularity as Imperials Accused of Extravagance, Corruption, and Unnecessary Use of Public Finances

It has long been argued that, since the Gwangbok Restoration, there has been a sort of social contract between the Imperial Household and their subjects. The Emperor provides stability and legitimacy to rule, and in return for the political security that allows for economic flourishing the people allow a monarchy established in the 23rd century BC to continue to wield tremendous power unbound by the Constitution nominally devolving their absolute powers to the Senate, which many increasingly view as a mere rubber stamp among the many Imperial decrees that have extralegally made policy on the whims of the Imperials instead of elected representatives.

Now the monarchy has begun to receive its' worst polling in ages among subjects as economic hardship and extreme inequality shine a light on how luxuriously and carefree the Imperial Family live compared to the average people. Still haunted by the wasteful and controversial debaucheries of Empress Ryeomi, the Imperials continue to have an image issue, seen as permanently detached from the people and siphons on the public treasury.

Support for the Republican system of governance is now estimated by pollsters to be well in the 50%-60% range, marking the first time since the Gwangbok restoration that Republicanism has become the majority position of the people. Monarchism was once thought unquestionable, but as the political institutions of centuries find backlash in a Baeguk that is seen as stagnant, contracting and failing its people, there is no doubt that such popular surge has called these old pillars into an existential question. A reckoning may very well come soon on the horizon.

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Kyo Nationalism on Rise Among Working Class as Ethnic Tension Linked to Economic Inequality
Author: Yiri Minseok
5644.2.10

SINSU METROPOLITAN CITY - Cries of "Kyobando" can be heard surrounding the Blanco Estate in downtown Sinsu as police disperse angry crowds of working class Kyo people with tear gas. Many families like the Blancos live in luxury gated communities in highrises far away from the working masses huddled in broken down and crime ridden alleys just blocks from their citadels of gated opulence. Never before in modern KGB history has economic downturn been this severe for this long, with such massive inequality.

This is the new reality in the feudalist hellscape of Baeguk's economic collapse. The KGB continues to see intensified as the ineffective liberal government's austerity measures make working class families, overwhelmingly Kyo, unable to get basic essential medications, to use functioning public transport on time, or to be allowed clean air and roads among the rollback of environmental regulations. Bribery, corruption, and embezzlement have become commonplace throughout the decades as the entire Kingdom experiences marked decline.

For many, a worrying trend is seen as the overwhelming concentration of national wealth is found with the ethnic Draniano population, despite them only composing around 10% of Baeguk's population. The average Draniano family makes between 3x to 4x more than their Kyo counterparts, despite the fact that Kyo people are a supermajority of the population.

The solution for much of the working masses is a return to Kyo Nationalism - Baegukese Nationalism that encompasses all three ethnic groups is, according to them, too deferential and corrupt as it benefits the minorities to the point of this economic crisis. The Kyo Nationalists cry is simple - one language, one culture, one nation that serves itself for the common good, that destroys past differences to build a commonwealth serving the interests of the working people. Typically, especially among the rank and file membership of the BCTU, the Baegukese Confederation of Trade Unions, Kyo Nationalist rhetoric goes hand in hand with Socialist and Republican radicalism. As these three currents begin to increasingly mingle and gain popularity, many wonder if political revolution could be just around the horizon. Time will tell.

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Vox Popvli
Pekzyenguymoksoli
5645.9.12

BREAKING - Growing Calls for PM Yoon to Resign Following "Sun-Moon Gate"
The Prime Minister faces possible Life Imprisonment as his crimes and corruption come to light, implicating himself and some Imperials

Massive protests have broken out in all major cities, most notably Gongmangdo, as news breaks through leaked confidential sources with footage and camera evidence that Prime Minister of Kingdom of Great Baeguk, Yoon Roun, had been taking bribes and colluding with both senior members of the House of Baek and prominent Draniano conglomerates to illegally sell government contracts and land deeds for real estate development. 

