Kurokawa Isao

Right Honourable and Gallant Kurokawa Isao
Image of Kurokawa Isao during his time in exile within Meridon
Prime Minister of the Korean Democratic State
Abolished
In office 1929 – 1945 (Coup)
Deputy	Ishii Tadashi
Preceded by	Role Established
Parliamentary group	Kakumei Dōmeitō (Center)
Head of the National Council on War
In office 1931 – 1945 (coup)
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	Role Established
Succeeded by	Ogata Katsu
Personal details
Born	(1880-02-02)February 2, 1880 Sōru, Kaesong
Died	January 30, 1971(1971-01-30) (aged 90) Meridon, Esvanovia
Political party	Kakumei Dōmeitō (Center) (Pre-1945)
Other political affiliations	Worker's Party (Post-1950)
Spouse	Kurokawa Mayumi
Children	Kurokawa Kohaku, Kurokawa Masanori
Residence(s)	Misanui, Taikorea
Education	N/A (Homeschooled)
Alma mater	Sōru National Academy (Honorary)
Nickname	"Oni Shushō"

Kurokawa Isao (Isao Kurokawa, 1880-1971) was the sole Prime Minister of the Korean Democratic State during the Great War, alongside being a notable writer, partisan fighter, and political consultant for the Meridonian Worker's Party after his exile. His rule was marked by initial democratic reforms followed by a long backslide of such during the Great War, with his planned two-year term being extended 8 times due to the conflict. Additionally associated with his rule was state-backed repression of Jungg'o independence activists, the entrenchment of the Kakumei Dōmeitō as the sole source of power for the state, and a gradual loss of trust in the concept of democracy as a whole amongst the populace- the former of these actions earning him the title of the "Oni Shushō", or "Demon Prime Minister". During the later years of the Great War, he would be removed from office by Ogata Katsu and forced into exile abroad, eventually ending up in Meridon, where he would act as a consultant and supporter of the Worker's Party

Isao was born to a low-ranking peasant family which had been forced to move to Sōru by the Kaesong government. He would begin partisan activity during the Chamorro War of 1920 at the age of 40, although he had been sympathetic to such movements for most of his life, and had been a covert supporter of the 1915 Kaesong Coup Attempt.

Isao would eventually be a primary leader in the Kaihō Kinenbi which overthrew the Kaesong State, gaining mass approval for his heroic actions in storming the Palace of the Nation and capturing then-leader Masaki Atsushi. Isao would be pushed into a position of leadership in the newly formed Korean Democratic State, with his Kakumei Dōmeitō, a fusion of many major parties of the time period, gaining mass traction and propelling him to the role of Prime Minister. His government would be successful for the two years it had been chosen to steer, but his planned retirement would be foiled by the breakout of the Great War, which he would be re-elected to engage in.

Isao would prove a fairly able military leader, but would lose control of his own government to more radical elements after his encouragement of violent activity against those who opposed collectivization drives and other wartime measures, eventually being couped by General Ogata Katsu after vocally condemning the poor conduct and almost overt theft being carried out by the army in Janpia. This would result in him traveling the world for a period of time, eventually settling in Meridon, where he would perish.

Early life, Education

Isao would be born, as mentioned, to a family of poorer peasants who, unable to send him to the Kaesong National Academy, would homeschool him. His father, a former mathematician under the Marquesan colonial regime, would instill a sense of discipline in his son, alongside the more immediately usable lessons in arithmetic and literature. Isao would be a notably isolated child, spending long stretches of time alone with reading material, and being almost habitually unwilling to spend large amounts of time with others. This isolation would eventually end when he was forced by his parents to leave their home, with his first manufacturing job resulting in the loss of three of his fingers and the beginning of his alignment towards "Left" political views, including involvement in Lorist study groups, although he would orient away from such and towards left-variants of Pan-Hiakemirism early on in life.

Upon leaving the job, he would move back to the countryside, acting as a farmer. He would also assist in smuggling partisan fighters away from Sōru, protecting them from state harassment and sending them down a line of homes owned by similar individuals to areas abroad. Isao would kill two soldiers in a botched attempt at one of these escorts, which started his partisan career due to the necessity to flee from his home.

Partisan Career

Forced from his home, Isao would sign up with a number of partisan organizations, acting primarily as a smuggler, both of people and resources. His smuggling capabilities would be noted by several higher ups in these partisan groups, who would utilize him as a go-between to arrange meetings and general interaction between said groupings. This role in the general sphere of inter-factional partisan interaction would set him up to play a far greater role in the soon-to-be future.

Isao would play a major role in the post-Chamorro KDS Revolution, where he would assist directly in the overthrow of Masaki Atsushi, organizing the storming of several important governmental structures through his association with early partisan groupings, eventually leading to the execution of Masaki and the establishment of the Korean Democratic State in 1929.

