[PoSK]Notes on the State of the Nation, from Newcomers to V2

Day 932, 11:21 • Published in South Korea Bolivia • by Arjay Phoenician

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It’s been a busy few days, and one of my promises to the people of South Korea was to be transparent so you could hold me accountable. You know me by now, I could write five-page essays on every one of these subjects, but my hope is to give you a lot of information in smaller, digestible doses. There’s a lot to cover, and you have a right to know what we’re up to.

Here’s eight topics for your edification.

Funding Our Next MPP: Thanks to the efforts of our Treasurer, Joseph Orair, we “found” a sizeable amount of gold to go toward something like an MPP. For those who thought maintaining an MPP would be impossible simply because we can’t afford it, we’ll at least be able to afford one when the current deal with Russia expires in a couple of weeks. If this is what’s keeping the Japanese from attacking us again, then the status quo may stand for about six weeks, which means we’ll be protected until late July.

Ministry of Defense: The former MoD Aarons-miller will retain command of the Crimson Tigers, and while I’m waiting for former president Spade to get back to me on the future on the South Korean Guard, our current MoD’s, Stalin-chan and Breton Boy will be creating a new military unit and recruiting for it in the near future. Expect to see the sort of ads you see for worldwide units like Seal Team 6 in our media shortly.

Irish and Macedonian Newcomers: I am just as much as fault as anyone for how the coming of the Goons and FacePunchers was handled this spring, and I vow to not denigrate any minorities who look to make South Korea their home. At this point, if those who immigrate to our country are willing to work with us to making South Korea something to be proud of, I welcome the help. Considering how often we’ve been accused of gross inactivity in this country, no one has a right to cry PTO; if Macedonians who came here two weeks ago care more about this country than others who have been here for months, they deserve respect. We can’t have it both ways, folks, we can’t talk about growth and drawing people from around the world here to build and invest, then turn around and accuse them of a PTO when they do. I’m not naïve, I know there’s always someone looking to take advantage of us, and we’ll do our best to isolate specific threats from the rest of the newcomers, but as a general directive, I’m not going to sound the alarm because a handful from a single country come in.



Our Official Stance Is Neutrality: The MPP’s with Germany and Russia are no indication of our international status within the superalliance paradigm. While the MPP with Russia protects us from Japanese invasion, I’m seeing this situation as a regional issue, not a worldwide one, and I’m not interested in getting the powerful countries from around the world involved in this. The best-case scenario would be for Japan to stand down from their bellicose position, but so long as Dokomo and others are pounding the wardrums, we can’t let our guard down. I will do everything to keep us out of Phoenix, EDEN, Brolliance, or any other alliance dedicated to the manipulation of smaller countries like ourselves, but I’m not going to sacrifice the country to satisfy my own principles. I already have a Liaison to Phoenix, I’m looking for her counterpart for EDEN/Brolliance. As far as I’m concerned, and as far as most South Koreans are concerned, we would have remained a small, sleepy hamlet, trying to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible, had Japan not attacked for the sake of a little fun, and it was their reckless act that forced us to seek protection. Putting this through superalliance-speak, the chronology of the war is as follows:

1. South Korea was neutral and turned down an MPP with Russia in late March.
2. Japan, a Brolliance country with ties to EDEN, invaded without provocation.
3. South Korea signed an MPP with Germany, a Phoenix country, solely to protect ourselves from Japan.
4. Japan escalated the war by enlisting the help of EDEN allies, most notably Croatia, but also employing American tanks.
5. South Korea signed an MPP with Russia, a Phoenix country, effectively ending the Japanese, hence EDEN/Brolliance, threat.
6. South Korea remains officially neutral, Japan remains a member of Brolliance with ties to EDEN.

That’s our story, and we’re sticking to it.

Minister of Domestic Affairs: I’ve assigned domestic directorships to several folks, and work is underway to make our country vibrant and active. Knowing the MoDA is a position more for delegating tasks to directors than a hands-on job, my hope is one of my directors will show initiative in taking the instructions I’ve given them and immediately implementing them. By putting public faces on their tasks, by setting up their programs, by virtue of their activity, they’ll prove themselves and will be promoted accordingly. This is part of the expansion of the bureaucracy, turning the government from a president who gets a few of his buddies minister jobs into a meritocracy, where you can work your way up by showing the fruit of your labors. In other words, the MoDA position will not be given out, it will be earned.

Applause to our Minister of Foreign Affairs: Caley has done an extraordinary job in quickly revitalizing our Foreign Affairs division. I’ve given her a wide berth in how she handles the office; truly, I answer to HER more than she answers to me when it comes to international matters. While I’ve been inundated with kind words from leaders around the world, she is the one who will keep this goodwill going. She’s done well in delegating work to ambassadors, instructing them there’s more to being a good ambassador than just showing up on some country’s doorstep and saying I’m here, if you need anything, just whistle.

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Commune Update: The Communist Party has produced a grain company, and my hope is to start advertising for it within the next 48 hours. They have started the commune I talked about in my campaign, and as such, I’ve assigned Che Guevara II as Director of Communal Businesses. Currently, the company is run by the party, not the state, but the hope is to make the company profitable quickly and to bring in a new revenue stream for the state. My hope is to strengthen this company and a counterpart food company to a high-quality status, at which point we’ll seek to sell excess product in foreign markets, bring in even more revenue.

Thoughts on V2: I’ve been given a few peeks into the future, and while no one knows when eRepublik V2 will debut, I’m trying to keep an eye on it so we can be quick to take advantage of it in some way. As such, while it’s imperative to keep this country active, prosperous, and secure, I’m hoping to have a rainy-day fund set up so we can get in on the ground floor in some way and not get left behind. Most of V2’s basics have been leaked out, like titanium being a new resource and helicopters and artillery being options for soldiering. It would be wise to be frugal in investing in our present, knowing V2 will thoroughly change game mechanics in the near future, not so frugal as to let essentials lie in waste, but enough so we have some savings to invest in this brave new world.

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To become involved in the South Korean community, there are several ways to plug yourself in. One is to read this paper and to contribute to the South Korean media, either by reading, voting, and subscribing for articles and newspapers which seek to bring the community together, or by offering your own thoughts in your own articles and pushing your own newspapers. Another is to connect with others in the community, either through the official South Korean Forum (http://www.esouthkorea.freeforums.org/index.php), or by chatting at the IRC channel (the best way there is to go to http://www.mibbit.com, click “Start Chatting”, fill in the information, and go: the server is Rizon, the channel is #ekorea, and the username is your own great name). Hope to see you there!
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