Myeonghan Realm
Myeonghan Realm 명한연방 (明韓聯邦) Myeonghan Yeonbang | |
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 Flag
 Coat of arms
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| Motto: 광명천지 光明天地 "Illuminate Heaven and Earth" | |
| Anthem: 애국가 愛國歌 Patriotic Anthem | |
| Status | Active |
| Capital | New Hanseong (mobile) |
| Official languages | Hangul (de jure) Hanmun (de jure) English (de facto) |
| Ethnic groups (2023) | Myeonghan (100%) |
| Religion | Confucianism (state religion) |
| Demonym(s) | Myeonghan |
| Government | Federal parliamentary crowned republic |
• Emperor of the Myeonghans | Seongchi Emperor |
• Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief | Baek Byeong-heon |
| Legislature | Central Assembly |
| Federal Council | |
| House of Representatives | |
| Restoration of the Daehan Empire | |
• Daehan Empire established | 13 October 1897 |
• Constitution of the Daehan Empire promulgated | 17 August 1899 |
• Daehan Empire annexed by Japan | 29 August 1910 |
• Constituent Assembly of the Myeonghan Realm established | 1 June 2023 |
• Accession of the Seongchi Emperor and formation of His Majesty's Government | 12 August 2023 |
• Promulgation of the Constitution of the Myeonghan Realm | 17 August 2023 |
| Population | |
• Estimate | 11 (2024) |
| Currency | Myeonghan Won (de jure), United States dollar (de facto) (USD) |
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy |
Website http://myeonghangov.net/ | |
The Myeonghan Realm (Hangul: 명한연방; Hanja: 明韓聯邦), unofficially Myeonghanea and formerly translated into English as the Koryoan Realm, is an East Asian micronation that adopts Confucianism as its official religion in the context of a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. The Realm is freely formed by people, regardless of ethnicity, who identify with the history, culture, language, customs, and traditions of the Joseon Kingdom and its successor, the Daehan Empire (1392-1910), whom they believe to be the last true Confucian macronation in the "Sojunghwa" ideological tradition. Members of the Myeonghan Realm, not without controversy, consider their Realm to be "a global model of sagely and virtuous governance".
Etymology
“명한연방”, the name of "Myeonghan Realm" in Hangul, literally means "Federation of Illumination and Primacy”. "Myeong"(명) is the name of the Ming Empire, the Joseon Kingdom's closest ally and suzerain. “Han” (한) is a common name of three ancient states in first century BC Korea meaning "primacy", as well as the name the Daehan Empire adopted for itself. In contradistinction to the Daehan Empire, whose Hangul name "대한제국" literally means "Great Korean Empire", the Constituent Assembly has decided to remove the character "great" (대) from the Realm's official name in reflection of its status as a micronation.
Citizens of the Realm are known as "Myeonghans". Invoking Confucian classics, the Myeonghan Realm asserts for itself such honorifics as “Realm of Humaneness and Righteousness” (인의지방), “Realm of Propriety and Etiquette” (예의지방) and “Micronation of Noble Character” (군자지국).
History
Citizens of the Myeonghan Realm generally do not consider their Realm to be a new entity; rather, they claim it to be the micronational continuation of the inactive Daehan Empire, founded by the Gwangmu Emperor, which was considered by the Myeonghan people to be unlawfully occupied by Japanese colonial rule in 1910, but whose succession to the orthodox Way of Confucianism and imperial lineage of the Far East had remained intact, and yet become dormant.
Founder of the Daehan Empire
The authorities of the Myeonghan Realm hold that, following Japan’s defeat in the Second World War, territory it annexed from the Daehan Empire should have been returned to that Empire first. Whether the Confucian imperial monarchy should be revived, and in what form, or abolished, should have been decided by the people of Korea. Yet, the Empire was ignored by the United States and Soviet Union outright, which proceeded to impose secularised forms of republican governments onto the two parts of the Korean Peninsula, in complete disregard of centuries of Confucian religious and monarchical traditions of Korea.
Given the practical impossibility of restoring a Confucian macronational confessional state, individuals who identified themselves as spiritual remnants of the Daehan Empire gathered between June and August 2023 in a Constituent Assembly that resolved to resurrect that Empire—the model Confucian state—as a micronation in order to continue the monarchical lineage and orthodox succession to the Way, and that conserves that Empire’s history, culture, tradition, and customs, within the framework of a modern federal constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. Citizens of the Realm hail from all ethnicities across the world, coalescing into a new "Myeonghan" ethnic group.
