Hwangchu

The Grand Kingdom of Hwangchu, known commonly as the Kingdom of Hwangchu or Hwangchu, is a country in North East Kesh on the straits to the Eurybian Sea. The country consists of a mainland as well as a number of islands, notably the island of Sangeon as well as many others. The Kingdom is bordered with the hostile Empire of Selengaria to it's south as well as the Eurybian Sea to the north and the Sakheda Bay to the east. The country consists of 281,400 square kilometers divided into 23 prefectures, 5 metropolitan cities and 3 independent prefectures. The country has a population of 78,247,812 according to the 2020 census of which nearly 1/3 live in the Ochae Metropolitan area.

The Kingdom of Hwangchu is a based on a  divided into the House of Lords and House of Deputies. The largest city of the country is Ochae with over 9 million in the city and a further 10 million in the metropolitan area. The capital itself is the city of Seulgwang, a major financial and shipping centre due to it's location on the straits into the Eurybian Sea. Other major cities include the metropolitan cities of Puljeon, Sanjeong and Gwangje as well as the Prefecture capitals of Osei and Changgwen.

The country has evolved through a series of annexations, colonisations and various other events would eventually culminate in the creation of the State of Hwangchu (1863-1927) under King Po Won-Shik in the 1860s after having deposed their colonial rulers. The State of Hwangchu was deposed in 1927 by General Im Kwang and the Army leading to the creation of the Republic of Hwangchu (1927-1983), a with the Kings as figureheads and which kept power through various coups and a brutal repressive state police force, the Daekson. The State of Hwangchu heavily regulated freedoms in the country but encouraged masses of foreign investment as well as heavily investing in it's port industries and creating a robust shipbuilding and global trading financial centre. The fast developing Hwangchu of the 1940s also created a state where being smart was the best trait a person could have, education becoming a core investment for the country seeking to monopolise on it's lack of natural resources.

This would eventually culminate in a class of people who became disenfranchised with the military dictatorship which would eventually culminate in the Yellow Riots, a nationwide riot against the government for their repressive nature and the lack of a proper democracy. This was taken advantage by General Tan Shin-Il and elements of the Hwangchuan Army, the State of Hwangchu being toppled by him and him creating the Kingdom of Hwangchu with the first elections being held in 1984. The country quickly embraced democracy, having spend years under the yoke of the dictatorship leading to it becoming on of the most advanced democracies on Kesh by the 2010s with high levels of press freedom in the region.

The country is amongst the most advanced in East Kesh and hold highest life expectancy as well as a dense system of infrastructure including high speed rails and cities maglev trains. The country, however, is defined militarily with it's relationship with it's south neighbour Selengeria. Selengeria's aggression in the region and territorial disputes has led to Hwangchu investing heavilg in it's armed forces and consisting of a large modern army with a comparable reserve force. The country spends 4.6% of it's GDP on it's defence, notably on it's navy which it uses to protect the vital shipping lanes that Hwangchu relies on for it's foreign exports and imports as well as for allowing foreign vessels to pass through. Hwangchu is also known for it's rugby team, the Hwangchu National Rugby Team is world renown for it's aggressiveness and tactical acumen having money many trophies and being the dominant force on Kesh in the worldwide rugby scene as well as it's women's football team which is widely considered to be one of the most capable in the world.

Government
The Kingdom of Hwangchu is a under a  with a. The current Queen is Gyeon Mee-Yeon acts as head of state having succeeded her father, Gyeon So-Jung, who died suddenly only 2 years into his reign. The constitution of the country is uncodified, being based on statutes, treaties and various written sources dating back to the Kingdom of Cheon-gil during the 16th Century. Parliament is able to pass constitutional reform known as the acts of the crown and retains the political power to abolish any element of the constitution whether written or unwritten.

Parliament itself is made up of 2 houses, the House of Lords is the upper house and consists of the aristocratic classes that were retained during the Republic period whilst the House of Deputies is the elected legislative body with Deputies being elected during elections. Business of parliament primarily takes place in these 2 houses with bills being made by the government needing to pass through both houses before reaching the Queen where she gives her gaehay in order for the bill to become an act of the houses (law). Whilst officially, the Queen is permitted to refuse any bill she does not like by not giving it her gaehay, the monarch's diminished power has meant that no monarch since the formation of the Kingdom has ever denied a bill to become an act of house. The country is divided into 720 districts of which each district is represented by a Deputy. These Deputies hold their positions for 4 years and can be re-elected during general elections. The People's Party, the People for Strength and Unity, the Steel Front and the Democratic People's Party are the largest parties respectively and hold the first, second, third and fourth highest amount of MPs respectively. In Hwangjian Politics, it's not unusual for coalitions to be formed with 3 of the 9 governments that have existed in Hwangchun being made up of coalition governments. Previously, the Kingdom was dominated by the 4 major parties, however recently there has been a surge in the popularity of smaller parties such as the Ochean People's Union or the Hangil League which has lead to increasingly more contested elections every 4 years.

