The CPRD, a revised factbook
The Choson People's Republic of Dra-pol
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Introduction
For more than two millennia a hermit kingdom, Dra-pol absorbed countless invasions, each time rising up against its attackers with great brutality. The Mongols, Japanese (at least twice), Russians (and later Soviets) were all in turn driven out.
From 1931 to 1938 Dra-pol underwent a little reported communist revolution headed by one comrade SULO who would become the first Director of the Choson People’s Republic of Dra-pol.
After the war, Sulo moved Dra-pol’s capital from the ancient royal centre of Paegam to DaKhiem, a tiny walled city further south. His Banat agents then embarked upon a great struggle against urban corruption, and the population underwent a forced ruralisation, much as was later seen in Pol Pot’s Kampuchea. During this struggle Chinese influence lead to a dispute with Dra-pol’s southern neighbour South Dalania (now the Republic of Korea) that, with Chinese and western agitation, erupted into full-blown Korean war ending in bloody stalemate.
The Korean War was the final straw for the introspective state, and Sulo’s last known act of major significance was in closing the republic’s borders. Dra-pol’s new introspection remained in force until late in the Directorship of his successor, Director KUROSIAN I A.K.A. “The Butcher of Hamhung”
when, just three years ago, Quinntonian soldiers stumbled ashore near Hungnam, Hamhung District, a terrific clash of cultures ensued, leading to well over three million deaths.
To-day the republic remains highly isolated, conducting limited trade across tiny sections of the Chinese and Dalanian borders and through the port city of Kosong, the only part of Dra-pol even close to being open for foreign observation. The twin cities of Hamhung and Hungnam remain under Quinntonian administration, and are surrounded by the Westguaard Line, a ring heavily militarised on both sides. The Dalanian border includes a demilitarised zone, though this does not prevent Drapoel artillery from having Seoul’s range.
Owing to its isolation the collectivist Drapoel economy, briefly revitalised by hopeful investors, is again in heavy recession.
Geography
Location: Eastern Asia; northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan between China and South Korea
Geographic co-ordinates: 40 00 N, 127 00 E
Area: 120,410 sq km (land; includes Hamhung District claimed by Quinntonia)
Land boundaries: total- 1,673 km, border countries- China 1,416 km, South Korea 238 km, Russia 19 km
Coastline: 2,495km (includes Hungnam, claimed by Quinntonia)
Climate: temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer
Terrain: mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; coastal plains wide in west, discontinuous in east, heavily forested throughout
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Sea of Japan 0 m, highest point: Paektu-san 2,744 m
Natural resources: coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower potential
Land use: arable land- 27%, permanent crops- 2.4%, other- 70.6%
Irrigated land: 16,850 sq km (estimate), 20,000 sq km (official)
Natural hazards: late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during early autumn
Geography note:- strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated (even by Drapoel standards)
People
Life expectancy at birth: total population ~ 70.6 years, male ~ 67 years, female ~ 74 years
Total fertility rate: 2.87 children born/woman
HIV/AIDS cases: negligible
Nationality: noun- Drapoel, adjective- Drapoel
Ethnic groups: Drapoel/Choson/Korean 99.8%; Japanese and Chinese 0.2% or less
Religion: no state religion exists, party doctrine is preached much as if the word of gods and theists are routinely crucified opposite the Westguaard Line. Many ancient superstitious beliefs are loosely held though much was shattered by the return of westerners. Quinntonian administered Hamhung/Hungnam maintains a large Christian population.
Languages: Drapoel –an ancient tongue mixed with more recent Korean, Chinese, and Japanese influences. English increasingly spoken in Quinntonian claimed area.
Literacy: definition- age 15 and over can read and write Drapoel- 99.8%
Urbanisation: Around 1% or less
Government
Country name:
long form- Choson People’s Republic of Dra-pol
short form- Dra-pol
abbreviation- CPRD
Government type: authoritarian socialist; one party dictatorship based on philosophies of Sulo, Kurosian I, and others. Hamhung/Hungnam under capitalist Christian theocratic domination.
Capital: DaKhiem
Independence: 2nd February 1938- monarchy over-thrown
National holiday: Revolution Day, 2nd February (1938), various birthdays celebrated (Directors Sulo, Kurosian I, Koshiako, Secretary Hotan)
Constitution: adopted 1931; enacted 1937; revised 1945, 1950, 1952, 2002
Legal system: subject to whims of Party, Secretary, and Director; influenced by assorted communist and socialist legal theories
Suffrage: 15 years of age; universal
Directorative branch:
chief of state- Director Koshiako Kurosian (III) (since 2003)
secretary of the republic/communist party- Hotan (since 19_?)
All party members (every citizen being such) are officially able to contribute directly to the political process through locally elected collective-representatives.
Judicial branch: Central People’s Republican Court; judges appointed by the Central Directorature, working from a list of Party-appointees.
Political parties and leaders: Choson People’s Communist Party of Dra-pol, leader unknown, Hotan may act as party chief
Political pressure groups and leaders: deceased..
