Jeju (Doomsday Report)

Autonomous Province of Jeju (en) 제주 자치구 (kr) 济州自治省 (zh)
— Province of the Korean Union —
Nickname(s): The Gateway to Korea (official), The Foreign Isle
Motto(s): 투쟁의 협력 (Korean: Co-operation in Strife)
Map of Jeju
Provincial language(s)	Korean, Chinese, English
Demonym	Jejuan(s)
Capital (and largest city)	Jeju City
Area	Ranked 13th
• Total	1.849 km2 714 sq mi
Population	Ranked 13th
• Total	543,841 (2020)
• Density	294.127/km2 /sq mi  Ranked
Elevation
• Highest point	Hallasan 1,950 m 6,400 ft
• Lowest point	sea sea level
Established	1986 (13th)
Governor	Ruan Lingyu
Vice Governor	Kim Daniel-il
Council	50 members
• Largest party	Chinese Rights, 25 Seats
• Opposition	National Korean Party, 14 Seats
Time zone	UTC+9
Abbreviations	JJ, JEJ

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

This article contains Korean text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Hangul and Hanja.

Jeju is the southernmost province of the Korean Union, located on the island of Jeju in the Korean Straits. The capital of Jeju is Jeju City. Readmitted into the Korean Union on August 5, 1986, it is the 13th province in order of admission to the Korean Union. It is the only second-level administrative unit region to not have only Korean as its official language. Jeju has a naval border with Jeolla to the north and with Japan to the east and northeast. It's the most open province to the outside world, mostly due to the multicultural population and its extensive autonomy from the mainland allowing more extensive trade to happen between Jeju and the outside world.

Jeju is the warmest province of Korea. The island is of volcanic origin and is centered around its highest peak and volcano, Hallasan. The province has a mountainous core and a hilly ring on the coastline. It has some of the most beautiful coastlines in Asia, hence why it has attracted many visitors in the years after 1999.

Prior to World War III, Jeju was inhabited by a subgroup of Koreans speaking a Koreanic language considered a dialect of Korean. Beforehand, the island was part of Japan along with the rest of Korea. After the Second World War, a leftist uprising was beaten down brutally in 1948, with 27.000 people being killed out of a population of 300.000. After the war, Jeju was occupied by Chinese refugees arriving on boats from Jiangsu and Shandong. This lead to a massive famine as the island fell into anarchy and the province fell into chaos. The American Forces of Korea, the remainder of the US troops stationed in Korea and Japan, invaded the island, contracted by the Korean government, which was too busy dealing with the lawless Chinese border. After bloody battles, during which a large part of the island's population died, the island was settled by the American troopers as well as Chinese and Korean refugees from the north.

The province is involved in progressive politics, being the most open-minded and liberal in Korea. In the present-day, Jeju is the hotspot for trade between Korea and the rest of the world, much to the chagrin of the Korean government. It has also been a hotspot for anti-nationalist groups and Chinese rights activists, which is considered problematic by the central government in Kaesong, but ignored due to the economic dependence on the island and a need for a strategic point to protect itself against a potentially revaunchist Japan.

Etymology

The name "Jeju" was first documented during the Goryeo dynasty, after the annexation of the Kingdom of Tamna, located on the island, was conquered by Goryeo. During the reign of Gojong of Goryeo, Tamna was renamed "Jeju" which means "province across the sea". When the province was reinstated in 1986, there were questions whether to adopt a new name for the island, with proposals ranging from Eden, Tian and New America. However, at the insistence of the Korean government, the name Jeju was kept.

Nicknames

The official nickname is "The Gateway to Korea". The nickname highlights the fact that the province is the most open to the outside world and receives the bulk of trade from the CANZ and Singapore and that the province remains the most diverse province in the entirety of the Korean Union. "The Foreign Island" is a derogatory nickname given to the island by Korean nationalists, who consider Jeju to be more foreign than Korean and mistrust the island's Chinese population.

Other nicknames for the province include "New Hawaii", "Tamna" and "New Taiwan".

The official provincial motto is Korean: "투쟁의 협력", which means "Co-Operation in Strife". It represents the banding together of the Chinese refugees, Korean relocatees and American soldiers between 1986 and 1999.

Geography

The province of Jeju, seen in a released sattelite picture from GLONASS

Overview

Jeju is located south of the Korean peninsula. It shares a maritime border with the province of Jeolla and Japan. With a total area of 1,849 square kilometers (714 sq mi), Jeju is larger than Åland, but slightly smaller than the Emirate of Red Sands. It is the smallest province of the Korean Union. Hallasan, at 1,950 m (6,400 ft) is the highest point on the island.

Topography and terrain

Hallasan, the dominant peak of the island, is a volcano which features many crater lakes.

The island is of volcanic origin and consists mainly of basalt. The largest mountain in former South Korea, Hallasan, is located there. The island measures approximately 73 kilometres (45 mi) across, east to west, and 41 kilometres (25 mi) from north to south

Climate

Jeju has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), making it warmer than that of the rest of the Korean Union. Four distinct seasons are experienced on Jeju; winters are cool and dry while summers are hot, humid, and sometimes rainy. The temperature rarely falls below 0°C and as such is a prime hotspot for the renewed summer tourism industry.