The head of government is the Prime Minister, an appointed position by the monarch and traditionally the leader of the largest party/coalition as they are required to lead the confidence of Parliament in order to be the Prime Minuster. The Prime Minister holds various other positions such as Minister for Internal Affairs, First Minister of the Royal Treasury, Minister of the Civil Service and Minister for Sangeon. The Prime Minister also acts as the principal advisor to the monarch and is required to regualrly meet with them to update them on the political situation. Prime Ministers also have other duties such as recommending the appointment of ministers to the monarch and also chairing the cabinet.

The current Prime Minister is Seok Wyung-Dae, leader of the People's Party, who leads a coalition of the Steel Front and The People's Party along with various other small parties such as the Ochean People's Union, the Sangeon Socialist Front and various other smaller parties. His Vice Prime Minister is leader of the Steel Front, Hae He-Ran.

General elections are the primary way in which Prime Ministers come to power, they're held every 4 years and involve a 4 week period where Parliament is dissolved in order to prepare for a new government. During this period, no parliamentary business may be done and the Deputies cease their duties in order to await the election results. Candidates are stood at each district in order to become the Deputy for that distract. Candidates may stand for a party or may run as an independent, although almost all successful candidates are part of a major political party. Hwangchu nationals over the age of 17 are eligible to vote in elections. The party with the highest amount of seats above the minimum of 380 is then invited to form the government and if a party does not meet the requirements for 380 seats, it's able to from a coalition with friendly parties in order to reach the threshold of 380. In many cases, these can make a serious difference with the election of 2000 being decided by the coalition between the People for Strength and Unity and the 12 seat obtained by the Sangeon Conservative Union which allowed the minority government that was to be formed to reach 384 seats, 4 above the required 380 to form a majority government.

The largest party/coalition forms the opposition known as Her Highnesses' Most Benevolent Opposition and primarily functions to critique and oppose the views of the government in order to prepare for the next election. The current opposition is led by Moon Jae-Sul who leads the People for Strength and Unity in coalition with the Hangil League.

Economy
Hwangchu's mixed economy is amongst the most robust on the Kesh continent and qualifies as a highly developed and high-income country. The country is well known for it's advanced electronics products such as Daehwan Electronics, however Korea itself mostly exports cars with Hwangjian Cars being world renowned for their affordable hatchbacks. Another major industry noted is the shipbuilding industry, Hwangjian Shipbuilding companies have an approximately 37% market share in new orders. This mixture of advanced electronics investment and traditional manufacturing led to Hwangchu able to develop an advanced mixed economy reliant on international trade from which it was able to transition into the 21st Century.

Although robust now, the State of Hwangchu of the 1800s was deeply poor as a result of the few natural resources in the region. This would be changed during when the industrial revolution eventually reached Hwangchu in the 1910s which led to the creation of the first factories in the country. The Republic of Hwangchu heavily invested in it's industrial capabilities, stripping traditional farmers of their land and introducing nationwide rationing in order to stimulate economic growth. Subsidies offered by the government led to the formation of companies such as Daehwan as well as Cheungal and Osuan Industries who remain major players in the econcomy of Hwangchu. This economic growth fell off in the 1930s and 40s when major food shortages led to mass famine which required the government to spend much money on importing food from overseas as well as demolishing factories to build new farms. This was also what lead to the nation investing heavily in it's education, blasting state propaganda into the people in order to make them value their child's education more. This would eventually lead to Hwangchu having one of the most educated populous in the world. During the 1970s, the advent of Daehwan Shipbuilding as well as the increasing prominence of electronics led Hwangchu to offering subsidies and low to foreign companies in order to invest in the region and reducing their tariffs to foreign nations which helped stimulate masses of imports to the nation via shipping. This, along with the strong manufacturing base and the highly educated citizenry, would lead to an explosion in economic development in the 1970s and 80s with the highest recorded economic growth of 12.6% being recorded in 1981. This allowed Hwangchu to reduce it's foreign debt massively, a trend which remains in the 21st Century. When the Republic was overthrown by the new Kingdom of Hwangchu, the economy had since stagnated to around 2.3% on average over the last 4 years which led to a new shift in the economy. Services were now becoming more prevalent with banking and financial trading taking centre stage from traditional manufacturing. Despite this, automobile and shipbuilding industry remained extremely strong in the 1990s as well as the increasingly prominent armaments industry with Daehwan Heavy Industries and Bujun Systems investing heavily in creating domestic arms for the Hwangjian Military as well as exporting to foreign nations around the world. Tourism of the 2000s also became of increasing prominence as the governments of the Kingdom began investing in restoring old landmarks and locations of the State of Hwangju and various other Kingdoms of the past which had became derelict under the regime of the Republic.

