2300AD: The Problem with Manchu

So we settle the 'Manchurian Question' by labeling it 'Imperial China'. Fair enough.
In regards to Korea, didn't the Two Koreas unify during the Twilight period? I don't have the books directly handy but I recall reading that. I would imagine that such a state would be controlled by the traditional capitol of Seoul but that Korean society would become more authoritarian and 'right-wing' with absorbing so many PRK citizens. Not quite Socialist, but definitely more conforming. Fewer professional gamers and K-Pop otakus and more focus on work, education and other 'approved outlets'.
And now that I bring it up, a constant concern of Korea 2300AD will be the re-militarization of Japan. South Koreans dislike the PRC, but they reserve a very special hatred for the Japanese. The only thing that keeps that in check currently is the PRC's open sponsorship of the PRK. There's a lot of unaddressed bad blood from the multiple medieval invasions from the Japanese and the occupation of Korea between Wars One and Two.
 
Korean unification occurred in the mid-21st century.

Both Koreas collapsed during the Twilight War, but the south recovered quicker, with Japanese investment. In the mid-21st century North Korea simply accepted unification in return for Japan helping rebuild the country. Ca. 2100 the Manchurians backed a coup and installed a puppet regime which nationalised all the Japanese investments in the country. Since then Korea has been a satellite of Manchuria, and the Koreans are apparently okay with that.
 
There are two reasons that Japan has had an occasional go at conquering Korea.

It's the obvious, and only viable, route, for expansion.

Control the invasion route into Japan.

Natural resources being a bonus.

The third, rather ambitious, being an invasion beachhead into China.
 
Condottiere said:
There are two reasons that Japan has had an occasional go at conquering Korea.

It's the obvious, and only viable, route, for expansion.

Control the invasion route into Japan.

Natural resources being a bonus.

The third, rather ambitious, being an invasion beachhead into China.
Click to expand...
And in the Sengoku period, it wasn't so much 'expansion'. Nobunaga invaded Korea with the daimyo and clans that were most 'rambunctious'... those who still thought that they could conquer their neighbors with impunity. Inasmuch as Oda Nobunaga spent the last 15 years of his reign trying to stabilize Japanese society and politics, he needed to give these ambitious warlords an outlet. And if that got a few of them killed [and it did] so much the better.
And, of course, the Koreans never seemed to know that they were conquered. There was constant resistance attacks wherever samurai were encamped. This led to reprisals... of the sort the Japanese reserved for 'barbarians'... and the circle of life continued.
I live in the Pacific Northwest and there is a large population of Koreans here. I'm friends with a couple who came over with their parents in 70s but are as American as I am and they STILL won't shop at a Japanese store or patronize a Japanese restaurant. And the few times they use curse words it's in reference to the Chinese or Japanese.
 
I suspect you're thinking of Hideyoshi.

People better versed in East Asian architectural motifs have pointed out that Oda's new castle had Imperial Chinese insignia, and Nobunaga wasn't renowned for being exactly stable, so the indications would be he was already planning to take over at least some Chinese territory.

Hideyoshi, succeeding Oda, was probably smart enough to understand the message; plus, he had an excess of ambitious Daimyo and samurai, who'd likely would cannibalize the country, who needed to be focussed somewhere else.

Tokugawa seemed more interested in consolidating his power, and as the Korean venture was a failure, that probably blunted a part of the threat to him.
 
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