So-called because the Prime Minister was found to host meetings and accept bribes at the Sun-Moon Pavilion near Beonyeong Palace, the revelations have been incredibly shocking and infuriating to a populace that finds itself increasingly crushed under economic inequality and austerity. This came at a time where citizens were protesting and demanding affordable housing and subsidization as lowering real wages and increasing economic exploitation put strains hitherto unseen on the working class.

PM Yoon's known favoritism of the elite classes and Draniano minority only made things first. Baeguk today is the most segregated class society in the world, with the peerage of the KGB currently consisting of 17 entire classes above the common citizen. As people call for his total resignation and trial, increased pushes for Republicanism and the abolition of the nobility system continue to reach a fever pitch.

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The Dankioray
September the Thirteenth, 5645

BCTU Calls General Strike Admist "Sun-Moon Gate" as it Emphasizes Revolutionary Metzism and Republicanism
Organized Labor the Most Powerful and Militant seen in Centuries as Class Conscious Grows Among the Proletariat

The Baegukese Confederation of Trade Unions, the KGB's largest trade union, have called for a General Strike across the nation in response to the breaking of "Sun-Moon Gate" until PM Yoon resigns and is prosecuted for his gross corruption. Workers took to the streets and stopped transport and economic activity today, leading to a state of emergency being declared from the Teal House. Workers and police have begun clashing and many fear escalation until the political crisis is resolved.

The BCTU recently adopted a revolutionary Metzist program just on May Day this year, breaking with decades of previous policy emphasizing political neutrality beyond increased labor rights. This also speaks to the increasing polarization and class consciousness among the working class as far left ideologies and the popularity of Republicanism soars as the economic depression the KGB has been experiencing now for years begins to worsen more and more.

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5646, May 1

大花拜國 禮部
Jils Puebloran de Ministerio de Pénara de Reino
Иты̄ Гӯлдымэ̄ткӣтин Бэегу Ирактабилэн
Ministry of Official Affairs of the Kingdom of Great Baeguk (MOA)

CROWN PRINCE ASSASSINATED, CROWN PRINCESS DECLARED REGENT AND
GIVEN EMERGENCY POWERS
In a heinous Communist terrorist attack on the Kingdom, a Metzist assassin shot His Imperial Majesty Crown Prince Baek Hanseong as he and Her Imperial Highness Crown Princess Taeyang Seoyeon were riding through Gongmangdo. Crown Princess Seoyeon was immediately given supreme political power and suspended the Senate and the constitution.

Instead, as Supreme Head of the state and commander in chief of the armed forces, Crown Princess Seoyeon will administer the KGB by unilateral decree until the Communist menace has been crushed. Attempting to obstruct the just and harmonious rule of law will be punishable by summary execution.

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Terran Journal of Humanitarian Studies
5647.5.1

Baeguk one year into Rule By Decree - Secret Police, Depression, and Poverty
The once-liberal state has become effectively a one-woman dictatorship as citizens face abuse by an ever-invasive security apparatus

It has been one year since the infamous murder of Baeguk's Crown Prince Baek Hanseong by a rogue communist, which threw the liberal semi-constitutional monarchy into chaos and paranoia. On that dark day, his widow, Crown Princess - now Princess Regent - Taeyang Seoyeon assumed supreme political powers and began the infamous rule by decree in the country. She jusfitied her position as regent to protect her 4 year old son fathered by prince Hanseong and the new Crown Prince, Baek Sehyeon. The KGB has since suspended the rule of law, the constitution, and the legislature as the entire nation is now a one-woman dictatorship. The KGB now sports incredibly limited human rights - one of the least accounted for in Western Dovani - as the secret police, the Imperial Intelligence Agency (IIA), have begun a political reign of terror under the auspices of the Princess Regent that has caused incredible concern internationally as well as dissent domestically.

Average citizens of the KGB can no longer leave the country without express permission, although confidential testimonies reveal a widespread dissatisfaction and paranoia among the suffering people. The IIA regularly hold grueling interrogations with citizens and invade their private domiciles and personal lives. Nobody can go a week without at least one incident, as police brutality and torture reports are beginning to emerge. Even the military, the Royal Army of Bae, have become heavily monitored as they have become sidelined and replaced in government by the intelligence apparatus.