International organisation participation:: The Asian Resistance (relatively inactive member, likely signatory only for political purposes)
Economy
Overview:
Dra-pol’s tightly state-controlled and nationalised economy came to rely on collective agriculture and industry during the nation’s utter isolation. Unwelcome reintroduction to the global market –in which Dra-pol was also some fifty years out of date- brought about a dramatic economic collapse only worsened by the accompanying war. Since then the economy learned to cope surprisingly well, DaKhiem securing limited export markets and major foreign aid. The war industry provoked a sharp rise in economic activity, and the industrialisation of Kanggye. Per capita GDP was for a time almost a hundred fold higher than two years earlier.
However, inability to conclude the war, a painful naval blockade enforced by the republic’s attackers, and DaKhiem’s refusal to further limited urbanisation and industrialisation have contributed to a new down turn in recent months. Investment spurred by apparent opening-up of new markets has died down as DaKhiem’s appetite for foreign relations wanes.
GDP purchasing power parity: estimates range from $1 to $1.6 trillion
GDP per capita: estimates range from $750 to $1,250
GDP growth rate: massively negative as the last year saw total economic collapse
GDP composition by sector: agriculture- 34% industry- 48% services-18%
Labour force by occupation: agriculture- 41% industry- 47%
More than 4% of the population are thought to be under arms at any given time.
Unemployment rate: nil (official)
Industries: military products, machine building, electric power, chemicals; mining (coal, iron ore, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, and precious metals), metallurgy; textiles, food processing
Industrial production growth rate: 7%
Electricity production by source: fossil fuel- 56% hydro 32% nuclear 12%
Agricultural products: rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs
Exports: $41bln
Export commodities: minerals, metallurgical products, armaments, mechanical equipment, bicycles, textiles, timber
Major export partners: China 18%, South Dalania 17% Beth Gellert 12% _Taiwan 8% African Commonwealth 7% Japan 4.8%, Russia 2.5%, No-Dachi Yo 2%, Penglai 1.4%
Imports: $55bln (discounting assets written off as aid)
Import commodities: oil and fuels, grains and foodstuffs, medical equipment and drugs
Major import partners: China 22%, South Korea 16%, _Taiwan 12%, Beth Gellert 11%, African Commonwealth 8%, Japan 6%, Russia 5%, No-Dachi Yo 2%, Penglai 1.5%
Economic aid recipient: $?
Currency: Yako
Transportation
Railways: not expansive; undergoing some extension around Chinese border; possible expansion around DMZ
Highways: minimal; mainly for military transit and of poor quality; most civilian transit is by foot, animal-drawn cart, or bicycle
Waterways: 2,253km, mostly navigable by small craft only
Pipelines: crude oil 37 km; petroleum product 180 km
Ports and harbours: Hungnam (Quinntonian controlled), Haeju, Kosong; others are minor fishing harbours or secure military sites
Airports: Pyongyang (primarily military); Haeju (used largely to import foreign aid); Kosong; Hamhung (Quinntonian controlled); countless tiny military strips, most unpaved.
Military
Commander in Chief: Director Koshiako Kurosian
Acting Supreme Field Marshal: Secretary Hotan
Branches: People’s Army, People’s Army Air Force, People’s Army Coast Guard, Red Bamboo (elite corps), Banat (secret police/intelligence)
Expenditure dollar figure: between $330bln and $550bln
Expenditures in terms of GDP: 34%
PAAF recruitment in terms of population: 0.2%
PA recruitment in terms of population: 4% (includes Red Bamboo and combat wing of Banat, but not inclusive of all Banat agents and operatives)
PACG recruitment in terms of population: 0.02%
Employment in arms production: 0.82%
International disputes: “DMZ” maintained between Dra-pol and South Dalania; Hamhung district administered by Quinntonia and occupied by coalition forces, claimed by Dra-pol; minor disputes with China settled last year and favourable to China, though Dra-pol received political and economic compensation.
links
Koshiako’s Great Progress:
http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=108052&highlight=
ooc:Yes, I am aware that the economy is currently listed as powerhouse, but I don’t think the isolated collectivist economy I play could really sustain such, and I’m not getting the issues to bring it back down. Of course I’d be delighted to hear theories on how a paranoid isolationist state spending a third of its GDP on the military while operating largely collectivised agriculture and industry could maintain a strong economy.. [hint hint] Hey, perhaps you want to import Drapoel bicycles at forty grand apiece?
Overview of the People’s Armed Forces
The CPRD is a highly paranoid state with an excessively bloody history. Its leadership and people perceive threats all around and an on-going state of war exists with South Dalania, despite fifty years without major clash of arms, and with the large "Crusader Coalition", which effects the occupation and administration of the Hamhung-Hungnam area. In both cases cease-fire is in effect and massive Drapoel forces are deployed to would-be fronts.
Though recruitment is extremely high the People’s Armed forces receive great funding and intense indoctrination. Motivation is evidently high, and the standard of training is surprisingly good. Though it is clearly difficult to train an infantry force the size of that fielded in defence of the CPRD the very character of the republic seems to breed good soldiers.
Collective life is hard on the Drapoel people, and though small of stature the typical young republican man is hardy of mind and body and familiar with the countryside about him. Mass transit and civil automation in Dra-pol are negligible, as are major highways of any sort. As such the civilian population travels largely on its feet, and carries on its back the goods it produces, locomotion occurring via a web of forest and mountain trails difficult for outsiders to locate let alone navigate.