Hwangchu retains a free-market economy with only a few state owned companies of which most notably is the Hwangjian Housing Corporation which controls the state owned public houses where most people in the nation live. The largest companies include the Daehwan Corporation, the Cheungal Conglomerate and Osuan Industries. Hwangchu is known for it's market stability, a mixture of low debt and extremely high fiscal reserves means that the government is freely able to respond to economic crises easily, most notably seen in the Hwangjian Financial Crash of 2005. This had led to a country which relies heavily on both imports and exports as well as foreign investment thanks to it's market stability. Despite this, the country's credit rating as well as it's consumer confidence is regularly affected by the military flareups between it and it's neighbours that occur ever few years. Something that the government has been attempting to deal with since the creation of the State of Hwangchu.

Sports
Sport in Hwangchu has a massive prominence in society, previously a tool used to control the lower classes by the Republic back in the 1900s, sport has now a major place in government policy and is one of the biggest culture exports of the nation. The most popular and financially successful sports include:, , , and various. The national sport of the nation is which was invented by Colonel Jeong Duck-Young in the 1950s as a military exercise for recruits to the prestigious Republican Guard before eventually becoming a national sport.

The largest played game in Korea was polled in 2014 to be football with 43% of the population interested in football with the Rugby League coming close behind with 32% saying they were interested in Rugby. Sports is required by the federal curriculum with the most popular sport amongst boys being rugby with 65% of all school boys between 8-17 taking the sport whilst amongst girls it was football with 54% of girls between 8-17 similarly taking the sport. Leagues in Hwangchu is organised by the Ministry of Sport with the organisation between the major sports of Rugby and Football being fairly similar. Youth leagues are amongst the most notable cultures of the region with schools regularly taking part in these leagues against one another for glory.

Football in Hwangchu is divided into 4 professional federal leagues with semi-professional leagues being managed by the Prefecture Governments. The top tier X League is the most prestigious of these leagues and occupies the top of the pyramid, the X League is a big export in the local region with competition between the clubs being extremely prevalent. The X League itself is funded by a mixture of state and private investment, previously the X League (known before during the Republic as the First League) was a wholly government run affair. This meant that many teams were run by government organisations such as the Ohsae Lions who were financed and sponsored by the Army whilst the most successful team, Puljeon United, was financed and sponsored by the Daekson. This was highly controversial in the nation as the government traditionally controlled who won the league and affected the results of each season through a mixture of bribing officials, government sanctioned doping, government pressure on opponent teams and various other measures. These were unveiled during the revolution of 1983 when it became apparent just how much power that various state apparatus had over the control of the league's clubs. Following reforms in the 1990s, football came back to the forefront with the X League becoming prominent in East Kesh.

Rugby in Hwangchu was similarly divided into state leagues and a federal league. The Government runs the Premier League, the top tier of the Rugby League and consists of 16 teams. Rugby is similarly funded by a mixture of private and government investment like football and benefits much as an export to foreign nations. Rugby is a relatively new sport to the public conscience, rugby culture began in the 1970s when it was imported to Hwangchu and became the sport of dissidents to the regime. Rugby was seen as a physical exercise for the brutish by the Republic who were trying to promote football as the ultimate test of a person's intelligence and speed. Rugby games during the 1970s and early 80s was regularly broken up by Republic Police and ruby organisations were banned under law with multiple dissident players being imprisoned and a few even being executed. Rugby did not become an official sport with federal backing until 1985 when the Federal League and the various Prefecture Leagues were formed.