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TL;DR:
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Combining North and South Korea into a single “Korea” tech tree is not a good idea — not only politically awkward but also strange from a gameplay perspective.
These two nations have fundamentally opposing origins, alliances, and military doctrines.
Instead of merging them, maybe we could consider adding them as separate sub-trees under China and Japan (or the USA), or as independent mini-trees like Poland and Czechoslovakia in World of Tanks.
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In the latest Community Update No.8: Responses and What’s Coming!, Snail mentioned:
“We also have plans to implement a standalone Korean research tree nation with vehicles from South Korea and North Korea.”
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To me, the idea of a combined Korean tech tree is absolutely terrible —
it’s as absurd as putting Iran and Israel together in the same tree.
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As North Korea itself once described:
“The relations between the two Koreas currently were ‘states hostile to each other and the relations between two belligerent states.’”
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One is a country supported by the United States,
while the other was backed by the Soviet Union and China.
Yet Snail is planning to merge vehicles from two opposite alliances into a single tech tree.
Having enemies fighting side by side in the same lineup — doesn’t that feel incredibly awkward?
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We’re not against smaller, postwar nations becoming full trees on their own.
Israel, for example, is also a relatively new country —
but at least all vehicles in its tree belong to the same nation and alliance,
not two opposing ones.
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Admittedly, there’s already a case in the game where vehicles from two former enemies coexist in one tree — China and Taiwan.
However, that situation is very different.
Before 1945, Taiwan was part of Japan, and the ROC government only relocated there after 1949.
So truly Taiwanese vehicles are quite rare — only post-1949 American-based designs like the CM11 and M41D.
Vehicles such as the M3A3 or M4A4, which fought during the Second Sino-Japanese War, are authentically Chinese, not Taiwanese.
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For example, in the Chinese ground tree, out of about 90 vehicles, only around 13 actually come from Taiwan — less than 15%.
Taiwan can be considered a sub-tree of China,
but even without Taiwanese vehicles, the Chinese tree stands perfectly fine on its own.
That’s not the case for the so-called Korea tree, where both North and South contribute about half each.
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(And frankly, Taiwan was added to China’s tree mainly due to Snail’s political caution.)
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Obvious Problems with the Korea Tree
The Korea tech tree suffers from a number of major flaws —
a very low rate of indigenous development aircraft and an excessive number of copy-paste vehicles being the most obvious.
If you love grinding through the same aircraft —
from Sabres to MiGs to F-15s, F-16s, and eventually F-35s,
all of which the U.S. and USSR trees already have —
then the Korea tree is for you.
You’ll be paying another $79.99 for a CBT pack just to unlock a line full of duplicates,
and regrinding all the modifications again.
Why do some players love new nations so much?
Do they really have that much time and money?
In my opinion, the real reason Snail wants to make a new tree
is simply to sell more CBT packs and reuse existing assets —
because if Korea were added as a sub-tree,
they couldn’t copy-paste as freely.
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Possible Solutions
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Ways to resolve this contradictory situation can be roughly divided into three options:
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Option 1:
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Follow the example of World of Tanks — where it doesn’t matter whether a nation has a complete lineup or not; even small countries can have their own independent tech trees.
For example, WoT has Poland and Czechoslovakia, and World of Warships has the Netherlands and Spain.
South Korea and North Korea could similarly be developed as two separate, smaller tech trees.
Even if such trees are incomplete, they would still have their own unique characteristics.
Snail’s insistence that every tech tree must have identical vehicle types only erases the individuality of each nation and reduces the game’s overall variety and fun.
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Option 2:
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If South Korea and North Korea were instead made into sub-trees of different existing tech trees,
it would greatly reduce the number of copy-paste vehicles
and thus lighten the burden on players who have to grind through similar vehicles again and again.
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North Korea has a very close relationship with China
and is also its longstanding ally —
from both historical and geopolitical perspectives,
it is the most natural choice for a sub-tree under the Chinese tech tree.
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As for South Korea, it could join the Japanese or U.S. trees.
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Moreover, Snail has recently added a feature that allows players to change the tech tree’s national flag.
So players who dislike the Japanese flag can simply switch it to the South Korean flag,
effectively turning the Japanese tree into a South Korean tree —
which, in my opinion, is a perfectly viable solution.
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Option 3:
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Even if South Korea isn’t made a sub-tree of Japan or the USA,
it could still follow the example of Canada, Poland, or Singapore,
whose vehicles are distributed across multiple tech trees —
such as those of the USA, Japan, Sweden, or Israel.
As Snail itself stated:
“We’ll be looking to place Singaporean vehicles in a number of trees, most likely with their vehicles going to whatever tree is most applicable and relevant on a case-by-case basis and best suits each specific vehicle.”
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From Snail’s Perspective: Sales Matter
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Popular nations sell well; niche ones don’t.
And it’s obvious that the Korea tree will be a niche nation like Israel.
For instance, if Snail released a North Korean Pokpung-ho as part of a Korea pack,
only a handful of players interested in the Korea tree would buy it.
But if it were released as a Chinese premium vehicle,
sales would skyrocket — given how many Chinese players actively spend money to build their perfect lineups.
Similarly, a K1A1 pack sold as part of the U.S. or Japanese tree would sell far better
than as part of a standalone Korea tree.
In the long run, splitting the Koreas benefits both gameplay diversity and Snail’s revenue.
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Conclusion
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Forcing North and South Korea — two nations still technically at war —
into a single tech tree is not a good idea.
It creates absurd situations in Realistic or Simulator modes,
where opposing vehicles end up fighting side by side on the same team.
It would make far more sense to treat them as separate entities,
either as sub-trees or independent mini-trees.