Along with stamina and work ethic, life in the republic breeds discipline and respect for authority. The sham communist regime seems genuinely omniscient, owing to its net of informants and spy-shops, and often the line between worker and soldier is blurred, civilian life on a collective farm well preparing a youth for service in the People’s Army.
The system too ingrains many specific points of value upon the national psyche. During the Crusader War, for example, invading troops often armed with sub-machineguns and small calibre weapons frequently found themselves subject to accurate sniper-fire, engaged from range and with efficient reserve by hordes of passionate communists. The long-term poverty and culture of local self-sufficiency in Drapoel collective society made even raw recruits favour restrained, aimed fire over the wasteful and inaccurate panic-fire often given by other inexperienced fighters. The presence in each of the nation’s thousands of rural collectives of at least one experienced hunter provided a vast sniper corps with almost natural talent and discipline.
Owing to these and other factors the CPRD was able to absorb attack by seemingly superior forces during the Crusader War, and likely could do the same again. The republic’s offensive capacity is, on the other hand, a matter of some contention.
In order to maintain forces so large as it does Dra-pol hosts an ever-expanding armaments industry, producing masses of weapons and equipment at relatively low cost. Reliant on imports alone as are many weak economies the PAF would be greatly reduced in size.
People's Army
At the height of the Crusader War the People’s Army put a reported 9.1 million effectives into the field in two main army groups, two strategic reserves, and several minor units, the latter being dispersed across the republic in secondary roles. Today the army contains well over forty-five million personnel, and it is thought that more than nine million of these are infantry alone. There are at least nine thousand battle tanks, two thousand medium tanks, and more than a thousand amphibious tanks, as well as hundreds of armoured personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery pieces and other armoured vehicles. Artillery is key to PA strategy, as it may be used to threaten major capitalist cities such as Quinntonian Dra-pol (Hamhung and Hungnam) as well as Seoul itself, in South Dalania.
The Red Bamboo is the PA elite corps, and was last rated at a little over 120,000 effectives.
Armaments available to the People’s Army-
Infantry/crew-served-
Type D-KPV heavy machinegun in 14.5x114mm
-Considerably more powerful than the widespread .50” machineguns of the west.
Type D-92 Tashio medium machinegun in 7.7x58mmD
-A relatively low rate of fire gives this strong, reliable weapon a characteristic woodpecker-like report. These guns are often carried by the use of two bearer-poles fed through eyes on the tripod, allowing the mount and gun to be transported quickly and in one unit.
Type D-99 light machinegun in 7.7x58mmD
-Somewhat out-dated but none the less effective and unlikely to be replaced soon.
Type D-99 rifle in 7.7x58mmD
-The previous standard issue infantry rifle is now relegated to reserve, militia, police, and sniper roles.
Type D-99* sniper rifle in 7.7x58mmD
-A bolt action rifle of old design but powerful cartridge and proven effectiveness.
D-Type K-50m sub-machinegun in 8x21.5mmD
-A distant cousin to the Soviet PPSH, this weapon is compact and light, suiting it to the typically small Drapoel soldier. Useful in close-quarter forest combat and widely issued to Banat combat units, the main criticism levelled against the D-Type K-50m is –its horrible nomenclature aside- related to the limited penetration characteristics of the 8mm cartridge.
-Type D-86 assault rifle in 6.5mmD- the PA’s standard assault rifle, replacing the old Type D-99 bolt-action rifle, which is now largely found on local collectives, or in police and militia hands. The Type D-86 is a bullpup design based on the AK action and chambering an intermediate 6.5mm round. It is usually poorly finished but tends to be fairly accurate and reliable
Nambu 14th Year pistol in 8x21.5mmD
-An old design issued to Drapoel officers who, in all fairness to the automatic pistol, also tend to carry traditional short-swords.
Baby Nambu pistol in 7x19.5mmD
-Often to be found in the hands of agents deployed over-seas, this is primarily a tool of the Banat.
Type 69-I RPG
-Chinese version of the famous Russian RPG-7, favoured in Dra-pol for its impressive range of warheads and the minor improvement offered by its mounting of a bipod.
40mm Knee-Mortar grenade-launcher
-Called mortar this is in truth more a grenade launcher. Deployed en masse during the Crusader War it proved quite effective as squads of fast-moving infantry laid down arcs of fire while concealed by Dra-pol’s rough and forested terrain.
51mm mortar Type D-3
-A generic light mortar, found anywhere that a 40mm Knee-Mortar just won’t cut it.
Few SA-18 shoulder-launched SAM
-Imported from Beth Gellert in small numbers during the dark days of Crusader air superiority, it proved at once too expensive to purchase heavily and too advanced to produce locally.
QW-2 shoulder-launched SAM
-Chinese origin SAM of reasonable performance. There are now literally thousands of these throughout the CPRD’s mountainous countryside, making low level airborne incursion or any of the helicopter activity that so hurt Dra-pol in the Three Day War now little more than suicidal.
Artillery-
840x 47mm micro artillery pieces
-old anti-tank guns now frequently deployed in hiding along major trails and liable to make life all the more difficult for attacking ground forces.
2,820x 120mm heavy mortars
-Deployed across from the Westguaard Line at Hamhung and the DMZ with South Dalania, as well as countless defensive positions behind the many hills and mountains of the republic.
