The Joseon Cybernation, known officially as the Joseon Empire, or colloquially referred to as Joseon, is a non-territorial country with limited recognition. The country was self-proclaimed in 2022 by American businessman Andrew Lee after he was adopted by Yi Seok, a pretender to the House of Yi, which ruled over the Joseon kingdom and the Korean Empire. The Joseon Cybernation has no physical territory, and is a "cloud-based, blockchain-backed kingdom" that exists only in cyberspace. In 2023, the country was officially recognized by the government of Antigua and Barbuda, granting it limited diplomatic recognition and distinguishing it from a micronation.
According to Andrew Lee, Won Joon Lee, one of his distant relatives and grandson of a keeper of the House of Yi lineage, said that their clan was descended from Korean royalty; as the result, he was introduced to Yi Seok, a grandson of Emperor Gojong of Korea. Yi Seok is known as an active pretender to the former monarchy, but he has no male offspring, and he proposed adopting Andrew Lee as his heir, which Andrew was initially reluctant. Regarding Andrew Lee's ancestry, Yi Seok has only stated that he was a descendant of Yi Seong-gye, keeping said ancestry vague. In October 2018, Seok declared Andrew the crown prince of Korea at a ceremony in Los Angeles, attended by Bermuda premier David Burt, and city officials from Los Angeles and Jeonju. Andrew Lee later took over Yi Seok's status as the claimant to the Joseon throne in 2022. By March 2022, Lee announced the founding of a "non-territorial successor state to the Joseon Empire", a cloud-based, blockchain-backed kingdom with himself as its ruler.
In June 2023, the government of Antigua and Barbuda released a statement establishing diplomatic relations with the "Joseon Cybernation". Previously, the government of the Joseon Cybernation had claimed to also have been in discussion with the governments of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Mongolia. As of July 2023, the son of Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne served as Joseon's "Vice Minister of State". It has also been reported that cryptocurrency proponents Roger Ver and Mark Karpelès received the title of "duke". Mike Honda, former US congressman, is also now working in the government as "Vice Minister of State" and "Emissary to the United States".