Korea becoming a world power

ok so i'll take a stab at this (and redefine it as world power at the end of the 20th century)
Korea might possibly hold off the Japanese with Russian help (a Russia that is allied with Germany and against the British). They get German help and 'pull a Meiji' if you will. Come 1914, war breaks out. The war lasts till 1917, and Korea is on the winning side, with Russia and Germany. In the East Asia region, Korea, Russia, and China stop the Japanese from gaining much at all, and they take Formosa. It is given to Korea, as a reward for its helping China. The 20s is a good time economically, like OTL; China prospers, as does Korea. In the early 1930s/late 1920s depression occurs. Revanchism sets in in Japan, and with more force than OTL. The US is neutral between the power blocks of France+Britain+Japan+Turkey and Germany+China+Korea+Russia, as is Italy.
 
To continue, basically Eastern Asia is the powder keg by 1939, and war breaks out when Japan tries to attack the Korean fleet in Formosa. DoWs fly. The US sells to both sides. Austria is bribed to join the war against Germany, as is Spain, with Italy going the other way. Portugal joins France and the Brits. Germany barrels through Belgium, and wins by 1944, with France having to pay monetary damages, and give up Corsica and Savoy to Italy. Korea gets the Ryukyu Islands and major monetary damages, as well as islands in the Korean strait. The US joins the war in late 1943, and within six months there is armistice. The US is rewarded with the Philippines (which finally broke free from the Spanish yolk during the war via a homegrown rebellion), is allowed to make Hawaii a protectorate (it previously being under the sway of Britain), and reparations. Spain soon falls under civil war.
Korea in the time afterwards booms as an economic power, and becomes the premier naval power in the East China Sea, while Japan is weighed down by reparations placed on it (reminiscient of those placed on Germany after Versailes).
 
I think by 1910s, korea will serve as buffer between japan and china, but lack of recognition during ww1 and great depression would mean fascist regime rising in korea. By ww2, Korea is in axis and invades china. Korea has to pay huge reparation and split in two after korea loses ww2.
 
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