General Mung Beans
Banned
If Korea pulled a Meiji and became a powerful Westernized empire similar to Japan where would it expand to? Would it annex Manchuria, Pacific islands, Formosa, Japan, Siam, where?
Manchuria is indeed likely. Perhaps Formosa too. I guess we'd see a Sino-Korean War (with Korea trying to be released from Qing suzerainty and ending their status as a tribute state) as an equivalent to OTL's Sino-Japanese War with a more or less similar outcome. I wonder what will happen if Japan still pulls a Meiji in TTL as well. Then we'd have two Asian tigers competing for influence.
If Korea pulled a Meiji and became a powerful Westernized empire similar to Japan where would it expand to? Would it annex Manchuria, Pacific islands, Formosa, Japan, Siam, where?
If Korea pulled a Meiji and became a powerful Westernized empire similar to Japan where would it expand to? Would it annex Manchuria, Pacific islands, Formosa, Japan, Siam, where?
The most likely avenue of expansion is to the north and west, into Manchuria and possibly Siberia/northern china. Formosa serves little purpose and has the minor obstacle of Kyushu directly interdicting your lines of communication, no reason to go for the Pacific islands, Japan is almost certainly to strong to conquer, and Siam is a laughable idea.
The problem is that Korea is going to have very limited options as long as its neighbors have even pretensions to power. The only real route to conquest is to try to grab Manchuria while the Qing decay and before the Russians can interfere. But Korea also has to watch its back, as historical and political rival Japan is threatening its flank. A stronger Korea probably deters Japan from adventures into China, meaning that it will focus north (Kurils and Sakhalin) and south (probably tries to snatch the Phillippenes at some point). But once its neighbors reach Korea, this Korean empire lacks any real prospects for further expansion and is forced into a delicate balancing act.
Yanbian (number 9) is 45% the Size of South Korea. Population is 2.2 Million and those of Korean Stock make up 38.76%. In the 1950's it use to be 60%. Tumen City in Yanbian, near the border with N. Korea, has a population of 136000 and 57% Korean. It seems many Koreans migrated to China in the 1800's and when the Japanese invaded.Yanbian is designated as an autonomous prefecture due to the large number of ethnic Koreans living in the region. The prefectural capital is Yanji, and the area is 42,700 km².
If so they'd most likely be rivals. Which European powers would Korea ally with and which European powers would Japan ally with?