A History of Korea (25 page)

Lacking statecraft, most of these early rebel leaders were no more than men who controlled a particular locale. Soon, however, two rebel leaders emerged to establish new state entities in the areas they controlled. They were Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n and Kungye, who encouraged restorationists of the former Paekche and Kogury
ŏ
kingdoms to bring Silla to an end. As they challenged Silla’s legitimacy by claiming that their states were restorations of the two former kingdoms, a three-way contest for mastery of the Korean peninsula developed. Thus Korean history entered the period of the Later Three Kingdoms which spanned nearly half a century.

Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n, a man of peasant stock in the Sangju area, started his career as an ordinary soldier and was promoted repeatedly as a reward for valor in defending Silla’s southwest coastal region. As peasant uprisings flared throughout the country, Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n rebelled at Wansanju (present-day Ch
ŏ
nju) and pro-claimed himself king at Mujinju (present-day Kwangju) in 892. To put the anti-Silla feelings of the former Paekche people to good use, he vowed vengeance on the last Paekche king
Ŭ
ija. He marched north and occupied Wansanju, where he founded the state of Later Paekche in 900.

Later Paekche extended its power and influence to the north, recovering most of the old Paekche territory, thanks to the active support of the local gentry in the region. In 927 Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n pillaged the capital and captured the Silla king
Ky
ŏ
ngae, who had been hosting a feast at the pleasure resort of P’os
ŏ
kj
ŏ
ng. He forced the king to commit suicide, raped the queen, and abducted the king’s younger brother, the highest officials, as well as skilled craftsmen, and seized large quantities of treasure and arms. He enthroned Kim Pu, a member of the Silla royalty, as King Ky
ŏ
ngsun (927–935) and then withdrew from the capital. Only the existence of Wang K
ŏ
n could prevent Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n from destroying Silla. His ruthless action, which demonstrated his bitter enmity toward Silla, also stirred up anti-Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n feelings among the Silla people and ultimately led them to surrender voluntarily to Wang K
ŏ
n’s Kory
ŏ
.

Originally a scion of Silla’s royal family, Kungye was driven out of the palace as a victim of the political power struggle. At first he became a monk, but as Silla fell into confusion he entrusted himself to Kihw
ŏ
n at Chuksan and later became a lieutenant of Yanggil at W
ŏ
nju. At first Kungye commanded a contingent of Yanggil’s forces, but soon he assembled a large army under his personal control. Eventually he drove out Yanggil and, in 901, established the state of Later Kogury
ŏ
at Songak (Songdo). In 904 he renamed his kingdom Majin and, in 905, transferred its capital to Ch’
ŏ
rw
ŏ
n in central Korea. Once more, in 911, he gave his state a new name, T’aebong. At first he adopted the era name Mut’ae for his kingdom in 904, and then he changed it to S
ŏ
ngch’aek in 905, to Sud
ŏ
kmanse in 911, and finally to Ch
ŏ
nggae in 914. This frequent renaming of his country and his era demonstrates his heightened emotional state and instability.

Kungye’s T’aebong expanded its territory to the Taedong River to the north and to present-day Kongju and Sangju to the south, where it was bordered by Later Paekche and Silla. The government he created replicated that of Silla. It included a chancellery, termed Kwangp’y
ŏ
ngs
ŏ
ng, several ministries, and other offices such as the Py
ŏ
ng-bu; the Taeryong-bu, or Ministry of Finance; and the Such’un-bu, or Ministry of Rites, as well as an office ranking system in 9 grades. Kungye’s success was the result of several factors. First, he garnered support from members of the local gentry in the former Kogury
ŏ
territory by arousing anti-Silla feelings among them. Second, he won his subordinates’ favor by distributing the spoils of war among them. Third, he won the confidence of the people who had strong faith in the Maitreya Buddha by claiming that he himself was the Maitreya Buddha incarnate and by designating his eldest and second sons both Bodhisattvas.

But Kungye’s reign was short-lived. Lacking royal virtues, he ruled his kingdom ruthlessly, as did Later Paekche’s Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n. From the beginning, he
had a burning personal hatred of Silla and required his subjects to refer to his homeland of Silla as the “nation of the damned.” Moreover, he was inordinately suspicious of the motives of those around him, including his own family members. He claimed that he possessed supernatural powers and could read the minds of others, which led him to kill many who served him. When Wang K
ŏ
n was victorious in a series of battles with Later Paekche and gained public confidence, Kungye showed impatience and became even more cruel. Obsessed with the conviction that he would be killed by his subordinates, he mercilessly executed many of them over the slightest matters. He even killed his wife and two sons in 915. As he turned into a crazed tyrant, Kungye was eventually driven from his throne by his own generals, including Hong Yu, Pae Hy
ŏ
n-gy
ŏ
ng, Sin Sung-gy
ŏ
m, and Pok Chi-gy
ŏ
m, and was killed by his people as he fled in 918.