Economic depression characteristic of that nation  - declining and stagnating for decades before a rapid crash just under a decade ago - continues to rise as it becomes a playground for the rich to waddle in impunity as the poor are crushed under the state jackboot. Draniano elites continue to hold onto a ridiculously disproportionate amount of national wealth as the Kyo working masses are crushed under state brutality and those narrow cruelties of hypercapitalism mixed with feudalist social orders.

Nonetheless, even as the streets appear clean and orderly, under the close watch of the IIA, the BCTU and the Worker's Party of Dranea - the largest and most militant socialist republican "terrorist group" in the nation - continue to have enduring popularity as their connections are believed to be growing. One can only wonder how long the charade can last between the nation erupts into an existential political crisis, but there can be no doubt that without detente and a lifting in the tight authoritarian rule of the Princess Regent this crisis is sure to materialize.

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DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC DECLARED - IMPERIALS FLEE TO CHANGTAE ISLAND
Author: Yiri Minseok
5648.7.27

VICTORY for the working masses of Dranea was achieved gloriously today as the Worker's Party of Dranea, led by Comrade Buyeo Garam, seized the Teal House and Jesu Palace in Gongmangdo and proclaimed the Democratic People's Republic of Dranea. The Kyo people have risen up and dealt a total and utter defeat to their oppressors!

The despot Taeyang Seoyeon and her imperialist running dogs were confirmed to have fled to Changtae Island where she shall surely be overthrown soon by the Changtae proletariat, finally ending the reign of terror she instigated following the just liquidation of her late husband, Baek Hanseong, the head of the old aristocratic semi-feudalist capitalist liberal order established in 5300 following the victory of the reaction over our comrades. However, they could not keep the working Kyo people under their boots forever, and finally history has proven the theory of the party correct as a truly democratic people's republic has been birthed for the entire Kyo people!

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Terran Journal of Humanitarian Studies
5650.7.27

North, West, and East DMZ Established, Bringing End to Brutal Civil War in Baeguk
The Kingdom of Great Baeguk has finally entered a state of stalemate following the conclusion of negotiations between the old Imperial house, the Communist government in Taedo, and the new liberal self-proclaimed "Republic of Dankuk" in the western regions of the nation. Yet, this peace will be a much different situation from the centuries of unification preceding it. Indeed, for the first time in ages the Dan Peninsula has once more become divided between rival realms of influence, as neither of the three sides of the civil war - the monarchist "Whites", the communist "Reds", and the liberal "Blues" - have managed to solidify their control of the nation. 

Representatives from Gongmangdo, Seongtaek, and Taedo instead met on neutral ground in the city of Ganga to formally divide the peninsula between their three governments, realizing that further martial combat appeared fruitless. The demilitarized zones planned at the conference follow the battle lines that have been fielded between the three powers. From today, the Baegukese people are no longer united under a single banner, but now belong to fractured and competing administrations divided along military lines.

This remains the same land and with the same people. However, the playing field has shifted dramatically. The once-prospering and borderline idyllic metropolis of Gongmangdo, following decades of decline, stagnation, and riots, finally burst into flame, terror, and destruction during the chaos of the 5648 revolution. Although the communists were quickly repulsed away from the capital in 5648 by royalist troops as their coup largely failed in the south, violence remained. The city is a far cry from its former self, with years of reconstruction needed ahead of it.

Politically too the administration of the nation has changed. Stripped of the last vestiges of "democracy" that had been fading in the years past, the south and KGB remnants have fallen completely to the rule of military dictatorship and martial law. General Eulji Gaeul has taken authoritarian measures under military rule including the institution of capital punishment, the suspension of habeas corpus and the constution, and universal curfews, reasserting complete state control on a level not previously seen since the enthronment of Emperor Gwangjo. The Crown Princess, nominally provisional Head of State, has not returned to the mainland since she was forced to flee by the initial communist revolution. She remains secluded and ruling by decree from her palace on Changtae island, with limited contact to the outside world. The Imperial Family remain far away from the suffering of the common people as they are in hiding for safety concerns, the exact type of separation that first led to the Communist takeover.