History

Pre-War

Because of the relative isolation of the island, the people of Jeju had developed a culture and language that are distinct from those of mainland Korea. Jeju is home to thousands of local legends. Perhaps the most distinct cultural artifact is the ubiquitous dol hareubang ("stone grandfather") carved from a block of basalt. Jejuans were also considered for a long time to be foreigners and not allowed to set foot on the Korean mainland. Jeju had also suffered greatly under the Korean government, due to the death of 10% of its population during the brutal repression of the Jeju uprising. The incident was still being suppressed, with even mention of the incident being seen as grounds for torture and detainment. This led to anger and resentment by the island population towards the mainland.

Another distinct aspect of Jeju was the matriarchal family structure, found especially in Udo and Mara, but also present in the rest of the province. The best-known example of this was found among the haenyeo ("sea women"), who were often the heads of families, because they controlled the income. They earned their living from free diving, often all year round in quite cold water, without scuba gear, in order to harvest abalones, conches, and a myriad of other marine products. It is thought that women are better at spending all day deep-water diving because they resist cold better. In the early 1960s, 21% of women on the island were free divers, providing 60% of the island's fisheries revenue. However, because of rapid economic development and modernisation, the practice was losing ground on the island.

Post-War

The island was not hit directly by nuclear war and was far away from any nuclear attack, and as such, the island was left isolated. EMP lightly affected the island, and this was noticed, but nobody knew the full scale of the attack, as contact to Seoul was lost immediately. Ships were immediately sent to Busan in order to find out what had happened. In Busan, the Jejuan envoy learned that nuclear attack had occured, and that North and South Korea started fighting each other. 

In the following days, the island began receiving a massive number of refugees from China, mostly from Shandong and Jiangsu. The local government, led by governor Choi Jae-young, was initially welcoming the Chinese refugees, but as refugees began to number in the thousands, the government began losing control of the situation, as it was unable to cope with the massive influx of Chinese people. When the governor tried to refuse entry to further refugees, it had been too late, and the island was ultimately swarmed by starving and sick Chinese refugees. Due to lacking fuel and the local agriculture being geared towards fruit production, people began starving on the island, although initially this wasn't as severe as in other Korean provinces because of the large-scale fishing practice of the island. But as more refugees began landing on Jeju, the situation became more dire, until the Chinese refugees and the provincial government fought, leaving the island leaderless and lawless. A small amount of fishermen and fisherwomen escaped on their vessels to Busan, leaving the island in an even more critical situation, now without the most productive fishing vessels. The leaders of the newly-united Korean Union created a military district, although it couldn't send any troops due to Chinese refugees from Manchuria in the north. 

From what the surviving natives and Chinese recount, several warlords rose out of Jeju City and Seogwipo, with one warlord out of Seogwipo conquering the entire island at one point in April of 1984. He was assassinated in December of 1984 by Chinese marauders, and the entire island fell into anarchy again, after this warlord, reputedly a former police chief, died. He had implemented plans to structure agriculture and create a stable situation by organizing a militia to defend the island, He also had come in contact with authorities in Busan via ham radio. The situation was dire, and it came to be that of the original inhabitants of the island, about half had perished between October of 1983 and July of 1985. 

Invasion by the AFoK and stabilization

The AFoK (American Forced of Korea) is an organisation that was founded by surviving American soldiers around the Korean DMZ in South Korea on November 21st, 1983, after the Koreas united into the Korean Union. These were American forces who felt ostracised by their allies, even though they weren't much discriminated against by either former North Koreans or South Koreans. By 1984, thousands of American soldiers and their families from Japan arrived in Korea after being evicted from the Japanese Islands and joined the AFoK.

The troops continued to help the Korean Union regain its territory from the marauding Chinese refugees and after negotiations with the Korean government, they were contracted in July of 1985 to send an expedition to conquer and stabilise Jeju, in exchange for letting the American troops settle on the island. A bloody conflict ensued, in which many troops, militiamen, refugees and civilians died. In total, only a third of the original population of Jeju survived this bloody conflict. The main conflict happened in Jeju City, which took two months to retake from the gangs that rose up in the city. 

The AFoK started to rebuild the island from the ground up, with funding from the Korean Union, who insisted they use the Chinese refugees, illegally in the country, as forced labour. The Americans protested this, and contributed immensely to the rebuilding of the island where they could. These efforts finished in 1986, when it readmitted as a province in its own right, under the control of the American Forces of Korea. The AFoK's leading commander, William J. Saunders, decreed that Koreans, Americans and Chinese alike are citizens, and as such all received equal rights. As such, the Chinese who participated in the rebuilding stayed on Jeju, and settlement of Koreans from the North and from islanders who fled to the mainland commenced. Due to this, cultural integration resulted into an amalgam of Korean, American and Chinese culture on the island, which led mainland Korea to see it with suspicion. However, the shared experience of violence between the Chinese and the islanders, as well as the reconciliation between the two groups, left the Northern refugees more as outsiders than any other group.

The Americans' willingness to stay in their new home was tested in 1991, when a former American submarine, the USS Benjamin Franklin, arrived on Jeju island in 1991. The submarine offered to any American troops and their families to resettle in Australia, where the American Provisional Administration had been set up by President George H.W. Bush. Due to the fact that many of the Americans intermarried with the Chinese and Koreans, however, only a few agreed. Most Americans stayed and continued to live on the island. 

