KNTV News (DO NOT POST)

[Confessional Korea]

KNTV News is the 24/7 news channel service operated by Korean National Television, the largest private broadcasting company in the Republic of Korea. Released in 1974 as the Korea One News, the company adopted a 24/7 model based off of CNN's in 1993. KNTV has many famous names working for it, such as the news anchors Tang Myung-Dae and Chom Seo-Hyeon, and award winning journalists Sun Bo-Hee, Nan Min'gyu and Kwon Chong-Yol. KNTV News is currently grouped into eight services: News Korea, News Seoul, News Pyonyang, News Busan, News Asia, News Europe, News America, News Global. While the Asia, Europe and America services were launched to reach the Korean communities abroad, News Global was released as an expansion of KNTV's news broadcasting into the English speaking world, with aims to cover the most pressing issues in the worlds of politics, business, sports, society, and entertainment.

As of the January 2020 National Commission on Media, KNTV News is the most popular news service in Korea, with an estimated share of 31% of "first choice television news services". KNTV has received criticism however since it underwent developments in the mid 1990s, being accused of expressing political bias as media deregulation laws came into effect. Media watchdog groups published the Korean Domestic Media and Political Bias Report in 2007, which has been updated in 2010 and 2016. This report concludes that KNTV News has a pro-conservative, pro-market and nationalist slant, compared to competitors KMC who are accused of having a pro-liberal and pro-Openist slant.

[Confessional Korea]

Chinese government receives KRA in Chongqing

Conflict continues to rage on in southern China. For the last 77 years, stable authority has been found sparsely throughout the former lands of the Zhi dynasty. While various polities have came and went in the almost eight decades of conflict started following the Chinese Civil War, only one of them has looked like it has had a chance to really unify the country. The National Army of the Masses, led by Mao Zedong, conquered vast territories in the inland of the country and was able to establish a stable socialist dictatorship in many areas. By 1963, however, Mao's dream of unity had collapsed. Mao was assassinated by radicals within his camp, and overnight the authority he built up over much of the country had collapsed, and new polities - led by figures ranging from radical Maoists to moderate Maoists, to corrupt warlords who had bribed former NAM forces - took power. Four decades later Mao's dream of a united China began to take root once more. The Revolutionary Army of China was declared following the National Unity Conference held in Beijing. For the first time since Mao's death, over a quarter of the country was unified under a single banner.

The RAC was led by General Zhang Delan, who now serves as Consul of the Great Republic. By the end of the year, the RAC was marching south to the city of Shanghai with the ultimate goal of taking over Zhejiang by the end of the decade at the latest. General Zhang had the entirety of Zhejiang by the end of the 2005, and a strengthened RAC was able to take key cities such as Wuhan, Changsha and Chongqing by 2008. Today, the Great Republic of China holds de jure authority over nearly all of China, but in reality much of the southern half of the country is still at war. The largest surviving Maoist splinter group - the United Front of the Masses - has been in charge in the countryside of Sichuan even after Chengdu and Ya'an fell to the RAC. From Sichuan they launched raids and terrorized the region, eventually expelling the RAC from Zigong, Luzhou and Yibin.

Following Zhang's ascension to the Consulship in 2017, Wan Jianhong took over as General of the RAC. Immediately he began a crackdown of terrorist groups such as the UFM and the RAC successfully re-established authority over cities near Chongqing. In 2019, Kae Yeon-Seok was elected president of Korea, and stated his openness to military cooperation with China. Japanese nationalism remains a threat to both Korea and China, and a desire to wrap up the decades long and violent conflict in China is a priority for leaders of both countries. In January it was announced that around 15,000 Korean soldiers would arrive at Chongqing and collaborate with Chinese forces as they worked to re-establish authority across territories that the Great Republic claims. There are already 2,000 Koreans stationed in Fuzhou and 3,600 in Nanchang.