In the North the seeds of revolution have blossomed into the fanatic Democratic People's Republic of Dranea. The Worker's Party has taken complete control of the reins of political power, seizing the means of production and beginning to build a planned economy. As the inheritors of the bulk of Baeguk's geothermal and hydroelectric power sources, as well as half the population and approximately two thirds of the landmass of the nation, the communists stand to benefit from an industrialized and centralized economy. However, food will need to be imported rapidly from foreign lands, as arable land is insufficient to maintain the over-20 million population of the DPRD. Having a people under the rule of feudalism for over 300 years, the DPRD has immediately begun revolutionary and destructive social campaigns aimed at eradicating oppressive thought so that a proletarian dictatorship can blossom. Speech has been altered to have but two formal registers, all noble titles have been abolished and aristocratic properties seized, and common citizens are forced to attend rigid ideological classes and self-criticism sessions where they must learn to praise the party above all else.

The shortlived "People's Republic of Namgu" was declared near Haegi province and initially aligned itself with the DPRD. However, local forces under General Park Bawi moved without authorization to "liquidate" "traitorous cabals of greed and capitalist exploitation" in the city of Sinsu. Revolutionary mobs indiscriminately massacred Draniano communities, the most wealthy, and set fire to historic cathedrals and buildings emblematic of Egelian and Draniano culture. The Bishop of Sinsu, the head of the Draniano Church, was dragged out into the streets and publicly killed. Body after body piled up into the streets. The unspeakable carnage of the massacres there ultimately lead their fellow revolutionaries to move against Sinsu. The PRN was merged into the DPRD and General Park Bawi would ultimately be tried and executed for war crimes. Nonetheless, Haegi remains in complete disarray, with many historic buildings and districts of Sinsu being utterly decimated.

The western "Republic of Dankuk" remains isolated. An odd coalition of everyone from disgruntled and disillusioned left-wing revolutionaries to bourgeois business elites escaping the communists and the military regime of the south, the Republicans have held together and defeated the odds of many spectators that they would be subsumed by the Whites or the Reds. Doubtless it was a windfall of good luck, yet effective military and logistic reform on the backbone of professional administrators, civil servants, and local military units refusing to take part in the White Terror may have been their true superpower and saving grace. The Republican government boasts the most former civilian officials of any faction, including more than half of the now-dissolved Parliament. Seongtaek now claims to represent the democratic dream of free-fighters everywhere, calling back to the glory days of the 5300s-5500s where civic responsibility combnied with duty led to one of the most prosperous eras in Baegukese history. The monarchists, they assert, have failed the people by allowing themselves to grow corrupt, treacherous, and authoritarian. The social contract of monarchy that dominated in Baeguk - that of a strong monarch uniting the country around benevolent governance- is being rapidly exhumed from the mindsets of West Draneans, as they call themselves, in favor of new Republican ideologies ranging from national conservatism to democratic socialism. The current ruling party, the Socialist Workers Party, once preached socialism but has been radically moving torwards the center to gain the confidence of business elites and industrialists, who have fled the north and south in search of freedom. It appears that pragmatism may rule this most unusual of nations that has emerged from the split.

Perhaps the greatest loser of the 2-year-long civil conflict were the Draniano Church, more broadly, the "Draniano" elite class of Baegukese society. Dranianos were a Draniano-speaking ethnolinguistic group that had, since 5300, composed a relatively small but socioeconomically and politically incredibly powerful minority in the KGB. Of the top 1% of income earners in the KGB, 47% were Dranianos, and they benefited from close-knit exclusive circles as well as government-sponsored affirmative action. Their incredible influence and affluence, seemingly on the backs of the toiling Kyo supermajority, earned them the deadly ire of communists and revolutionaries, making every Draniano a target upon the breakout of violence. Since the Sinsu massacre, the Draniano Church have been utterly destroyed. Banned in both the North and South, a splinter faction have in emerged in Seongtaek, but the killing of the Arch-Bishop has shocked the organization as all of its assets and wealth have been seized by the communists. Bereft of significant following or ethnic compatriots, the remaining Dranianos that have not been murdered are scattered and seeking assimilation.