4,900x 75mm light artillery pieces
-Began life as anti-aircraft guns, progressed to anti-tank and tank-mounted status before becoming light artillery guns. Heavily concentrated at the Westgaard Line and relatively mobile towed by light vehicles.
1,500x 105mm light artillery pieces
-Relatively effective anti-tank guns positioned on hostile borders and in sites of major industry and population. Not in production.
9,400x 115mm artillery pieces
-Relatively effective anti-tank guns at close ranges, massed on hostile borders as part of DaKhiem’s policy of deterrence and political manipulation.
11,800x 150mm howitzers
-Long-range artillery with the punch to flatten Quinntonian Dra-pol in minutes, and the reach to assault Seoul or perhaps threaten offshore forces should a close blockade ever again be enacted against the republic.
230+x 190mm artillery pieces
-Long-range artillery newly entering production.
120x FROG-7B
-Well known Soviet-era heavy rocket artillery once deployed against occupied Hamhung, with HE and chemical warheads.
150x AGM-1 120mm assault gun-mortar
-Produced in Dra-pol after a small number were acquired from Diastallia. Now out of production
300x 150mm assault gun
-Relatively short-range manifestation of the powerful howitzer, most likely to be used in destroying hardened targets in an urban assault, perhaps against Quinntonian Dra-pol.
275x 75mm assault gun
-Light support guns meant to back up infantry actions. It is unclear whether more will be built or whether the concept has been abandoned in light of an increased ability to produce fairly modern tanks.
450x Type-90D 122mm MLRS
-6x6 flatbed truck mounting multiple rocket tubes, extended range projectiles may be capable of hitting Seoul.
850x Type-89D 122mm MLRS
-As above but mounted on light armoured chassis based on Type D-19 light amphibious tank.
Tanks-
8,900x Type D-18 main battle tanks
-Long referred to as a supplemental main battle tank, the D-18 is to be found wanting against many modern MBTs, but the terrain on which it is likely to operate frequently denies such opponents the clear line of sight required for their 120mm or other guns to press their advantage.
185x MT-3 Hotan main battle tanks
-Far the best tanks available to the People’s Army, these imported Beth Gellen tanks tend to serve in Red Bamboo formations. They are armed with a BG 125mm gun said to out-perform the 120mm guns mounted by the likes of Abrams, Leopard II, Leclerc, and Challenger II. DaKhiem seems unable to secure further imports.
2,100x Type D-14 medium tanks
-Support tank armed with Chinese Type 83-I 105mm rifled gun, and riding on advanced suspension which may be adjusted by the driver to such a degree as to significantly improve elevation of the gun, allowing great mobility and hull-down firing.
1,400x Type D-19 light amphibious tanks
-Relatively modest light tank with armour proof only to small arms fire and mounting a simple 75mm main gun. Produced in a range of alternate versions from APC to SAM carrier and ambulance to rocket-artillery mount. Most Drapoel bridges are insufficient to support armoured vehicles, making this weapon fairly valuable. May also support amphibious assault in by-passing the DMZ or Westguaard Line.
Other AVs et cetera
11,000x DZSU-47-2
-SPAAG mounting two 47mm cannon and what is said to be a fairly modern fire-control radar, probably a step ahead of the ZSU-23-4s formerly in Drapoel service if a little behind the very latest western systems in some respects. The fact of their ever increasing pervasion throughout Dra-pol would probably be enough to make them a great obstacle were they no more advanced than the old Soviet systems.
380x DRAR-1 SAM
-Self propelled surface to air missile system based on Type D-19 light tank; likely to move in any offensive.
7,200x Type D-192 APC
-Amphibious APC based on Type D-19 light tank. Includes ambulance and command versions. Recovery and mortar versions also exist.
People's Army Air Force
Discounting intended sales of J-10 and FC-1, the PAAF still has an assortment of fairly useful aircraft at its disposal.
Interceptor/Air superiority fighters-
345x Chengdu J-10 multi-role fighters
-Imported from East Islandia, these are Dra-pol's front line fighters and also carry ground attack weapons and anti-shipping missiles in addition to AAMs. IR-guided 24km range Mach 2.5 DRAR-1, IR-guided 30km range Mach 2.5 AA-11/R-73, radar-guided 90km range radar-guided AA-12/R77, and 75km range Mach 4 PL-11 make up the air-to-air arsenal of Drapoel J-10s.
600x FC-1/Super-7 multi-role fighters
-Also imported from East Islandia, this is an agile fighter carrying DRAR-1, and AA-12/R77 AAMs.
4,500x Su-15-D
-Now produced in Kanggye, this is an interceptor/air superiority fighter capable of Mach 2.4. AAMs include IR-guided 24km range Mach 2.5 DRAR-1 and radar-guided 50km range Mach 4.5 AA-6/R-40RD.
Ground attack/Strike fighters-
2,000x Su-17-D
-A native-build version of the Soviet fighter-bomber, this is capable of high-speeds and accepting of many upgrades. The Su-17-D carries free-fall and laser-guided bombs, Drapoel anti-shipping missiles, unguided rockets, and nuclear bombs as well as DRAR-1 air-to-air missiles
1,860x KJ-1 Feda Kwong attack-fighters
-A native aircraft designed and built at very little cost, much as it is meant to operate. Capable of some air-to-air combat these are primarily meant to free-up superior J-10s for air superiority missions by taking on and expanding their surface attack roles.