Forced autonomy and onwards

After contact was established with Australia-New Zealand, the government of the Korean Union realised that extensive contact with Jeju meant an outside influence, as the islands started to trade and develop extensively. As such, the government stepped in to limit ship travel between Jeju on one side and Jeolla and Busan on the other. That was followed by a law stipulating that people from Jeju had to apply for a certain permit to enter the rest of Korea. This was protested by the American Provisional Administration and the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand, which subsequently refused to trade with other cities within Korea, turning the island into a commercial paradise. The Port of Jeju was invested in and subsequently became the largest in all Korea. This made the Korean Union dependent on Jeju economically and forced the government to allow more travel to Jeju. An accord was reached, by which Jeju was allowed more autonomy to regulate its own island, including access to it. Access from mainland Korea to Jeju was still somewhat limited from both sides, but Jejuans would get free permits to work and study in Korea if they apply. This included American and Chinese Jejuans.

When the country became a democracy, the island elected an American governor, William John Saunders (later known as Saunders William-John), who was aligned with a local party, the Jeju Autonomy Front. Subsequently, this became one of the main parties of Jeju, and has always been represented in the national parliament. The province subsequently expanded its port and shipping, and handled most imports to Korea. 

After an attack by a Korean youth on two elderly Chinese, the local government stepped in to make the province more equal, codifying hate crime as an offense and making Chinese and English an official language. This was considered a controversy in mainland Korea, but the government could do nothing to stop the move, as Jeju gained much autonomy and the government was unwilling to provoke Jeju into declaring independence, sure that the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand would be ready to help it become independent. 

In recent years, Jeju has become a haven for Chinese citizens of Korea from urban areas such as Busan, where they become stowaways on ferries and cargo ships heading to Jeju. Jejuan authorities are usually helpful in these situations, but the Korean government is known to step in and deport such a person back to either their place of origin in Korea or to the Korean Border Zone, where Chinese refugees deemed problematic are sent to. Due to the rise of Busan as a major port as well as industrial zone, Jeju has started to have strong competition and is currently more supported by investors in Singapore and the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand. The election of Ruan Lingyu, a female nominee of the Chinese Rights Party, as Governor of Jeju was again received somewhat negatively in Korea, who see a Chinese in Korean leadership as dangerous and unpatriotic.

Demographics

The newest census officially recorded a population of 543,841 people on Jeju. This includes natural increase and an increase due to net migration from other Korean provinces. Jeju's primary source of population growth has generally been births on the island, but also immigration of specialists from the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand and Chinese refugees, who even today manage to find their way to Jeju in small numbers. Mainland Koreans who get permits to set foot on Jeju (which is considered by some to be desirable due to economic standards) are also a factor in the speedy population recovery of Jeju. The island has been historically the fastest-regrowing region in Korea, but this has dramatically slowed down as mainland cities in Korea such as Busan, Ulsan, Daegu and Kaesong have been dramatically improving economically.

Jeju has been consistently ranked by both the WCRB and the WHO as the best place to live in the Korean Union, although this has been denied in Korea itself. According to Korean sources, ranging from interviews and official government responses, the island cannot be considered truly part of Korea due to its culture being vastly different from the rest of Korea, and the anonymous source pointed to centers of industry on the mainland such as Busan and Ulsan as the best places to live in Korea. Interviewees also pointed out that the island's acceptance of Chinese in its society cannot mean a good standard of living, pointing out the relationship between hardships and crime with the Chinese refugees of Korea, pointing to the fact that the average Korean sees Jeju with mistrust due to widespread anti-Chinese slogans by several of the parties in the Korean parliament.

Jeju's largest and most important cities are its two main cities: Jeju City and Seogwipo. Other communities of note on the island are Udo, Gimyeong, Seongsan and Hallim.

Ethnic and ancestral makeup

According to the latest Korean census, the 2020 ethnic makeup of Jeju was as follows according to self-identification.

• 54.5% Koreans (296,393)
• 33.9% Chinese (184,362)
• 7.2% Hapa (39,157)
• 2.8% American Jejuans (15,228)
• 1.6% Other (8,701)

Jeju Ethnic Breakdown of Population

Ethnic composition	1990	2000	2010	2020
Korean	60.0%	58.3%	56.8%	54.5%
Chinese	31.6%	33.2%	33.4%	33.9%
Hapa	3.4%	3.7%	5.5%	7.2%
American Jejuan	5.5%	4.1%	3.0%	2.8%
Other ethnicity	0.4%	0.7%	1.3%	1.6%

By race, an overwhelming 88.4% are East Asian, while 7.4% were mixed race and 4.4% were either Caucasian (2.5%), of Southeast Asian ancestry (1.5%) of colour (Black or Hispanic) (0.4%). Koreans make up the majority of those who are identified as East Asians, accounting for nearly 60% of all respondents as full or partial ancestry. About a third of Jeju's population were born on Jeju, with the vast majority being born in mainland Korea or in China itself. Only about a half of the Korean population has partial or full ancestry from the original population of Jeju pre-World War III. 

