Kilgeo

Kilgeo (Korean: 길고) is the capital and largest city of Jiesan. It is one of the cities and municipalities that make up the Kilgeo Metropolitan Area, also known as the National Capital Province. With a metropolitan population of over 16 million, the metropolitan area is the largest in the union. It is the country's foremost economic, political, and cultural center as about one-third of the Jiesanese population live in the Kilgeo Metropolitan Area. Kilgeo is also frequently dubbed the Gateway City of Jiesan due to its connection to Kilgeo International airport, Jiesan's busiest airport, which is also one largest and best rated airports in the union. The airport's close proximity is also the reason for the influx of the city's foreign population, which reached a total of more than 400,000 in 2024.

Kilgeo functions as the League of Nations' political headquarters, housing the League Parliament. Kilgeo is also one of the League's major international financial centres, home to some of the union's largest conglomerates such as Mirai, Naeir, Zion Motors. In 2024, the Kilgeo Metropolitan Area generated a GDP per capita $30,642 making it the country's wealthiest province.

Kilgeo has one of the most technologically advanced infrastructures in the union. It is home to Radio Television Arts, the League's largest broadcaster. Due to close political ties with Seoul, Kilgeo became the first in the union with Digital Multimedia Broadcasting, which allows mobile phone subscribers to recieve multimedia, and WiBro, a free citywide wireless high-speed mobile internet service (although funded by tax) which was also developed in South Korea. Kilgeo Station, built in the 1920s, is the city's main passenger train station which houses JRail DMU passenger trains. In 2009, JRail and the city government proposed the construction of a Kilgeo HSR Station, which will be a part of a planned national high speed rail network.

History
Kilgeo was established around 600 A.D. as a small trading post under the post-unified Silla Kingdom by nobleman Jang Jeong-yeon. The initial plan for Kilgeo was to prosper from trade with Japan, however, it was later approached by Chinese traders of the Tang Dynasty as well as Japan, which caused it to rapidly grow into a major trading hub within a short period of time. Citing its massive potential, King Munmu appointed the construction a military fortress to combat the pirates that commonly attacked merchant fleets and coastal villages. Along with the fortress, Jang Jeong-yeon was appointed General by the King and was granted 20,000 troops and a fleet of 10 ships.

Over time, Kilgeo grew tremendously causing many nearby trading posts to shut down and many residents to move in. The protection provided by the fortress also attracted many people. By 900 A.D., the population of Kilgeo reached 340,000.

After the fall of Silla, Kilgeo came under the control of Goryeo Dynasty. This, however, was short-lived following its transition into the control of the Jiesan Dynasty after half of the Korean Peninsula was ceded to Jiesan and peace was settled between both kingdoms. Under Jiesan, Kilgeo grew into one of the kingdom's biggest cities. It became the biggest in 1340 with a population of more than 1 million people. However, Hwagye remained as Jiesan's capital at the turn of the 20th century.

By the time of the Japanese occupation of Korea, Kilgeo was among the cities utilized by the Japanese Government for heavy industries. The development of Kilgeo included the modernization of its infrastructure such as the construction of ports and raiways and the paving of main roads. This urbanization hugely benifited the citizens of Kilgeo despite cries for independence. Along with Seoul, revolutionaries held many liberation movements in Kilgeo with the most notable being the August 1 Movement of 1919. During World War II, Kilgeo was the site of the infamous Kilgeo massacare, one of the many atrocities committed by the Japanese troops throughout Asia.

After World War II, Korea's liberation, and the declaration of the Republic of Jiesan, the new state adopted Kilgeo as its capital.

In 1950, the Korean War broke out and Kilgeo became the base of military operations of South Korea and Jiesan after the capture of Seoul by the Chinese-backed North Korean forces. Although North Korea and its allies never made it far enough to reach Kilgeo allowing the city to avoid any damage, there was a flood of refugees from the North, swelling the city's population to an estimated 2.3 million persons. More than half of them were homeless.

Kilgeo was the epicenter of the rapid economic growth during the industrialization of mid 1950s as it was later infamously dubbed Another Miracle on the Song River, after the river which snakes through the middle of the city. High-rise office buildings and apartments began sprouting throughout the city during the construction boom of the 1980s. Pollution and traffic jams became major issues as urbanization in the country accelerated and more and more people began moving to Kilgeo and its surrounding areas.

Sister cities

 * Nyhaven, Lower Columbia
 * Sirix, Isporos