Transport et cetera-
162x L2D4 light transport aircraft
-An old Japanese aircraft based originally on the DC3, manufactured in Dra-pol with some modification (to engines, radio and landing gear, primarily). Today this aircraft serves as utility transport, light troop/para transport, ASW patrol, airborne command, and EW platform.
It’s transport roles are being taken-over by AN-2.
2,140x AN-2 Colt
-An old Soviet design favoured by Dra-pol for its ability to take-off from and land on short, poor quality airstrips. Can transport around eight infantrymen as well as acting as a utility transport. It may also be used in chemical weapons deployment. Flying at low altitude these are difficult to detect by radar.
Rotary wing-
800x Mi-2 Hoplite helicopter
-Used in reconnaissance, re-supply, and close air support with 57mm rockets. It can also have a smoke generator mounted to provide a wide area smoke screen in front of units, screening their movements. Additional missions include; direct air support, antitank, armed reconnaissance, transport, medevac, airborne command post, mine-laying, and training.
175x Mi-8/Mi-14 HIP helicopter
-Used in many versions and now manufactured at Kanggye. Some mount a 12.7mm machinegun along with 57mm rocket pods, bombs, modified QW-2, and AT-2C/Swatter ATGMs; others include airborne jamming platforms, and command posts. The Mi-14 version is an ASW platform with a boat-shaped lower fuselage, pontoons, a radar dome, and internal weapons bay.
Air defence
There are more than 25,000 static AAA guns in Dra-pol , some estimates even ranging to several hundred percent of that many. 23, 30, 47 and 75mm pieces are all common.
18x CS-400 SAM launchers
-Three batteries of CS-400 SAM were acquired from Beth Gellert at the height of the Crusader War. These are believed to be stationed near Kanggye, Pyongyang, and DaKhiem, though from the first location tests proved that both Chinese and Dalanian borders and east and west coasts are within range. Each battery comprises six launchers with three fire-ready missiles a piece, and two fire control units. It is unclear whether the republic will be able to require replacement missiles, and may have barely fifty in hand.
12,000x DRAR-1 SAM emplacements
-Double or quadruple mount SAM system with 12,000m ceiling and 24km range.
500x S-125/SA-3 Goa SAM emplacements
-Reaching Mach 3.5 these missiles have a 25km range and ceiling (minimum ceiling 100m and range 6km) and some mount TV cameras to improve EW resistance. They are found in two or four rail launchers in strategic locations around the CPRD.
2,200x HQ-2B SAM launchers
-Single missile launchers deployed in batteries of six, usually in regiments of at least three batteries. Range is 7-40km, altitude 1-27km, and hit probability around 73%.
People's Army Coast Guard
The Coast Guard, after being completely destroyed and rebuilt, is now stronger than ever, though still hardly central to Republican defence planning. Today some 24 Houjian Class missile boats provide the Coast Guard with its defensive punch. They carry anti-shipping missiles as well as automatic and anti-aircraft cannon.
Key figures within the CPRD
Head of State- Director KOSHIAKO (Kurosian III)
Koshiako Kurosian is the bastard son of the late Director Kurosian I, A.K.A. "The Butcher of Hamhung", and a European woman about whom nothing is known.
A child of little more than nine or ten years old, Koshiako has spent his infancy shut-away in the forbidden city of Paegam, pre-revolutionary seat of the monarchy.
The motivation for his seclusion was almost certainly in his father's desire to hide from the Drapoel people not only his relationship with a white woman, but the very fact of Europe's post WWII survival.
With his father's assassination, his elder half-brother's arrest and detention in Quinntonia, and the partial opening of Dra-pol to the outside world, Koshiako's existence was made known to the public. At Secretary Hotan's insistence the relatively fair-skinned (in Drapoel terms) youngster was proclaimed Director.
Koshiako is reputed to be a thoughtful and bright child, a little small for his age but none the less a promising warrior. The youngster has been raised from birth to believe in the ideals of the revolution and his father's Drapoel manifestation of the Juche Idea. Increasingly Koshiako shows signs of the frightening degree of his indoctrination, despite his mother's efforts to temper such.
Head of Government- Secretary HOTAN
Hotan is one of the most enduring and definitive figures of the Choson People’s Republic of Dra-pol. His loyalty to the revolution, to the republic, to the idea, and to the late Director Kurosian is beyond contention.
Secretary Hotan is not the head of the Drapoel Communist Party, though he is often assumed to be. In truth the party’s chief is ever changing and never significant, frequently removed by Director or Secretary as it suits their whim. Regardless of his status, Hotan is certainly one of the nation’s most influential figures, and for a time after Kurosian I’s death it was supposed that he might become Director.
Not born in time to become a hero of the revolutionary war Hotan is none the less a decorated soldier, having commanded the First Strategic Reserve during the Crusader War. In this role Hotan proved skilful, outmanoeuvring invading capitalist detachments and master-minding the defence of DaKhiem, an operation that gave Raysia the majority of its 8,500 wartime casualties and knocked that nation out of the conflict.