Most of the white, black, Latino and Hapa population is of American descent, descending from the military personnel stationed in both South Korea and Japan prior to the war. These influenced Jeju culturally with more American values, giving it an unique blend. The military rule of the American Forces of Korea until democratisation in 1999 is also a factor in the prominence of the white and Hapa population, which is heavily Americanised. 

Religion

Religious affiliation in Jeju

Affiliation	% of Jejuan population
Buddhist	38	38
Christian	25	25
Protestant or Evangelical	20	20
Catholic	4.5	4.5
Other Christian	0.5	0.5
No religion given	15.1	15.1
Other religion	21.9	21.9
Total	100	100

The largest religion on Jeju is Buddhism, which is followed by about 38% of the population. The largest amount of Buddhists are those following the doctrines of Chinese Buddhism, but a large amount also follows the Seon group of Buddhism, specifically the one espoused by the Taego and Jogye orders before the war. Influences from Northern schools of Buddhism led to a resurgence in traditional Korean Buddhist practices.

The second-largest religion in the province is ​Christianity, which is followed by about 25% of the population, with 20% identifying as Protestant​ (following either Korean Presbyterianism, Korean Methodism or Jeju Evangelicalism), 4.5% ​identify Catholic​, and 0.5% identify as part of other denominations. The Korean Ministry of Culture's 2012 Religious and Spiritual Data in the Korean Union Report indicated that the largest religious Christian denomination by number of adherents is the Jeju Evangelical Church, followed closely by the ​Korean Presbyterian Church, which isaffiliated with the Archdiocese of Busan. After those are the Roman Catholics, Korean Methodists, Baptists and Mormons.

The category of other religions has the next-biggest followers, at about 21.9% of the population. These are usually followers of traditional Korean and Chinese religions, such as Wuism, Sindoism, Korean Confucianism and Taoism, both being either surviving native Jejuans or by Chinese immigrants. Jeju's native faith, the Samseong mythology, is still popular among the Jeju natives, but the Dangun mythology that came with the immigrants from the north is also practiced. Korean Confucianism is also practiced, though much less than traditional Korean shamanism. Wuism and Taoism are religions practiced among the Chinese community of the island. However, in the category of other religions are followers of Cheondoism and of the many scattered groups of Jeungsanism.

Irreligious people (a group which includes ​atheists​, ​agnostics​, ​antitheists​, and ​apatheists) comprise 15.1% of the population of the islands. Due to a religious revival in the Chinese community, the number has gone down on the island, and has left Jeju as one of the least irreligious provinces of Korea.

Most Jejuans are not very religiously zealous, with only 44% claiming to be religious in every aspect. This figure is very high among Korean Presbyterians and Korean Methodists, but lower for Roman Catholics, Jeju Evangelicalism and Buddhists. Jeju, like most of the Korean Union's southern provinces, has suffered problems with radical Presbyterians and Methodists destroying and harassing Catholic, Buddhist, Wuist, Sindoist and Jeju Evangelical faithful, and vandalising their places of worship. Unlike some provinces on the mainland, though, Jeju has condemned such attacks and the provincial governments is taking a stance against radical action on the island, religious or ethnic. It is one of the founding members of the Inter-Provincial League Against Radical Protestantism.

Language

The official languages of the autonomous province are Korean, Chinese and English. This makes Jeju the only province within the Korean Union to recognize languages other than Korean as official languages. Still, Korean is the main language of the province, even if the influence of Chinese has diversified the spectrum a bit. English has also slowly started to replace Korean as the main communication language on the island.  

Most of the population, arounf 56.8%, spoke primarily Korean at home, 34.0% spoke primarily Chinese and 6.4% spoke primarily English at home. Other languages spoken on the island are Japanese, Tagalog and Malay, spoken primarily by a fracture of the Hapa community or by the diverse foreigner populations, respectively. 

Jeju is the most linguistically diverse province in the country, and is home to over 30 languages. Many different varieties of Chinese are spoken among Jeju's Chinese commiunity, with Wu and Mandarin Chinese of the Jianghuai, Jiaoliao, Jilu and Zhongyuan varieties being the most widespread on the island. 

Culture

Jeju's culture has divereged immensely from standard Korean culture during the crisis years due to American and Chinese influence on the island, giving it a more mixed cultural identity. In addition, it is the Korean province most influenced by foreign nations such as the Philippines, Singapore and the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand. The province's association with international trade and seafood have also contributed to the culture and public image of the province. An ideal location for Koreans and Chinese alike, Jeju is often portrayed as a land for opportunity and freedom from the confines of standard Korean society. It is also pejoratively seen as a province filled with "toxic Chinese influence and dangerous outside activity" by Korean nationalist, and the population of the island are accused, regardless of identity, of having destroyed pre-Doomsday Jejuan and Korean culture on the island. 

Home to the Hallasan, volcanic lava tubes and many beaches, Jeju is a major tourist destination in the re-emerging tourism industry of the modern world. During the summer, the beaches are beginning to be filled up to the brim by tourists from other parts of Korea, the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand and Singapore. The Geomun Oreum hiking trails are very popular hiking trails taking a hiker to all nine 'dragon peaks' on the island, including the peak of Hallasan. Gambling, although illegal under provincial law, is currently reviewed by the provincial legislature in connection with opening tourist markets. Jeju's Route 1132 is a scenic route around the island itself, but the busiest road is the Route 1131 which goes directly from Jeju City to Seogwipo through the inland.

