Iminchebol

Iminchebol (lit. "People's Chaebols"/"People's Financial Cliques") is a term used to describe industrial/pseudo-financial cliques controlling large portions of the Neo-Korean economy, gaining such control due to close relations with the government. The general structure of the Iminchebol is organized around a central (usually arms-focused) manufacturing base with attached industrial and service industries under the overall umbrella of this manufacturing base. While the Iminchebol played a notable part in the economics of the Korean Democratic State, they came into true power with the establishment of Neo-Korea and Hikaru Sakuma's allowance of their gradually increasing influence in exchange for loyalty. This would be expanded to an even greater extent by Beom Dae, who (with the 1995 Economic Reforms) granted them defacto control of the vast majority of industrial interaction within the country. The Iminchebol provided the vast majority of military armaments for the Invasion of Jungg'o, with a majority of military developments past that point also having the involvement of an Iminchebol at some point.

Terminology

The term Iminchebol was coined by Otani Masashi, combining the word for "People" with that of "Financial Cliques", although the term only entered mass utilization after the 1995 Reforms. By definition, Iminchebol only means an manufacturing entity which has attached subsidiaries, although the public variation of the term includes fiscal dominance to these listed meanings.

Significance

The Iminchebol have been noted to possess major influence on the policies of the National Development Party, with their integration into such being a notable source of the increasingly pro-Iminchebol policy perpetrated by the party. Their development of arms has also granted them greater connection to the military- with Karasu specifically becoming a favored partner in many experimental designs. This military connection has been noted to have the potential of subverting or otherwise superseding the authority of the party in the relative future, with the twin-influences of a combined military-corporate grouping exerting control of the state to a greater extent than the party.

This effect was notable on the later-war Revolutionary Alliance Party, where corporate-backed candidates would be notably supportive of the remaining militarist aligned elements of the party, bolstering them and creating the conditions which arguably lead to the Korean Civil War.

History and Development

State-backed corporate entities of some variety were at the forefront of the economic stage since the industrialization rush of the Kaesong period, although they would only begin to hold major political power during the Korean Democratic State. This would be bolstered by the Great War, where they would be basically unrestrained in regards to allowed activities so long as armaments and vehicles were produced quickly. These entities would also develop a distinct relationship with the exploitation of Jungg'o, utilizing the resources from the region at the great expense of the general population.

"Big Three"

The Big Three (Akira Heavy Industries, Karasu, and SuKo) were some of the first major corporate groupings established under Kaesong, being granted near-exclusive contracts to develop and exploit Jungg'o and the north of the country in general. These three were prioritized in regards to support to prevent the continued power of colonial-era industrial groupings, with their rushed industrialization being seen as necessary to develop an independent economic base not associated with Marquesan. They played major roles in "settling" (in actuality, they primarily entered the fray to forcibly displace already present population groupings) the northern provinces (providing the transport and early settlements of such), extracting taxes from the same, and conducting trade with powers to the north of the southern-focused Kaesong state apparatus.

The Big Three would be negatively effected by the shift to the Korean Democratic State, with their contracts in Jungg'o being neutralized and the newer, somewhat more dynamic corporate groupings formed under the KDS coming to the fore, though all three would see a major resurgence under Neo-Korea owing to their utilization in the conquest of Jungg'o.

New Iminchebol

The "New" Iminchebol would be primarily formed from those politicians who had directly supported the effort to overthrow Kaesong, with the operation of these corporate structures to be a reward alongside the benefits gained from being im the Kakumei. These new Iminchebol would take the stewardship of the Jungg'o territory away from the Big Three, although said stewardship was made less valuable by the laws made to provide greater freedoms and protections to both the governments and people of that region as a result of its support of the Kaihō Kinenbi.

These "New" Iminchebol would carve great shares of the market from their predecessors, owing to direct state support in both the acquisition of contracts and in funding, with this distinctly close relationship being notable for what would come. During the Great War, the "New" Iminchebol would be favored by the state for production of munitions, with such names as GKK and ASHGpF emerging. This would be the pinnacle of the Revolutionary Alliance Party-Iminchebol relationship, as members of the state directly took control of GKK in the late 30's, becoming major fiscal and political backers of the right wing of the party which would promote continued involvement in the conflict.

Modern Iminchebol

The Iminchebol would eventually return to the fore after decades of the primary fiscal mover being the state, primarily due to the 1995 Economic Reforms.