Political Career

Formation of the Kakumei

Isao's first major role in the aftermath of the 1929 Revolution would be acting as a go-between for establishing the (then-temporary) Kakumei Domeito, a coalition of several partisan groups formed into a singular political party for the purposes of establishing a unified state and ensuring the continued defense of the territorial holdings of the Korean State, alongside other promises of economic restoration and foreign alliance-making.

The Kakumei would be successful initially, both at contesting elections- winning a vast majority with no functioning opposition, owing in some part to Isao's own popularity- and in the role of forming a government, where Isao was initially set to gain the role of Minister of the Interior. This role was one Isao privately felt he was far more suited for than that of PM after initially being approached, but extenuating circumstances would lead to his appointment to PM before his tenure as Interior Minister could even begin.

Appointment as Prime Minister

The initial candidate for the role of Prime Minister in the new state, one Kita Hajime would be found dead a mere day before he was intended to assume the office, and, in-line with the preagreed decision by all factions in the event of his death (a provision made owing to his advanced age), Isao would be appointed to the role to serve the two-year term Hajime had been scheduled for. Isao's two years in office would be generally successful, passing several major reforms and setting the stage for planned elections in 1931, until the Great War broke out- leading to the first of 8 extensions of term he would be given.

Great War

The "Big Three"

Isao would be one of the "Big Three" leaders, alongside Reginald Lancaster of Meridon and ADD_LEADER_HERE of Anagonia, a term used to describe the three primary nations fighting against Marquesan and its associated allies. Isao would engage in much debate with Lancaster over policy, how the war was to be conducted, and most especially the Lancasterian school of foreign policy, although their shared favor for democratization and military experience would prevent such conversations from permanently breaking the relationship between the two, with Isao regarding Reginald as a highly effective leader overall.

Exile

Meridon

Isao would find himself in Meridon as his funds began to dwindle. Originally intending to find funds before moving on, he would become a consultant to the Worker's Party, giving them policy and polling advice based on his own experiences. This would lead to a revitalization of their prospects, enough for them to begin paying him a regular wage, which he would utilize to purchase a home for himself and his family in Meridon. He would work with the Worker's Party for several years, eventually retiring from political life entirely upon entering his late 80's. He would spend the remainder of his life in relative isolation, publishing one book throughout three years, a far cry from his previously common schedule 10-12 books every three years.

Influence on the Worker's Party

Isao would be the primary actor of a resurgence in the Worker's Party and its general popularity after the continued slump they had been trapped in since the Takerehāia and their involvement in such. This was primarily accomplished through the Three P's of his attempt at modernization of the Worker's Party, Presentability, the Parallel Society, and Political Unity. By focusing on these three, and shedding revolutionary and direct calls for the abolishment of capital (instead, through his belief of Parallel Societies prognosticating that capital relations would become secondary after worker-organized communes and support groups became the primary means of intersocial interaction), he would appeal to those demographics of modern Meridon which were actually open to interaction with the Worker's Party, including student groupings, members of worker's organizations who had been slighted by the Workers Party's overfocus on internationalism under the auspice of Lorism, an ideology he would abandon for the parties official charter, and to a lesser extent members of the white-collar industrial sphere, such as Nurses or other secondary figures in overall white-collar work.

His revival of the Worker's Party would lead to him achieving a surprising popularity amongst the population of such- with many of his theories becoming official doctrine to his own surprise, and this connection lasting after his death (to the surprise of several political commentators of the period), leading the Worker's Party to its modern capability to influence policy to a minor degree. In the aftermath of his death, he has been criticized for the pushing-out of the National-Lorist faction of the party, which encouraged the formation of terroristic splinters such as All Along The Watchtower, who he would criticize almost to the extent he criticized opposition figures during his time as a major party official.

While Isao would never contest an election, he would play a key role in choosing the candidates who were in the running, with his communal institutions continually supporting candidates from his own factional grouping (and thus playing an oversized role in interparty determination). Isao's handpicked candidates would play a major role in his goal of Presentability, with him primarily selecting from a middle-aged, professional class.

During this time period, Isao’s successful revival of the Worker’s Party would see him make a major enemy of the major right wing individuals and political groupings within Meridon during this time, creating an escalating series of counter-WP action which would crescendo with a series of attempts on his life in the years of 1966-1968, federal intervention and provision of a security detail only occurring after one such attack lead to the death of his wife.

Death, Legacy

Isao would die of lung cancer at the age of 90 in January, shortly after the beginning of the new year. His funeral would be attended by his two children and several officials of the Meridonian Worker's Party who had been his protégé.

Family

His twin children, Kurokawa Kohaku and Kurokawa Masanori would become notable Worker's Party organizers in their later life. TBA