Jejumok Gwana, the historic governor's offices on Jeju, are one of the most extensive historic sites to see. Other historic areas on Jeju island include Samseonghyeol, the place from which the three creators of Jeju are said to have originated from, the old village of Seongeup, which is one of the few intact old villages on the island, those having been devastated either during the Jeju Uprising or during the anarchy years between 1983 and 1985, and the Sanbanggulsa Temple near Seogwipo. Due to major destruction and subsequent development in the 20th century, many historic sites on Jeju have been destroyed or built over, but the island compensates with natural wonders, such as the Halla National Park in the inner areas on the island. The island is also full of coastline wonders and lava tubes, as well as other signs of volcanic activity. 

Art and literature

Jeju, home to a diverse, growing population, has allowed the arts and innovation to flourish again in the province. After the troubled years during the anarchic phase, a few museums have been reopened, including a few for modern art and for old Jejuan art. Jeju City has proclaimed itself as the "City of Arts and Innovation" and hosts the largest post-Doomsday art exhibition in East Asia, with many pieces of artwork inspired by the catastrophic situations after the war.

One of the most renown sons of the island is author Hyun Ki-young, who wrote one of the first accounts of the Jeju Uprising, "Aunt Suni", which was swiftly banned by the South Korean regime prior to Doomsday. The book, now legal in the entire country, as the uprising and the devastating damage done by the Korean government was acknowledged during the Jeju talks of the 1990s, is still somewhat controversial in the former South, but is seen more positively in the former North and among leftist politicians, who point to these and similar other crackdowns as failures of the central South Korean apparatus towards democracy.

Music

Elliot's Chair, owned by the eponymous Elliot McTaggart, is the root of Jeju grunge and Jeju's rock venue.

The province is also known for its open culture and is as such influenced by foreign music. While few successful music bands originate from Jeju, apart from the very successful anarcho-punk band Blade and the Jeju grunge band Tian Comes For All, musical acts from around the world have given concerts in Jeju, including Black Sabbath, Keith Urban, Dragonhead and Infinite Recursion. Jeju is known as the rock music capital of East Asia, and Jeju is known for its small local rock bands, performing in Chinese, English and Korean. Besides rock, genres such as trot, Korean ballad and T'ong guitar are widespread on the island, as they are in most areas of Korea.

Cuisine

Dangyuja, a type of pomelo native to Jeju, is the most widely eaten type of pomelo in the Eastern hemisphere.

Being an isolated island and lacking major sources of fresh water, Jeju has a cuisine differing from the rest of Korea. The traditional Jejuan meal generally consists of japgokbap, which is a bowl of steamed multiple grains such as millet as a main dish, with salted dried fish called jaban as side dishe, and a soup based on Doenjang (soybean paste) such as baechuguk made with Napa cappage, kongnipguk made with soybean leaves, or muguk made with radish. Jejuan dishes are made with simple ingredients, and the taste is generally salty.

Raw seafood is commonly consumed as a part of the meal. The warm weather affects Jeju cuisine in that gimjang, preparing kimchi in late autumn for winter consumption, is not necessary to Jeju, as it is in the other provinces. Only a small amount of kimchi is pickled by Jeju locals. Representative main dishes in Jeju cuisine are porridge made with fish, seafood, seaweed, or mushrooms. Examples include Jeonbonjuk made with abalone, okdomjuk made with red tilefish, gejuk made with crabs, gingijuk made with bangge, maeyeoksae juk made with young miyeok, and chogijuk made with Shiitake. Korean barbeque tradition has continued on the island, with black pig and Jeju cattle meat now being representative of the taste of the Korean barbeque tradition. 

Korean barbecue culture continues to be vibrant on Jeju, using local types of meat such as from Jeju cattle and Jeju black pig.

Gamgyul is a type of orange similar to the Mandarine orange or tangerine, commonly harvested on Jeju island, alongside byeonggyul, a relative of sweet orange and key lime, and dangyuja, a type of pomelo. Jeju Black pig is a delicacy on the island as well. Black pigs are famous for their black hair and their meat for its chewy texture. The meat is nutritious and does not have the unique smell of pork. Black pigs' other notable features are their long faces, narrow snouts and small ears that stand up. Jeju cattle is also raised for it's milk and meat. Horse meat is also a delicacy of the island. 

Sports

Jeju has the peculiarity of being one of the few Korean provinces which does not have ice hockey or association football as its most popular sport. This is, in part, due to Jeju's climate and its American-influenced culture. However, one of the most successful baseball teams of Korea has its home on Jeju, the Jeju Eagles, which was founded by the American Forces of Korea in 1988 in order to bring some divertisment into the lives of the region. Baseball still is the most popular team sport on Jeju, followed by American football and association football.

Jeju is also home to many sport types such as scuba diving and taekwondo. Scuba diving has become popular among the tourists, and is frequently practiced by both wealthier residents and tourists. Taekwondo has been introduced in the physical education curriculum by the Korean government and has been supported by the local government. However, taekwondo is not the only martial art learned on Jeju. Differing martial art styles from China and karate have also been known to be popular.