Immediately before Kungye’s death, one of his generals, Wang K
ŏ
n, succeeded him as king of T’aebong. Viewing his kingdom as the legitimate successor to Kogury
ŏ
, Wang K
ŏ
n renamed his state Kory
ŏ
, from which the name “Korea” derives. He adopted the era name Ch’
ŏ
nsu, or Heaven’s Mandate, for his kingdom in 918 and the next year moved the capital to Kaes
ŏ
ng (Songak), his home area.

Wang K
ŏ
n had emerged from a local gentry family in the Kaes
ŏ
ng area. He was a descendant of a trade merchant household that had amassed enormous wealth through trade with China. To firmly secure his military and political base, he moved his capital from Ch’
ŏ
rw
ŏ
n to Kaes
ŏ
ng, which demonstrates his standing as a local gentry figure in the area. As a member of this powerful elite class, unlike Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n and Kungye, he was able to establish a strong local power base among the local gentry. As demonstrated later, he forged strong ties with other local gentry families, primarily through marriage. He also had close connections with maritime activities centered around the Hy
ŏ
lgu-jin garrison on Kanghwa-do. Thanks to his long familiarity with maritime activities, he succeeded in seaborne operations against the southwest coastal region of Later Paekche. For much of its existence, Later Paekche was greatly troubled by his naval raids along its coast. Wang K
ŏ
n occupied K
ŭ
ms
ŏ
ng (present-day Naju, South Ch
ŏ
lla province), Chin-do, and other coastal points, which worked to disrupt Later Paekche’s trade and diplomatic ties with China and Japan. His military skill at the battle of K
ŭ
ms
ŏ
ng led Kungye to appoint him sijung of the Kwangp’y
ŏ
ngs
ŏ
ng. He was then set up by Kungye’s generals as king.

After he established a new kingdom of Kory
ŏ
, Wang K
ŏ
n pursued a policy of friendship with Silla both to secure his position as the successor to Silla’s traditions and authority, and to isolate Later Paekche from the people of Silla. Upon hearing that Later Paekche’s Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n had raided the Silla capital of Ky
ŏ
ngju and forced King Ky
ŏ
ngae to commit suicide, Wang K
ŏ
n personally led his forces into battle against Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n. This policy of friendship led the last Silla king, Ky
ŏ
ngsun, to voluntarily surrender to Kory
ŏ
in 935.

On the other hand, Wang K
ŏ
n had fought ceaselessly with Later Paekche for many years. Responding to Silla’s call for help after King Ky
ŏ
ngae’s death, Wang K
ŏ
n went into battle against Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n but suffered a crushing defeat at Kongsan near Taegu in 927. He barely escaped the battlefield and saved his life through the daring self-sacrifice of his generals, Sin Sung-gy
ŏ
m and Kim Nak. After the battle, Later Paekche dominated Kory
ŏ
militarily. At the time the battlefield between Kory
ŏ
and Later Paekche was concentrated in Silla’s outer perimeter just west of the Naktong River, from Koch’ang (present-day Andong, North Ky
ŏ
ngsang province), past Sangju, to Kangju. In 930 Kory
ŏ
scored a decisive victory over Later Paekche at the battle of Koch’ang. Thereafter, as the tide of battle turned in favor of Kory
ŏ
, Later Paekche was pushed back into its own heartland. There it suffered a further crippling defeat at the battle of Unju (present-day Hongs
ŏ
ng, South Ch’ungch’
ŏ
ng province) in 934.

Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n took many wives and is said to have fathered ten sons. This laid the groundwork for the familial strife that ended the kingdom. After his long rule, in 935 the aged Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n designated his fourth son, K
ŭ
mgang, to succeed him. The eldest son, Sin’g
ŏ
m, became outraged at that and, after conspiring with his brothers, staged a coup against his father. He killed his half-brother, K
ŭ
mgang, confined Kw
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n to the K
ŭ
msan-sa temple, located at Py
ŏ
kkol, and took the throne for himself. Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n managed to escape to Kory
ŏ
, and, to avenge his eldest son, he entrusted himself to his old rival Wang K
ŏ
n. Mean-while Silla’s last king, Ky
ŏ
ngsun, formally surrendered to Kory
ŏ
along with his kingdom whose territory was now confined to the narrow Ky
ŏ
ngju region. Wang K
ŏ
n warmly treated the ruling elites of the fallen Silla kingdom, including King Ky
ŏ
ngsun. In fact, he paid Ky
ŏ
ngsun every possible respect, even seeming reluctant to accept his surrender. He gave his eldest daughter in marriage to the former Silla king and reestablished him in a supervisory capacity in the old capital district of Ky
ŏ
ngju. The remains of the Silla administration were peacefully incorporated into the new kingdom of Kory
ŏ
. In the following year, in 936, Kory
ŏ
forces attacked Later Paekche, bringing the state to its final
collapse. Ky
ŏ
nhw
ŏ
n is said to have led an army of 100,000 against his former kingdom. After his defeat in a battle at Illich’
ŏ
n (present-day Kumi [S
ŏ
nsan], North Ky
ŏ
ngsang province), Sin’g
ŏ
m surrendered to Wang K
ŏ
n. Thus ended the period of the Later Three Kingdoms, and in this way Wang K
ŏ
n again unified the Korean peninsula.

When Parhae fell to Qidan Liao in 926, much of its ruling class of Kogury
ŏ
descent, amounting to more than 50,000, fled to Kory
ŏ
. Wang K
ŏ
n welcomed them and generously gave them government posts, farmlands, and houses. He bestowed the name Wang Kye on the Parhae crown prince, Tae Kwang-hy
ŏ
n, and entered his name in the royal household register. Wang K
ŏ
n also allowed him to perform rituals in honor of his progenitor, Tae Cho-y
ŏ
ng. Kory
ŏ
achieved a true national unification that embraced all Koreans from the “Northern and Southern States.” At the time of its unification, Kory
ŏ
extended its territory to the north as far as the line starting from the Ch’
ŏ
ngch’
ŏ
n River on the west and reaching the Hamh
ŭ
ng plain to the east. The Kory
ŏ
kingdom survived for 474 years, until 1392, and in its heyday ranked among the most advanced civilizations in the world.

Recently Chinese scholars have argued that no successive relationship existed between Kogury
ŏ
and Kory
ŏ
. They claim that the two kingdoms were established by different people, Kogury
ŏ
by people of Chinese stock and Kory
ŏ
by Koreans. In other words, Kory
ŏ
, the Chinese contend, was a state founded by the ancestors of present-day Koreans, whereas Kogury
ŏ
was founded by the forefathers of today’s Chinese. They assert that although people have called each of the two kingdoms Kory
ŏ
from ancient times, it is a misnomer that causes confusion.

Kory
ŏ
, however, was indeed the successor kingdom of Kogury
ŏ
. Historical records written during the Chinese Song and Yuan dynasties classified Kory
ŏ
as well as Kogury
ŏ
into a category of foreign nations and admitted that Kory
ŏ
was the successor to Kogury
ŏ
. The official historic work on the Song dynasty began with a chapter on Kory
ŏ
and stated that “Kory
ŏ
originally was Kogury
ŏ
”; it also portrayed its founding. In fact, the name “Kory
ŏ
” is one of the most distinctive factors to testify that the kingdom was the successor to Kogury
ŏ
. Wang K
ŏ
n designated the name of his state as Kory
ŏ
to signify that his new kingdom succeeded Kogury
ŏ
. The Kory
ŏ
founder also forged a “northward policy” to recover the old territory of Kogury
ŏ
and established Pyongyang, the old capital of Kogury
ŏ
, as another capital of his kingdom. The capital was called “S
ŏ
-gy
ŏ
ng.” All his efforts should be understood as formal moves to declare his
kingdom’s succession to Kogury
ŏ
. Some Chinese scholars have argued that Wang K
ŏ
n was of Silla descent, but a range of historical records such as
Kory
ŏ
segye,
or Lineage of the Kory
ŏ
Royal Family, written during the Kory
ŏ
period, demonstrate that his ancestors came from the north, either from Kogury
ŏ
or the Parhae kingdom. The people of Kory
ŏ
also claimed to have descended from the people of Kogury
ŏ
.