The nobles in Gongmangdo too, former benefactors of the Draniano class, have since turned against them as the Crown Princess' reign of "white terror" has under Eulji Gaeul too began to target and liquidate Draniano identity. The speaking of Draniano, labeled as anti-national and potentially insidious, has been punished severely as aggressive assimilation has been promoted. Even in West Dranea, whose government has not yet taken any measures towards Dranianos, the air of fear has led those of the ethnicity to begin masking as Kyo. No doubt the memory of the massacres in Sinsu has made it plain to any remaining Dranianos that it is not safe to openly practice their culture, and that assimilation may be neccessary for survival. Many fear this may be the final liquidation of the post-colonial Draniano identity, which has been steadily eroding for years against the ever-increasing tide of Kyo dominance. 

No doubt the world breathes a sigh of relief as the massacres in the Dan Peninsula come to a close. Yet, as the damage done becomes apparent, Terra hangs her head and shudders with sobs.

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Terran Journal of Humanitarian Studies
5650.8.07

North Dranean Regime Refuses to Allow International Humanitarians to Inspect Sinsu: The Massacre 2 Years On
It was approximately 2 years ago that the infamous Sinsu Massacre occurred in Baeguk's Haegi province, now firmly under the control of the Democratic People's Republic of Dranea (DPRD).

During the tumultuous events of 5648, mass violence and populist outrage swept the KGB as the ancien regime's repressive grip on power finally tumbled. For years, to combat the exact revolutionary zeal that had now broken free, the imperial government had committed heinous acts of terror and violated countless civil liberties in an attempt to quash and snuff out communist radicalism. Instead, it only made them stronger and angrier. Labor organizations shifted from demanding economic change to rabid extremism, many calling for the liquidation of capitalists and the Draniano community altogether. 

Sinsu was in many ways a natural target for the rioters. Considered one of Baeguk's financial capitals, Sinsu had by far the highest population of Dranianos in the nation, and in such a great proportion they comprised a majority of the metropolis - a feat distinguished by only that primary-administrative-level city alone. The city had become a center of inequality and privilege, famous for a wealth gap unsurpassed in the nation, even by Gongmangdo or Seongtaek. Whilst practically every Draniano citizen lived wealthy and fat, the working class - almost all Kyo - felt increasingly pinched and cut off, starved and crushed under the weight of capitalism.

Furthermore, Sinsu was also the capital of the Draniano Church (officially the Universal Church in Baeguk), the same church that allowed so many Dranianos to grow rich and gain tax exempt status and have special privileges in the imperial government and prestige in society, an entire organization whose very being was linked to the historical ascendance and economic supremacy of the Dranianos.

Thusly, in the August of 5648, just weeks following the seizure of power regionally by the Sinsu Commune, General Park Bawi made the fateful decision to round up local battalions loyal to the communists and to agitate mass gangs near Sinsu. They began their assault 11:37 AM local time by raiding the Cathedral of St. Onan, the most holy site in Draniano Hosianism and the theological and political seat of the Draniano church. Following an extensive exchange of fire with the Egelian Guard, the personal bodyguards and military force of the church, the Archbishop was captured and promptly publicly executed. It was shocking to the local population and a premonition of the massacre to come.

All traffic outside the city ceased; those found traveling without the auspices of the new revolutionary center were jailed and in many times tortured or even killed if they were suspected of being Draniano. Reviolutionary mobs began to advance alongside soldiers of the proclaimed People's Republic of Namgu (PRN), indiscriminately targeting and massacring the Draniano community. A common shibboleth given was to ask civilians to pronounce the word for "person" (saram); Draniano accents would typically say the initial consonant as "z" instead of "s" (zara), and would also usually drop the last "m" altogether. No doubt, a considerable amount of "innocents" - this is to say, non-Dranianos - were slaughtered alongside the innocent Dranianos, but this bloodlust seemed only to fuel the rioters. Seeing the carnage in a sickening capacity as a way to alleviate themselves of the burdens of the years and years of exploitation many of the working class had had at the majority-Draniano capitalist elite, for weeks on end soldiers of the People's Army went around murdering any deemed counter-revolutionaries.