Jejuans, in their past time, prefer playing ping pong, xiangqi, chess or badminton. This has been attributed to the influence of Chinese refugees in the country, who brought the popularity of xianqi and other sports on Jeju itself. Riding is also a favourite pastime for Jejuans who own a Jeju horse.  

Economy

A hotel in the city center of Jeju. Hotels are a lifeline for modern Jeju, as it was before the war.

Jeju has historically been dominated by agriculture and fishing, as well as the growing tourism market. Following Doomsday, the tourism market collapsed and the economy became non-existent, only to be restored after 1986. During that year, agriculture, fishing and animal husbandry was promoted and became the main economic source on the island.

After contact with the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand was established, the American-led military government of Jeju, given essentially unchallenged rule over the island, established major links to the CANZ and later the Philippines. It lowered barriers on trade and taxes, and while the Korean government tried to reign in the American Forces of Korea on Jeju, it had to deal with the massive flood of Chinese refugees in the north and on the western coast in Jeolla and in Hwanghae. By the time the 7-Day War overthrew the joint Communist an anti-Communist military rule in favour of a sort of democracy, Jeju had already become a major port, and shipping and trade has become the main lifeline of Jeju and the Korean Union, becoming the port from which goods manufactured in cities like Daegu, Busan and Ulsan reached Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Starting in the early 2000s, the provincial government of Jeju started a program, in which the island is encouraging investors all over the world to support Jeju as the main shipping and banking hub in East Asia. Through this program. most trade vessels in the area make stops in Jeju, and offshore bank accounts have become popular with CANZ and Filipino businessmen. As such, Jeju has become the province with the highest standard of living in Korea and all of East Asia, although major reforms taken by the government in 2019 opened the ports of Busan and Ulsan to foreign trade as well, threatening Jejuan monopoly on foreign access (bar Siberia) to Korea.

The total gross provincial product for 2017 was $? COD with a GPP per capita of $?, while the per-capita personal income was $?. As of April 2018, the unemployment rate was ?%.

Agriculture, fishing and animal husbandry

Gamgyul are a very important product for the Jeju agriculture, along with byeonggyul and dangyuja.

Agriculture, fishing and animal husbandry has traditionally been the cornerstone of Jeju's economy, and its importance has only risen after World War III. Jeju's largest agricultural products are citrus fruits of several kind, milk, fish, seafood, beef, barley, millet, buckwheat, pork, and cabbage. Historically, fish and seafood represented Jeju's most important food source, and the fishing industry has made a huge comeback after a period of great decline in the 70s. After the reconquest of the island, agricultural production was put as the highest priority in the country, and still much of the land of the island is used for agriculture and animal husbandry in order to sustain the population. Gamgyul, byeonggyul and dangyuja have become some of the most important citruses in the Eastern Hemisphere, after cultivation of the mandarin orange and tangerine collapsed due to Doomsday. Gamgyul, byeonggyul and dangyuja can be found on markets from Siberia to New Zealand and Indonesia commonly, and even be found sometimes on the Indian subcontinent and the western coast of the Americas. Jeju has become the main producer of citrus fruits in all of Asia.

Business and trade

The port of Jeju City has become the busiest port in all of East Asia, and is currently growing at an exponential rate.

Jeju is home to the emerging financial, trade and banking sector of Korea and East Asia. Many shipping firms from the CANZ, the Philippines and Singapore have established offices in Jeju City. The Bank of Jeju is renown as one of the best banks to open an offshore bank account in in the entire eastern hemisphere, and the banking sector's rise doesn't seem to have limits. Due to the rise of tourism, the hotel, air traffic and dining sectors have made a comeback, with many restaurants and bistros having opened on Jeju since 2003, the year tourism has started to gain traction again on the island. Hyundai Heavy Industries has moved is corporate headquarters from Ulsan to Jeju City, where it has become one of the largest shipbuilding companies in the region.

Logistics

Jeju is home to the largest distribution centers and facilities in the nation, with major manufacturing companies basing their logistical foreign operations in the province. The location and the policies of Jeju makes it an ideal place to set up export offices. Manufacturers on the mainland have Jejuan offices for the needs of export in Jeju, including Samsung and Hyundai. More than ninety percent of all imported goods and cargo for export is shipped through the Port of Jeju to other parts of the Korean Union and even further to the USSR.

Military

While Jejuans are exempt from mandatory military service, they must serve 6 months either in the Jeju Home Militia, run for guerilla purposes in case of an invasion or in the Jeju Coast Guard. However, Jeju hosts a large contingent of the Korean Navy at their base in Seogwipo on the southern part of the island. This land has been leased to the Korean Navy for 25 years, starting in 1999, and has been since developed into a major military base for the Korean Navy. It is, however, a major source of controversy, as soldiers from the mainland have been known to sometimes harass Chinese Jejuans over their ethnicity, which led to major demonstrations outside of the naval base.