The Realm pursues a pragmatic policy towards the Korean Peninsula. It lays no claim over territory controlled by North Korea and South Korea and recognises these member-states of the United Nations as legitimate states whose sovereignty should be respected, notwithstanding the fact that they govern much of the territory ruled previously by the Daehan Empire.
Myeonghans mainly see their Realm as a spiritual refuge for all whose creed is orthodox Confucianism or traditional East Asian values, and as a beacon for the propagation and restoration of the Confucian social order in the future. The establishment of the Realm has also been seen by some of its members as a project of experimental political science to generate practical insights on how Confucianism, one of the oldest and most influential philosophical, political, and religious traditions of the world, but also one that has been unduly under-rated since the 20th century, can be of any relevance to rectifying the problems of, and improving on, modern models of liberal democracy, nowadays characterized by populism, excessive individualism, consumerism, environmental degradation, the disintegration of marriages and families, the rapid drop of birth rates, and the rise of intrusive nanny states.
The Constituent Assembly of the Myeonghan Realm was officially established on June 1, 2023, charged with the responsibility to adopt a new Constitution to replace the over-centralizing Constitution of the Daehan Empire of 1899. The new Constitution draws on diverse sources including Confucian, Neo-Confucian, and Korean Confucian moral texts, international human rights law, the Constitution of Imperial Korea, the 1476 Gyeongguk Daejeon (경국대전), and the Grand Plan (홍범) of Gija, a sagely monarch believed to be a forerunner of Confucianism and thought to have lorded over Ancient Joseon in the 11th Century BC.
On August 12, 2023, the Constituent Assembly proclaimed by public acclamation its convenor Yi Yu-ryak (이유략) of the New Yi clan (신 이씨) as Emperor, and Yi's spouse, Won So-yong (원소용), as Empress Consort. Yi chose "Seongchi" (성치), taken from the chapter bearing the same name from the Confucian Classic of Filial Piety, as his regnal name; Seongchi means "He Who Reigns with Sageliness".
The reigning House of Later Yi, though not biologically related to the House of Yi that historically reigned the Daehan Empire, unilaterally considers that House as its dynastic predecessor and confers on it special respect and ritual precedence. The Constituent Assembly also elected Members of the House of Representatives of the Central Assembly, which in turn elected one of their own, Baek Byeong-heon (백병헌), formerly Chair of the Constituent Assembly, as Interim Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief. Baek officially took office on 17 August 2023, on which the Constitution was promulgated.
Government and Politics
The Constitution describes the Myeonghan Realm as a crowned republic founded on the sagely doctrines of Confucianism, harmonised with contemporary universal principles of democracy, liberty, the rule of law, and constitutionalism. The Realm adopts a federal structure, under which its eight states share power with federal institutions such as His Majesty's Government, the Emperor-in-Central Assembly, the Supreme Court of Justice, and the Constitutional Court.
The Emperor, whose full title is "By the Grace of God, the Emperor of the Myeonghans, Defender of the Way" (황천상제의 은총으로의, 명한연방황제, 왕도 수호자), is a figurehead head of state. He is deprived of all powers to veto legislative bills, Cabinet decisions, judicial rulings, and appointments to the courts, the Office of Prosecutions, and the Commission of Vigilance.
Rather, the Emperor's role is to foster unity among Myeonghans through being a role model in virtuous behaviour for the populace, performing charitable works and Confucian rituals; and promoting the history, culture, traditions, and customs of the Realm to an international audience. The Emperor is advised by a Privy Council consisting of the heads of the executive, legislative, judicial, prosecutorial, and superintendent branches of the federal government, which gathers to discuss all matters relating to the imperial household and the monarch’s discharge of his constitutional duties. The Seongchi Emperor (성치제) (r. 2023-) has thus far maintained impartiality and non-partisanship in the public sphere.
The Phoenix Throne, a physical chair sat upon by the Emperor during ceremonies, is sometimes used rhetorically to denote the monarchy in a metonymic sense. The publicly anticipated enthronement ceremony, also understood by some as the coronation of Emperor Seongchi and Empress Soyong, rich in traditional vestments and Confucian rituals, took place in late August 2024.