Practically every Draniano place of worship had been burnt to the ground, and failing these methods artillery and mortars were employed to devastate the masonry until they were reduced to piles of ash. Fires burned in many streets for days as flames consumed the traditional, well-kept edifices of the elite palaces - priceless oak and mahogany facades, proud Draniano traditions - all destroyed. 

Needless to say, when reports of the massacre reached the Communist headquarters, party elites were horrified and immediately ordered General Park to stop. However, the PRN government refused and had indeed instead chosen to mobilize further units across Haegi province to loot and murder and carry out this final solution. When negotiations broke down, the Kyo People's Army was forced to consolidate and turn against their former allies in Haegi. It is very likely, many analysts agree, that this communist infighting was one of the unique strokes of luck that allowed both the southern rump regime and the western liberal government to survive what should have been a communist takeover.

The final advance of the Kyo People's Army on the besieged PRN-controlled Sinsu led to the final tragic chapter of the event. General Park refused to surrender, meaning that PRN soldiers began to take any they could with them to the grave. By the pacification of Sinsu, the city stood in absolute ruins. 

The resulting death toll is unknown due to the lack of field evidence, but the higher estimates put it well in the tens of thousands, potentially even hundreds. Satellite imagery of the area during the massacre showed streets piling with bodies and streets running red with blood. Imagery also shows that practically every major historical colonial and Draniano landmark has since been destroyed. The most devastating of these all has been the loss of the Cathedral of St. Onan, the holiest site in Baeguk's home-grown form of Hosianism. 

Now, 2 years later, the communist government has since rebuilt - but far from replacing the buildings in proper Draniano style, socialist-typified granite housing and soulless collectivist boulders of concrete have risen up instead. Nary a trace of the old spirit of Sinsu has been left, all buried under mounds of ash and the new Communist city that stands today.

Humanitarian organizations remain unable to access the Haegi province area. Whilst international health and food aid organizations have been permitted to set up centers and distribution networks in Taedo, the capital, transparency remains elusive and these centers are cut off from the DPRD's rural areas, leaving little in the way of recording the conditions of the rural countryside or of Sinsu. Whilst state-controlled and strictly regulated tours of the other cities - Ilbae in Rokgi province, for instance - have been permitted, as of yet Sinsu remains undocumented. 

The world shudders to think what may be occurring across the iron curtain being erected by the Worker's Party across northern Baeguk, where accountability and human rights are nothing and loyalty to the regime is everything.

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The Dankioray
February the Thirteenth, 5714

Gongmangdo, Seongtaek Form Personal Union Under the Hongje Emperor
Long-Awaited Negotiations Signal More Unified Peninsula, but Northern Aggression Looms Large

The Kingdom of Great Baeguk has officially signed a Treaty of Mutual Understanding with the Seongtaek Government, which has for nearly a century attempted to maintain separate independence from Gongmangdo. This marks the culmination of the Empire's strategy of pursuing friendly relations on the peninsula and rejuvenating the Baegukese nation. 

Under the provisos of the treaty,  The Empire will be reorganized as a confederation between the South, the North, and Changtae as separate realms sharing a united defense, economy, diplomacy, and civic identity under the Imperial House.  

Border checks between the South and West will end, with common citizenship to be created. Free transit and commerce will be permitted between the two realms. The President of West Baeguk will be allowed to remain as Head of Government in his realm, provided the unconditional recognition of His Majesty the Emperor as supreme sovereign and Head of State.

This treaty is a step forward in the complete reunification of the peninsula, following the Agreement to Form a Common Currency 8 years ago, also between the West and South, as well as the South-North Roknam Corridor territorial exchange 14 years ago. Now that the West and South have ceased to co-exist as sovereign entities, it is only a matter of time before the entirety of the Baegukese nation is united under His Majesty the Emperor.