Taxation and budget

Jeju is considered a tax haven for its notably low income and corporate taxes, which allows businessmen and corporations to establish a larger profit within the province, to the chagrin of mainland cities such as Busan and Ulsan. The income tax has been settled in six tax brackets from 1% to 6%, while the corporate tax is fixed between 2% and 6.99%. The provincial sale tax lies at around 5.35% for all tangible products, with the exception of prescription drugs, which have their own tax (up to 20$ COD). Property tax is settled at a flat tax of 1% in both Seogwipo and Jeju City. There are no inheritance taxes or gift taxes. A 0.5% flat tax has been issued on all intangible property, including bonds, notes, contracts, trusts, annuities, and loans to stockholders.

Infrastructure and transportation

Energy

The chief electricity providers of the province are thermal power plants, which are reliant on oil and natural gas imports coming out of Indonesia and the Philippines. This has led to a Jejuan dependence on foreign imports of natural gas and oil. This is due to the energy shortage that the island shares with the rest of Korea. However, a large coal plant in Jeolla currently supplies via cable around 39% of energy demand, with the rest being produced on the islands via imported natural gas and oil.

Currently, almost all the energy on Jeju comes from non-renewable energy, mainly gas and coal. Plans to increase import of oil and natural gas are in motion, however, and the government plans on making a major deal with Vietnam regarding energy imports, which would cut costs significantly. However, these talks are supervised by the Korean Union, which isn't keen to make any part of the Korean Union more dependent on the outside world than it already is. Furthermore, the reopening of coal mines in the former North may increase Korean reliance on coal as a power source.

Roads

The Jeju Department of Public Transportation is responsible for the development, maintenance, oversight, and operation of Jeju's roads. The highest posted speed limit on Jeju is 90 km/h, which is present on all major roads outside of cities. Most provincial roads are paved.

Jeju's Departmens of Motor Vehicles is the government agency responsible for registering and inspecting motor vehicles, including automobiles, trucks, and motorcycles, as well as licensing drivers in the province. The earliest possible age to receive a driver's license is 18, although the province allows those aged 17 ½ years old to obtain a driver's permit. The province has some of the country's most lax laws on drunk driving, with a minimum sentencing of only 30 days in jail and a license suspension of 4 months for first time offenders, and 6 months suspension for underaged offenders. The blood alcohol content (BAC) legal limit is 0.08% for non-commercial drivers above the age of 18, 0.04% for commercial drivers, and 0.01% for drivers under the age of 18.

Water

Water, a highly contested and essential resource, has been the source of ongoing political contention within the province. The rapid population growth in Jeju and lack of major water resources has placed enormous stress on the water supply. The resource is essential for the continued development of the province and its industries, and remains a top priority for the provincial government as demand continues to outpace the wells and ground water supplies.

Due to this situation, Jeju has a major dependence on water imports from mainland Korea, mainly from Gangwon, as well as from outside nations such as the Philippines and Taiwan. However, the CANZ has invested in ground water pumps in order to make the island self-sufficient in the water sector. This has been met with controversy by the federal Korean government.

Government and politics

Overview

The government of Jeju is governed by the Constitution of Jeju. While it is a Korean province, Jeju has a high degree of autonomy held by the government. The government consists of three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The executive branch consists of the civilian component, headed by the governor. The civilian component of the executive branch also consists government agencies and law enforcement agencies. The legislative branch is the unicameral 43-member Provincial Legislature. The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court and lower courts.

The current constitution was adopted on November 11, 2001, and is the first version of the provincial constitution since autonomy was granted. It consists of over thirty articles and two hundred amendments, with over three-fourth of the amendments being the result of voter-based initiatives and referenda. It guarantees various rights and freedoms of the people and describes the function, purpose, structure, and duties of the government of the province of Jeju. In addition to the Provincial Constitution, all laws and statutes are codified in the Jeju Civil Code.

Overview of important laws

Capital punishment

Capital punishment is legal in the province, either by hanging or by firing squad. Between 1986 and 2018, the Autonomous Province of Jeju carried out 200 executions, most of them during the first three years. As of May 2018, there were only 2 offenders enrolled on death row, all of whom were male, one Korean and one Hapa. Jeju's legislature has rejected two initiatives to repeal the death penalty by popular vote in 2004 and 2014. The Jeju Penal Code lists four crimes as capital offenses that may entail the death penalty: treason against the province and the Union, murder (in almost all instances), perjury that causes the execution of an innocent person, and engaging in espionage activities that are detrimental to the province and the Union. These offenses are in compliance with guidelines set up by the Korean federal government.

Alcohol and other drugs

The sale of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, and other legal drugs are restricted to individuals aged 18 and older. Minors are allowed to consume alcohol and other drugs with parental supervision in private settings. Minors aged 14 and up are permitted to consume alcohol at an established restaurant provided they finish the drink on-site and do so in the presence of a parent or legal guardian. The province enforces laws against drunk driving and driving under the influence, with punishments included up to 8-months of driver's license suspension, four months of imprisonment, and a fine.

Drinking establishments have no legislature regarding last call or closure of establishments. Liquor stores, convenience stores, and supermarkets may sell alcohol 24 hours a day without restrictions aside from existing legislation include the prohibition of sale of alcohol to minors. No laws are put up against public smoking.

