A History of Korea (11 page)

The problem with this revisionist perspective, which is now orthodoxy in North Korea and widely accepted in South Korea,
is that—aside from overlooking the many examples of Kogury
’s close ties to China and exaggerating the dependence of Silla or Paekche on outside forces—it imposes a modern nation-centered perspective on the history of the fourth to seventh centuries. In this era of the “Three Kingdoms” (Kogury
, Paekche, Silla), the people of these kingdoms likely did not perceive a common bond. In fact, the reordering of history to make it appear as such began with the subsequent Unified Silla kingdom itself in order to legitimate its dominion over the peninsula. The official historians of the Kory
dynasty (918–1392), whose name purposefully evoked the glories of Kogury
, further cemented the notion of a “Three Kingdoms” era and bestowed upon the Unified Silla kingdom the status of national unifier. Ironically, their successors in the twentieth century would turn this imagined unity into an insistence on the centrality not of Silla, but rather of Kogury
.

Indeed, so widely accepted has this historical perspective become on the Korean peninsula today, that to consider Kogury
an independent kingdom based partly in the Korean peninsula and partly in Manchuria is to provoke outrage. What contemporary Chinese historians have done, apparently with the blessings of the Chinese government, is to go one step further and imply that Kogury
was actually an actor in
Chinese
history: just as China today is one country with many ethnicities, China in the past was one country with many groups, including the people of Kogury
. From the Koreans’ perspective, this amounts to robbing them of their own history, the history of the very kingdom on which the name of “Korea” itself is based! Lying beneath the surface, however, is the latent Korean belief, of which the Chinese are aware, that Kogury
can provide a great lesson on how Koreans—eventually reunified, as warranted by the official national imperative—should deal with a resurgent, dominant China: at arm’s length, and with an assertiveness of Korea’s autonomy and interests. Such is the power of history, even the history of ancient times, in Korea today.

2

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Queen S
nd
k and Silla’s Unification of Korea

CHRONOLOGY

632	Death of King Chinp’y ng and ascent of Queen S nd k
642	Silla embassy to Kogury to request help against Paekche
643	Silla embassy to Tang China to request help against Paekche and Kogury
647	Death of Queen S nd k and ascent of Queen Chind k
654	Death of Queen Chind k and ascent of King Muy l (Kim Ch’unch’u)
660	Silla-Tang conquest of Paekche, led by General Kim Yusin
668	Silla-Tang conquest of Kogury , unification of the Peninsula
675	End of Silla-Tang War for control over Korean Peninsula