Sovereign legislative authority is vested in the Emperor-in-Central Assembly (중추회의에 있어서의 한황), a technical term referring to the Emperor promulgating laws with the advice and consent of the Central Assembly. Because the Emperor has no power to veto bills and resolutions passed by the Central Assembly, this effectively means that supreme law-making power is being placed in the hands of the Central Assembly, which consists of two chambers, the upper chamber being the Federal Council (도의원), which has no meaningful power over federal bills not affecting inter-state relations, and a far more powerful lower chamber, the popularly-elected House of Representatives (민의원).
Effective executive power is vested in a Chief State Counselor of the Realm (영의정대신), commonly known as the Prime Minister (영상), who commands a majority in the House of Representatives of the Central Assembly, heads the federal government, known officially as His Majesty's Government, and serves as commander-in-chief of the security forces of the Realm. The Prime Minister can appoint and dismiss Secretaries of the Realm of the Cabinet at will. However, in principle, it is possible for backbenchers, not only the Opposition, to pass a vote of no-confidence against the Prime Minister or any Secretary of the Realm, which will automatically result in the latter's lost of office.
Despite noticeable similarities between the Myeonghan political system and the Westminster model, the Hangul and Hanja names of Myeonghan federal institutions evince significant continuity with those of Imperial Korea, which, in turn, were heavily inspired by those of the Ming Empire, the last Han Chinese dynasty of China. In line with Neo-Confucian doctrine, literati-officials in the public service within His Majesty's Government (어좌정부), literati-judges within the Constitutional Court (사헌재판소) and the Supreme Court of Justice (평리대법원), literati-procurators within the Office of Prosecutions (검찰청), and literati-censors within the Commission of Vigilance (사간원) are tasked with the responsibility to check and balance excesses of the popularly elected Central Assembly (중추회의) and the indirectly elected His Majesty's Government, so that the latter two institutions would not deviate from the Constitution, as well as the constitutionalised Confucian doctrine of the mean.
However, one non-partisan, independently selected, senior official, the Lord Chancellor (승추원대승지), transcends several branches of government by concurrently serving as Lord President of the Privy Council, Lord President of the Federal Council of the Central Assembly, Secretary of Justice, and Lord President of the Federal Court of Appeal and the Chancery division of Federal High Court of the Supreme Court of Justice, in order to serve as a mediator and facilitator of mutual understanding between these organs of the Realm, and defend the rule of law and judicial independence against all attacks. In January 2024, Muk Yi-lak (목이락), The Duke of Yeongguk (영국공), was appointed to this position for a renewable five-year duration.
Following the example of the Daehan Empire, the Myeonghan Realm considers itself to be a spiritual successor of the Ming Empire's Confucian etiquette during ceremonies, attire, learning and orthodoxy, which in turn could ultimately be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty, under which Confucius and Mencius lived.
There exists within the Realm a constitutional body known as the Supreme Council for the Doctrine of the Sages (유교 최고 평의회), consisting of all Confucian clerics of the Realm, which elects its leader, known as the Supreme Patriarch (대종백) following ancient practice, to serve as the spiritual leader of the Realm, to provide ritual assistance to the Imperial House, to propagate Confucianism across Myeonghan society, and to ensure that all laws and policies are at least minimally compatible with Confucian ethics. In January 2024, Kong Li-man (공리만), The Duke of Yeonseong (연성공), was elected as Supreme Patriarch Jumang Polok (대종백 유망보록) for life, with his seat known as the See of Sage Paul, sometimes abbreviated as the Sagely See, located within The New Seonggyungwan Basilica (신 성균관 대성전). The See was named in honour of Paul Hsu (서광계), a polymath who served as one of the very last Supreme Patriarchs of the Ming Dynasty as well as a defender of Joseon's interests, prior to the Manchu invasion in the mid-seventeenth century.
Political parties
Following the 2023 General Election held on 15 December 2023, Baek Byeong-heon, a Founding Father of the Myeonghan Realm, the incumbent Prime Minister, and leader of the centre-right Constitutionalists, commands the entire voting segment of the House of Representatives of the Central Assembly, in the aftermath of a landslide victory. The non-voting segment consists only of the Lord Speaker, Yang Mun (양문), who has pledged not to vote ordinarily, and even when asked to break a tie, would adhere to the world renowned Speaker Denison's Rule. The other major party in the Realm, the Confucian Social Union, takes a more populist position, but has yet gained substantial electoral support. In reality, therefore, the Realm is run by a dominant party.