Following his time in the field, and concurrent with Kurosian I’s assassination in China, Hotan was attacked at Kanggye. Shot several times, the Secretary slew his three assailants with the aid of nothing more than a letter opener and his mastery of Drapoel unarmed martial arts.
Since the conclusion of his long and painful recovery, which was possible only with the help of Chinese and Beth Gellen doctors, Hotan has been effective head of the CPRD during Koshiako’s youth.
Other major figures of influence-
Sho CHEIY
Is this man the head of the infamous Banat? A hopelessly vast organisation, the Banat is secret police, intelligence agency, and elite combat corps to the Choson People’s Republic. Boasting around 30,000 combat effectives, countless thousands of agents and bureaucrats, and millions of civilian informants the organisation has the impressive distinction of being wanted as a whole on charges of war crimes levelled against it by Quinntonia. Cheiy is one of precious few Drapoel ever to have set foot outside the republic, and is the highest-ranking Banat officer to be knowingly met by foreigners.
Director SULO
Credited as the founder of the republic and the champion of the revolution. Though outside Dra-pol little is known of the man, his statue appears across the republic, in several instances standing considerably taller than any building in Dra-pol besides the Central Directorature itself. Sulo was the first Director of the CPRD, and was responsible for the closure of the nation’s borders after the Korean War, and for the lasting ruralisation of the populace and collectivisation of the economy.
Director KUROSIAN I
After Sulo Drapoel were for decades taught that the outside world destroyed itself in the 1950s, following years of total war. Director Kurosian I, Sulo’s eventual replacement, was in power when Quinntonian forces stumbled ashore and shattered Drapoel illusions. Widely believing the westerners to be demons or evil spirits the Drapoel people fought a desperate defence of their lands in what became domestically known as the Three Day War, and in Quinntonia as Kurosian’s Rage. This was apt testimony to the brutality of the second Director after he ordered human-wave attacks and mustard gas strikes against the outsiders.
Kurosian proved despite his excessive brutality to be a surprisingly well educated man and a competent politician. In truth, while telling his people that the outside world was gone, Kurosian spent time in Europe, receiving a western education and taking a European lover who would in time father him a second son.
Kurosian I was eventually assassinated by unknown agents while touring China in an effort to generate support for his embattled republic. His killers were suspected to be working for the Quinntonian-lead “Crusaders” as Kurosian branded them, but they remain at large.
Director KUROSIAN II
While Kurosian I’s second son has been previously discussed, his eldest, known simply as Kurosian II, has received less attention here. This is doubtless as the father would wish it, for Kurosian II is today branded a traitor to the republic and remains even now in Quinntonian custody. Kurosian II was placed temporarily in power at the height of the Crusader War as his father attempted to placate the numerically, economically, and technologically superior forces aligned against him. When this and other gestures failed, Kurosian I attempted to retake his position and to fight on, only to find his son unwilling to relinquish power and keen to support the myth of his father’s demise.
Though Kurosian II inherited all of his father’s rage and brutality he appears to have missed much of the tact and cunning available to his genes. The Banat remained ever loyal to the elder Director and Kurosian II’s inability to recognise this fact cost him dear, as his father manipulated regular army units and the invading Crusaders in the instigating of what would later appear to be a Quinntonian ambush on a Drapoel air convoy. This was done during the cease-fire negotiated by a treacherously weak-willed Kurosian II, and calculated to enrage the young pretender into a futile return to hostilities. During this renewed fighting the Banat were able to restore Kurosian I’s position, and the true Director well placed to end hostilities by surrendering his seemingly warmongering son.
The Crusaders never uncovered Kurosian I’s deception, and Kurosian II’s threat to his father’s position remains contained at Quinntonia’s expense.
[Bump for Key Figures update]
[Few things tweaked- mainly an effort to remind myself that I must edit the above post so that it is actually a worthwhile contribution.]
Defector brings horror-stories to South Dalania!
Weekends meant nothing in the CPRD, in fact weeks themselves meant little. Life went from day to day in one long hard-working line with no thought to breaks or new beginnings. Drapoel security certainly hadn't slacked off just because it happened to be the morning after Friday night, and Akiyoro Huro-Kim had lost two friends, one shot dead and a second captured in a futile attempt to render aid on the first. None the less, he'd made it. Akiyoro, wanted Republican agent responsible for at least two police station bombings in Quinntonian-administered Hamhung, was in the Korean Republic of South Dalania, and only bleeding a little for his taxing cross-border flight.
The last few hundred yards as he dashed in defiance of the odds shut-eyed and screaming through a minefield had seen him enter the south by the grace of a border skirmish brought on by Dalanian guards' reaction to Drapoel firing as the three rebellious friends fled. No doubt more casualties had by now resulted from that little exchange, but Akiyoro little cared. He had bigger things on his mind as he spoke to local reporters after bursting into their offices near Yonch’on, babbling as he switched back and forth between indecipherable Drapoel and the English he’d picked up in Hamhung.
It was rare for a defector from the Choson People’s Republic to successfully negotiate the DMZ, especially since the Drapoel coast guard was back in action and preventing waterborne attempts. Comrade Huro-Kim was something of a novelty even before he began to spin his frightening tales of Drapoel military ambition and capacity.