[Confessional Korea]

Local elections held in Korea amidst virus outbreak

There were fears among citizens of the cities of Seoul, Pyonyang, Daegu, Incheon, Busan, Hamhung and Chongjin about the future of their local democracies. The outbreak of the Wuhan virus has caused tremendous panic among citizens of Korea, but has been managed effectively and over the last three weeks the country has observed a sharp drop in infections and fatalities. On Monday, the Minister of Health and Minister of Justice gave a joint statement with the mayors of the cities holding elections that declared the outbreak was being contained, and the elections would go ahead as planned. For the Republican Party government, this was both a blessing and a curse. For the last two years they've slumped in the polls across all urban areas, even their past strongholds of Hamhung, Chongjin and Incheon. However it provided the government the image of competency that they've needed since their victories in the 2018 General Election and the 2019 Presidential Election. President Kae Yeon-Seok was inaugurated and just two weeks later the first infection was confirmed in Korea. Coupled with allegations of corruption levied at numerous Republican lawmakers, it's been a rough year and a half for Kye Min-Ki's government.

Indeed, they became the first party to suffer significant losses in local elections following back to back General and Presidential election victories. A record 71% turnout among under 30 voters, and an overall turnout of 78.5%, the Republican Party lost seats in every single Metropolitan Assembly, retaining their first place spot only in the city of Hamhung. The victors were not the same as 2018 however. Every opposition party experienced an increase in seats, with the Community Coalition and United Party making the most noise. The Christian Democratic Union had been sitting in third and fourth place in most of these cities bar Pyongyang, yet unexpectedly saw an increase in vote share in every single election - including a shocking rise to first place in the city of Pyongyang. In all other cities the People's Party came out on top, matching national polls that see them topping the Republican Party in first-preference constituency votes. A full breakdown of results by city can be seen at the bottom of this article.

The Republicans lost a handful of high profile figures. Most notably was the Leader of the Opposition in Seoul, Pyon Jung-Hwan, who lost his seat to twenty-seven year old United Party candidate and feminist blogger Ha Kyung-Ja. The party doubled their seats in Seoul from 4 to 8, with party leader Myo Myung-Ki increasing her vote share to over 70% following an electoral pact with the People's Party. Deputy Mayor of Incheon, Yop Min-Hyuk, was the sole survivor of what would've been a wiping out of the New Alternative's presence in the city, narrowly securing a plurality as the Worker's Party split the opposition coalition vote. Seoul and Busan saw the biggest number of new names - with around a third of the incoming lawmakers of each city (51 in Seoul and 42 in Busan) being first-timers. Despite a lower number of new members, Daegu will hold onto the record for the average youngest age per lawmaker, which will decrease from 44 to 41. The average age of lawmakers in metropolitan assemblies across the country has now decreased from 48 to 46 following these elections.

Local elections will next be held in the rest of the North in October, followed by local elections in the rest of the south next April. While the Republican Party suffered in these metropolitan elections, they're not polled to do as badly in rural elections. In fact, the party has its eyes set on making up for these losses.

Seoul

People's Party - 59 (+7)
Republican Party - 29 (-17)
Community Coalition - 24 (+3)
Christian Democratic Union - 20 (+5)
New Alternative - 8 (+1)
United Party - 8 (+4)
Democratic Party - 3 (-2)
Worker's Party of Korea - 0 (-2)
Independent Association of Seoul - 1 (+1)

Pyongyang

Christian Democratic Union - 38 (+10)
People's Party - 25 (+6)
Republican Party - 19 (-25)
Community Coalition - 13 (+6)
United Party - 4 (+3)

Busan

People's Party - 37 (-5)
Republican Party - 27 (-13)
Community Coalition - 24 (+6)
Christian Democratic Union - 18 (+4)
United Party - 5 (+3)
Democratic Party - 5 (+3)
Worker's Party of Korea - 3 (=0)
Busan Independents - 2 (+1)
New Alternative - 2 (+1)
Patriotic National Movement - 0 (=0)