| Logo | Name | Ideology | Spectrum | Leader | House of Representatives | Federal Council | ||
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The Constitutionalists
입헌당 (立憲黨) |
IHD | Libertarianism, Militant democracy, Crowned republicanism, Anti-corruption, Fiscal conservatism | Centre-right | Baek Byeong-heon | 3 / 4
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0 / 8
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Confucian Social Union
유교사회연합 (儒教社會聯盟) |
CSU | Social conservatism, Korean Confucianism, Right-wing populism, Myeonghan nationalism, Constitutional monarchism | Right-wing | vacant | 0 / 2
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0 / 8
| |
Administrative Divisions
The Myeonghan Realm primarily exercises personal spiritual, rather than territorial jurisdiction over its citizens. Therefore, the eight states of the Realm, namely, New Gyeonggi, New Gangwon, New Gyeongsang, New Chungcheong, New Jeolla, New Pyongan, New Hamgyong, New Hwanghae, and the capital, New Hanseong, primarily refer to people, namely, their members, instead of actual territories; therefore each of these jurisdictions can be described as "mobile". All states are highly autonomous in matters not reserved by the Constitution to federal institutions, which are responsible for foreign affairs, defence, immigration, the common market, and the like.
Foreign and Defense Policy
The fundamental defense and foreign policy of the Myeonghan Realm is, according to its Constitution, to respect international law, promote peace, and prohibit the invasion of other jurisdictions. Nonetheless, if the federal government of the Realm judges that the Realm is being threatened by foreign aggression, it would strictly enforce the ancient Confucian military doctrine of Jon-hwang-yang-i (존왕양이) (‘Revere the Emperor and Expel the Barbarians’) until victory is attained. The Constitution establishes the Bibyeonsa Security Council (최고비변사안전회의) within His Majesty's Government, chaired by the Prime Minister as Commander-in-Chief, whose responsibility is to protect the right of Myeonghans to a secure micronation.
As at May 2024, the Myeonghan Realm has concluded treaties that established diplomatic relations with ten micronations, namely, the Karno-Ruthenian Empire, the Aerican Empire, the State of Lasetia, the State of Hokoria, the Republic of Ceneda, the Free Nation of New Athens, the Kingdom of All São Paulo of the Fields of Piratininga, the Kingdom of Eintrachtia, the Empire of Yata, the Empire of Imvrassia, and the Duchy of Marienbourg. The development of diplomatic relations does not necessarily imply that the Myeonghan Realm agrees with every policy or statement made by the above micronations.
Economy
The Realm is constitutionally required to adopt an "effortless" style of governance, keeping laws at a minimum, taxes at a low level, and trade policy always free and open, while encouraging societal associations, clans, and families to take up greater responsibility in ordering their own affairs, including the cultivation of moral virtues and providing social services and assistance to citizens.
Much of the economy is dominated by the Realm's single conglomerate, the chaebol (재벌) Samhan Group (삼한그룹), of which Min Jung-ho (민정호), an influential businessman and member of The Constitutionalists, is chairman.
Culture
Myeonghan identity is defined not by blood but by cultural identification and recognition. Myeonghans are prideful of Joseon's traditional attire, their inheritance of the Confucian orthodoxy of the Way through Ming China, the last of all "civilised" imperial dynasties of East Asia, which was conquered by whom they the Myeonghans, like their Joseon forebearers, regarded as the “barbaric” Manchus, according to the Confucian doctrine of Hua-Yi distinction.
Since the Manchu Empire refused to wholly abandon its "barbaric" ways, such as the mandatory order that males of all ethnicities must shave bald their foreheads and wear long pigtails behind their heads, and wear nomadic dress, its emperors, on the Myeonghan view, could not be regarded as legitimate successors to the orthodox lineage of Han, Tang, Song, and Ming emperors. The Myeonghan Realm considers the Daehan Empire to be a rump state of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644/1662), from which it received the mandate of heaven. Consequently, the culture of the Daehan Empire inherited by the Myeonghan Realm is deeply influenced by traditional Korean culture and by the cultural achievements of the Ming, which included lacquers, new genres of novels, porcelains, paintings, and textiles of high sophistication.
Hangul is an official language of the Realm, though, as in the Joseon Kingdom, official legal and policy documents are written in the classic Chinese script, known as Hanja. English remains the most widely spoken and written language on a daily basis.
See also
- Empire of Korea
- Ikerlandian Republic of Korea
- North Dutch Korea
- United Kingdom of Corea
- United Kingdom of Korea
- West Korea
- West Korea Best Korea
- Federal Republic of Whestcorea