Akiyoro told a little of his time in Hamhung, and how exactly it was that he so frequently flaunted the massive security effort represented by the Westgaard Line. Tunnels had been dug and discovered at the height of the Crusader War, but those now operated, so said Akiyoro, were often more than a hundred metres deep, and employed various countermeasures to detection. He and other agents, including members of the infamous Banat, had been able to walk in and out of Hamhung virtually as they pleased.
Was the same true of the south? Almost, said the defector. The tunnels were certainly there, it was just that getting in and out required a more formidable level of clearance- one that Huro-Kim did not have the good fortune to possess. Akiyoro though that there existed more than twenty major Drapoel tunnels under the south. Unfortunately he was not the expert- his captured friend had actually been involved in digging one of the tunnels before a transfer to a mountain installation in the interior. Though his information was second hand at least, Akiyoro claimed that the tunnels were often dug at some thirty metres per day, a hundred meters or more below the surface. He spoke vaguely of such massive undertakings as to allow underground trains hauling men and equipment under Seoul itself, and further south still. Air force bases and Marine Corps headquarters themselves, if the defector was the be taken at his word, now sat atop Drapoel tunnels several metres wide and –all combined- able to insert quarter of a million soldiers into Dalania inside an hour. If this were true then the entire strength of the formidable Red Bamboo might be displaced to the south in less than two hours, appearing in deadly force from under the beds of sleeping Dalanian commanders and soldiers.
Not only this, but –and Akiyoro was evidently a little hesitant and perhaps unsure of himself and his sources here- pipes had been lain along the tunnels. Some pumped water and other essentials to the workers and potentially to soldiers, certainly, but..did they all? The nervous little Drapoel man was non-committal on this point.
There was more about which Akiyoro would be vague as excited pressmen urged him on, lavishing the tired little figure with the benefits of a capitalist lifestyle. Huro-Kim struggled greatly when expected to drink cola from a can, having never experienced such a vessel let alone a carbonated beverage, but he forged ahead anyway. He skimmed over the information that might have been provided in more detail by the third would-be traitor had he not been shot four times in the back. The reason that so few airstrips were evident was that many were for much of their length buried under mountains, leaving only minimal space for take-off and landing in the open, and even then camouflaged. Aircraft were more often than not parked under mountains or hillside bunkers, often proof even to massive high-altitude bomb strikes. Radar sites were kept underground, too. Mechanical elevators could reportedly lift them when required, and withdraw them when missile strikes were imminent. Akiyoro said that submarine and missile-boat bases were situated in tunnels cut into cliff faces, and more impressively that huge underground caves and tunnels housed stores, military equipment and vehicles, and potentially thousands of people.
Comrade Huro-Kim did know a little more about Drapoel Hardened Artillery Sites. These, he said, are often cut into solid granite, and usually house whole batteries of 115, 150, and 190mm guns, fully proof against direct hits from even massive 202mm artillery and with some degree of radiation shielding. Ahead of gun caves/bunkers are usually earthwork defences, easily accessed (and evacuated) by infantry, as well as minefields, and often supporting mortar pits (sometimes behind gun caves where possible). Underground/mountain tunnels sometimes interconnect these sites, and access routes display all manner of blast defences against the spread of destruction from one emplacement to another. Earthwork elements may be constructed for most emplacements inside two or three days where sufficient hands and tools are available, thus allowing for advance and consolidation into foreign territory. Usual batteries are around 4-6 guns with ten times that many personnel required, said the traitor now displaying an air of calmer confidence in his detailed information. Caves and tunnels store ammunition in units of usually 120 rounds. In a defensive operation each gun may fire three units per day, though usually not more than six units are on hand per piece. The first day of an offensive operation may see an incredible four units of fire expended by each gun. Existing offensive tunnels may include provision for reloading of contingency batteries dug during an advance. Other measures designed to protect Hardened Artillery Sites include their positioning, ability to lay down massed and covering fire, air defence and rear area protection.
Akiyoro said that most of these positions had remained invisible to the south, as the Drapoel military preferred to place the sites on the reverse slope of hills and mountains. This not only protected them from view but also makes them much harder to hit, or even to precisely locate, and certainly to over-run. The crest of such a hill as would be infested by these positions is sure to be fringed with flak guns, anti-aircraft heavy machineguns, SAM points and mobile units. Many of the guns are to be manned, said the informant, by local women, while their husbands and brothers mass on the front face of the elevation, ready to absorb attack or launch their own.
The Drapoel will not struggle to put a good 500+ artillery tubes per kilometre of breakthrough frontage should they choose to attack- Akiyoro insisted that here he was being conservative in his estimate. This gives the potential of staggering volume in terms of rounds per minute fired, and could saturate the detection capability of counter-battery radar. If friendly radar can target even a few percent of such a volume, the fire direction centres, manual and automated, could easily be overloaded. He added that such sites would anyway be themselves targets for long range artillery, air strike, and Red Bamboo interference.
As Dra-pol’s road infrastructure is little advanced from the Iron Age it was found during the Crusader War that rapid relocation of mechanised artillery was difficult. Comrade Huro-Kim reports that it was as such decided rather than try to improve the nation’s entire infrastructure and alter the character of the republic that the People’s Army would make advantages of its obstacles. Hardened artillery sites offer the CPRD that advantage where opposing forces used to facing and operating mechanised artillery will surely struggle.