Age of majority laws

The official age of majority on Jeju is 18. Both the age of consent and marriageable age is 17, although minors aged 16 may marry if they have written permission from both of their parents or legal guardians. Any sexual activity between minors below the age of consent and adult citizens automatically qualifies as statutory rape, although exemptions are permitted if the activity was consensual and age differences between the two parties does not exceed more than two years apart. Since gambling is illegal in Jeju, no minimum age for gambling is set up.

LGBT rights

In 2011, Jejuan voters voted in favor of Proposition 102, which recognized same-sex relationships and civil unions. Previously, domestic partnerships between same-sex couples were criminal offenses and punishable by jail-time. These changes were met by protest of both the Korean government and the National Korean Front, who wanted to keep same-sex couplings a crime.

Administrative divisions

City-County	Seat	Population	Population (2010) Percentage	Area (sq. km.)	Area %
Extant
Jeju	Yeon-dong	326,857	63.5%	977.8	55%
Seogwipo	Seogwi-dong	187,879	36,5%	870.68	45%
Totals: 2		514,736	100.00%	1,849	100.00%

Jeju has two city-counties. Each city-county maintains a few of its own local laws, regulations, and government. Both run on the board of supervisors system, which grants elected officials to operate with executive, legislative, and quasi-judicial powers over the counties, inspired by the US model. The city-county governments are responsible for tax collection, law enforcement, voter registration, road maintenance, public utilities, waste disposal and collection, animal control, schools, hospitals, jails, libraries, vital records, health inspections, and more. City-counties are further divided into dong (districts), eup (towns) and myeon (townships). Dong are considered part of the respective city itself, and acts more like a district of a city than a settlement of it's own. Eup and myeon are considered settlements independent of the city's control, and as such are more autonomous.

In terms of total area, the largest city-county on Jeju is Jeju City-County at 977.8. sq. km, while the smallest city-county is Seogwipo City-County at 870.68 sq. km.. In 2015, Jeju City was the more populated city-county of Jeju, while Seogwipo remained last in population

Political party strength and ideologies

Jeju is regarded as a base for many of the country's more liberal parties, such as the Chinese Rights Party and the Progressive Party. Voters have tended to align themselves with multicultural parties and more open-minded, business-friendly parties, such as the Jeju Autonomy Front. The province is the epicenter of the Chinese Civil Rights Movement, a platform adopted by parties which are wielding influence over the mainland. Voters tend to hold multicultural values, being against the nationalism found on the Korean mainland. However, there are strongholds of the National Korean Front on Jeju, mostly in the townships and towns on Jeju not as much affected by the influx of Chinese refugees and American forces from Japan and the mainland.

Demographically, the region hasn't changed a lot due to policy made by the Korean federal government, but the influence of the government is seen sometimes when the government tries to intervene on behalf of nationalist and anti-Chinese groups on Jeju. Most recently, the murder of a mixed Chinese and Korean boy age 15 has caused outrage, and the Jejuan local government had to to take all the steps to not cause a major disaster. The National Korean Front was accused of inciting violence and terror, and there were some calls to ban it from the island, but the national government has prevented such a drastic action in the province, leading to renewed talks about Jeju's autonomy.

Education

The scope of education is, in Jeju's case alone, a provincial issue and is managed by the Jeju Department of Educational Services. Laws pertaining to education on Jeju are described and regulated by Article XII in the Provincial Constitution. All public and private schools, as well as authorized homeschooling arrangements, must comply with Jeju's Master Educational Plan, as defined by the Department of Educational Services. Students and schools are evaluated annually by the nationally administered jeongug haglyeog siheom (National Academic Test). There are only 3 postsecondary institutions. These are the University of Jeju City (UJC), the Jeju University of Economics, and the private, CANZ-funded Saunders College for Law. The province has no postsecondary institution related to religious movements, as is standard practice in Korea.

Jeju ranks the highest in terms of test scores, graduation, and bachelor's degree completion. This comes from the relative wealth and educational funding the provincial education system has. An financial aid and grant system is funded to support economically disadvantaged families and students seeking to attend university within the province, the only one of its kind in Korea, and it is modelled upon the US model prior to the War. The prestige of the Jejuan institution has made the island-province a popular student destination for high-end students from Korea, particularely for those in the field of economics and business. Other students from countries with lower education, such as from Jiangsu, Taiwan, Macau and recently Japan have started coming to Jeju to study. Literacy rates are at about 85% on Jeju, one of the highest in Korea (outside of federal cities).

About 38% of Jeju's adult population above the age of 25 has earned a college degree. Roughly 12% of people over 25 years old have gone to college but have not earned a degree. Only 15% of those above the age of 30 has earned a doctorate or equivalent-level degree from graduate school. In 2017, about 72% of college students enrolled during at least one quarter of the 2017–2018 academic year reported that they were the first in the family or in the first generation of the family to attend college.

Homeschooling

Homeschooling is permitted, although homeschooled students must be registered with a certified independent study program attached to a public school or charter school. Charter schools may be the student's home if their parents choose to operate their home as one after receiving accreditation from the Jeju government. Parents who opt to set up their own private school for their children must file an annual affidavit declaring the coursework the home intends to instruct the students with and agree to have their children take an annual assessment test to prove a satisfactory level of educational attainment. Students who fail the test on more than two occasions within two academic years are subject to becoming automatically enrolled with a public school, and cause the parents' homeschooling license rights to be revoked.