Incheon

Incheon Progressive Alliance - 43 (+10)
Republican Party - 35 (-6)
Community Coalition - 10 (+3)
Christian Democratic Union - 6 (+5)
New Alternative - 1 (-10)
Incheon Social Party - 0 (-2

Daegu

People's Party - 36 (+3)
Community Coalition - 28 (+7)
Christian Democratic Union - 15 (+6)
United Party - 6 (+3)
Republican Party - 6 (-24)
New Alternative - 4 (+1)
Progress for Daegu - 4 (+4)

Hamhung

Republican Party - 28 (-7)
People's Party - 23 (+5)
Christian Democratic Union - 4 (+2)

Chongjin

People's Party - 19 (+8)
Republican Party - 16 (-16)
Community Coalition - 7 (+2)
Christian Democratic Union - 4 (+4)
Worker's Party of Korea - 2 (+2)

[Confessional Korea]

What is the Caliphate? Arab delegation arrives in Seoul

Poster advertising the State Visit of the Caliph to Seoul

Two planes carrying the Arab delegation arrived at Incheon International Airport yesterday. Among the delegation was Caliph Hassan al-Abdia, who succeeded Caliph Abdullah (his father) in 2016. Caliph Hassan spent the first few years of his reign in solitude, leaving the Royal Court in Jeddah just a dozen or so times, but since last summer he has went on three international trips. The Caliph was welcomed in the State of Pashtun on his first state visit back in July, where he met with General Gul Nothazai. He went on a second trip to Bengal in November, and to the Kingdom of Siam in January. In between those three he made significant travels across the Arab Confederacy - a collective of tribal territories administered for the most part as totally autonomous states however pledging allegiance to the Caliph and to peace with one another. He oversaw the coronation of Ahmad Nizaar el-Said as Prince of Oman, and personally commanded an army on an incursion into the Euphrates. The Caliph has arrived as part of a week long state visit to Korea.

The Caliphate is a controversial polity in the Middle East today. Unlike many other countries it isn't made up of a single country, but it is a union of multiple different countries under the Kingdom of Hijaz. Currently the Caliphate is composed of two countries - Hijaz, and the Arab Confederacy. The concept of the Caliphate dates back to the beginning of Islam itself, as an Islamic State headed by a Caliph - a successor to the Prophet Muhammad. The last Caliph was the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who lost the title with the partitions of the Treaty of Sarajevo. Currently the global Islamic community is divided into two main groups - the Sunni and the Shia. The current Caliphate was re-established by the Sunni ruler of Hijaz, King Musheer el-Amu, following his tenth anniversary as king. Musheer died just a year after proclaiming the caliphate, and was succeeded by his son Abdullah. Caliph Abdullah reigned from 1986 to 2016, establishing the Arab Confederacy and waging a series of wars against rulers who opposed him.

Abdullah presided over a reign of development and growth on the peninsula. The Arab Confederacy was expanded from just Hail, Ha'asa, Dawasir and Oman, to comprise the entirety of the peninsula (bar territories held by Persia), with the original member states gaining additional territories and status within the confederacy. The Caliphate saw an economic boom, with Muslims across the globe recognizing Abdullah a Caliph and seeking to reside directly under him. The GDP of the peninsula grew from around $50 billion to $630 billion in 2016.

The isolationist attitude of Hassan worried many in the international community, and he didn't do much to put the world at ease when his first act to end that isolation was to lead an army into the Euphrates to support pro-Caliphate rebels in the ongoing Civil War. His turn around however has led to an increase in activity with the world at large. The Caliph's visit to Korea is the first time that Korea has welcomed a delegation from the Caliphate, though Prime Minister Pak was reportedly friendly with Caliph Abdullah and the two spent time together at international events. The focus of the state visit is to foster positive relations and encourage trade between the Republic of Korea and the Caliphate.