By now the defector had surely attracted the attention of figures more influential than a few local media hacks.
Dra-pol’s excessive defensive network was probably no surprise to most, but the fact that it appeared to provide the CPRD with the means to back-up the terrifying potential of its newly suggested offensive plans was surely of more interest.
Which begs the question: If the Dra-Pol military is able to smash through the South Dalanian defences, does it posess enough "breakthrough" stregnth to exploit that sort of breakthough? If so much of it's firepower is in a set, static, defensive posture, can the CPRD military operate in open-field battle against a modern enemy?
It can certainly defend against one, as proven in the Crusader War, which lasted between two and three years (and is currently at extended cease-fire). The republic fought usually no less than three, and in total maybe more than half a dozen modern 1st world states and held out (all be it with heavy casualties).
I suppose that at the core of your question is the nature of Drapoel military planning and goals. DaKhiem maintains that never in its long history has Dra-pol engaged in the invasion of a foreign land, and that it does not intend to start. Of course many dispute this, citing the Korean War as evidence to the contrary. DaKhiem insists that the soil its troops occupied was rightfully Choson and ought to be united, and that it was Chinese troops who pressed the offensive. On other days the Central Directorature will insist that it only attacked the south in pre-emption of an American assault, the two excuses arguably seeming mutually exclusive.
It is true at least that Dra-pol has never fought on a large scale outside the Korean peninsula. Currently potential enemies or targets there are South Dalania (or South Korea if Dalania's inactivity leads to deletion) and Quinntonian Dra-pol's capital, Hamhung.
To deal with the latter first, Hamhung is a city on the east coast of what many know as North Korea (in reality it is close to the coastal city of Hungnam, but in this reality it has rather swallowed that neighbour). The rest of Quinntonian Dra-pol exists on a chain of tiny islands in the Pacific, and it possibly of little interest to DaKhiem. Hamhung is massively over-populated, with many of its people living on boats in the harbour if not in the many hi-rises crammed into the city. It's probably as big as New York, Tokyo, and Mexico City combined. A few years ago it was populated by at most a couple of thousand Drapoel living on collective farms. DaKhiem may want the city for its modern technologies and large population base, or simply to remove the hated outsiders and their capitalist Christian scourge from Dra-pol.
The former would require occupation of the city, something attempted once already at the cost of several infantry divisions and to little result. Hamhung is protected by the Westgaard Line, AKA the Peace Line, which reports indicate Quinntonia believes would hold for perhaps several weeks before being eventually over-run by an all out Republican assault. By this time of course Quinntonia may again have gathered a coalition and prepared a new offensive, which would likely end in another bloody stalemate.
According to the recent defector, however, this is not what DaKhiem has planned in the event of renewed hostilities. Hamhung would simply be levelled, and the Westgaard Line largely ignored. Thousands of artillery pieces from 75mm to 190mm as well as rocket artillery would bombard the crowded hi-rise city, and chemical weapons would probably be used again. DaKhiem may even use nuclear weapons, having detonated its first nuclear device some months ago.
So in the case of Hamhung at least it appears that the CPRD doesn't intend to fight a conventional battle against modern forces, merely to obliterate their foothold in Dra-pol, and then to concentrate on averting counter-landings. The massive air force may not be fully modern, but it has the means to flood enemy carrier groups with more targets than they can handle before their carriers are destroyed. Attacking Dra-pol again really requires an established foothold on land. If Hamhung can be so quickly obliterated, and China is unlikely to help (the two states have reasonably good relations especially since Dra-pol settled minor border disputes in Beijing's favour), then the only other option is South Dalania.
From the south there are two areas in which a serious over-land offensive might take place- the coasts. The central area is mountainous and highly difficult to negotiate. An army large enough to worry DaKhiem would be doomed in trying to press an offensive through such highlands, picked apart and difficult to supply, completely unmanoeuvrable.
The two coastal plains are relatively narrow, and opposite them are concentrated the formidable defences described by Akiyoro.
The main problem with attacking through the south is that Seoul's agreement would be needed.. and Seoul is within range of several thousand more heavy artillery pieces, and within just minutes of southmost Drapoel airfields. As such, Dalania knows that as soon as anti-CPRD forces come ashore in their nation, their capital is liable to be wiped out by thousands of tons of high explosives and chemical weapons.
By all of that longwinded rambling I mean to explain the security the CPRD feels, and on what conditions that rests. If Dra-pol attacks South Dalania there is nothing to keep Seoul from allowing Quinntonian and other forces ashore. Certainly even then victory is far from assured the anti-CPRD forces, but the possibility is created. Probably Dra-pol doesn't even seek the capacity to meet modern forces man for man on the battlefield in all out war, and can't see how it might occur that they would be faced with such a need.
..Of course, if some utter maniac dictator were to decide that he wanted the whole of Korea, he might attack South Dalania anyway, and then move on Dra-pol, but DaKhiem is super isolationist and hasn't even considered that such people might exist out there.
(Short answer: Well, you didn't see us turn up in Dibujante in the end, did you? Because no, we really don't have the capability to engage modern forces on neutral (or their) ground.. indeed on anything but the specific ground we already inhabit. But if I admit that in few enough lines that anyone will read it, Dra-pol ceases to be scary :) )