A History of Korea (14 page)

Rare records exist describing Kogury
ŏ
’s government organization. Some documents reveal that at first the
kuksang,
and then the taedaero or mangriji, functioned as prime minister. In its later period the kingdom created the posts of
taemodal
and
malgaek,
which administered military affairs;
palgoch’uga, sain, t’ongsa,
and
ch
ŏ
n’gaek,
which were responsible for diplomacy; and
kukcha paksa
and
t’aehak paksa,
who served as scholars.

Paekche, unlike Kogury
ŏ
, from its earliest times created a central government structure with a three-tier office ranking system, distinguished by the color of official attire worn by those in each tier. At the top were chwap’y
ŏ
ng and several
sol
ranks represented by purple robes. In the middle stratum were the various
t
ŏ
k
ranks symbolized by scarlet robes. The bottom layer included the
mun-d
ŏ
k
and
mud
ŏ
k,
as well as three lower ranks signified by blue robes. Like Kogury
ŏ
, Paekche also instituted a unitary office ranking structure in the process of creating a centralized aristocratic kingdom.

Compared to Kogury
ŏ
and Silla, Paekche had a highly refined government organization, with six chwap’y
ŏ
ng ministers forming a cabinet:
naesin
chwap’y
ŏ
ng for performing royal secretariat duties,
naedu
chwap’y
ŏ
ng for fiscal administration,
naeb
ŏ
p
chwap’y
ŏ
ng for conducting rites and ceremonies,
wisa
chwap’y
ŏ
ng for palace and capital security,
choj
ŏ
ng
chwap’y
ŏ
ng for penal and justice administration, and
py
ŏ
nggwan
chwap’y
ŏ
ng for overseeing provincial military forces. After moving its capital from Ungjin to Sabi in 538, Paekche created 22 new departments to administer the palace and government affairs, demonstrating that it had an elaborate government structure.

Silla’s 17 office ranks consisted mainly of
ch’an, ma,
and
chi.
These terms, all meaning tribal or clan chieftains, suggest that the earlier tribal elements were integrated into the nation’s centralized government structure. Holders of the 17 office ranks were distinguished by the color of their official attire, such as purple for the 5th rank (
taeach’an
) and above, scarlet for the 9th rank (
k
ŭ
pp
ŏ
lch’an
) and above, blue for the 11th rank (
nama
) and above, and yellow for the 12th rank (
taesa
[
ji
]) and below. Several central government departments were established over a period and assigned responsibilities for military affairs (Py
ŏ
ng-bu), surveillance of official conduct (Saj
ŏ
ng-bu), royal secretariat duties (Wihwa-bu), fiscal administration (Cho-bu), and the conduct of rites (Ye-bu).

The most peculiar feature of the political process in each of the Three Kingdoms was the councils for political decision making, which demonstrates that each of the Three Kingdoms was a union of the aristocracy. In Kogury
ŏ
, in the reign of King Sindae (165–179), the post of kuksang (prime minister) was established. Unlimited in tenure, kuksang headed Kogury
ŏ
’s council of the high aristocracy. Later kuksang was replaced by the position of taedaero with a three-year term of office. In the sixth and seventh centuries, when the aristocracy regained strength, taedaero was elected by the high aristocracy, but sometimes the most powerful aristocrat took it by force. When the aristocracy could not reach an agreement on the right person for the position, the contestants would resort to arms. The king, unable to control them, would be forced to close his palace gates to protect himself from the struggle. Also, the high aristocracy of the 5th rank and above assembled in council to discuss and decide important affairs of state.

In Paekche high aristocratic officials met and elected the chief minister on a large rock called ch
ŏ
ngsaam. In Silla a council of the high aristocracy, termed the Hwabaek, consisted of aristocrats called
taed
ŭ
ng.
Headed by a top aristocrat called
sangdaed
ŭ
ng,
the Hwabaek council decided the most important state affairs, such as succession to the throne and declarations of war. Both taed
ŭ
ng and sangdaed
ŭ
ng were members of true-bone lineage. The principle of unanimity governed Hwabaek decisions, and council meetings were convened at one of the four sacred sites—Mt. Ch’
ŏ
ngsong to the east of the capital, P’ij
ŏ
n field to the west, Mt. Uji to the south, or Mt. K
ŭ
mgang to the north. This council institution of the Three Kingdoms implies that political decision making at the time took the form of an “aristocratic democracy.” The
Ŭ
ij
ŏ
ngbu, or State Council, system of the later Chos
ŏ
n dynasty seems to have followed the tradition of these earlier council institutions.

The central government gradually extended its authority over the countryside and established a system of local administration. Small “states” formerly ruled by independent tribal chieftains were now reorganized into castle towns and villages in accordance with their size and importance. Castle towns were more populous, covered larger areas than villages, and were surrounded by ramparts. These towns were made the centers of local administration, and later the local administrative units were designated by the Chinese term
kun,
or districts. The central government dispatched its officials to these districts. In Kogury
ŏ
the magistrate of such a district held the title of
ch’
ŏ
ry
ŏ
g
ŭ
nji
(or
tosa
), in Paekche
kunjang,
and in Silla
kunt’aesu,
but the general term
s
ŏ
ngju,
or castle lord, was applied to all the district magistrates. The central government did not dispatch its officials to villages but allowed village headmen to govern themselves. A number of districts later combined to form larger, provincialtype administrative units, consisting five pu in Kogury
ŏ
, five pang in Paekche, and six
chu
in Silla. The governors of these were called
yoksal,
a transliteration of a native word meaning “clan elder,” in Kogury
ŏ
;
pangny
ŏ
ng,
or provincial governor, in Paekche; and
kunju,
or military commandant, in Silla. Special administrative units were created in the capitals of the Three Kingdoms, for example, five pu, or districts, in both Kogury
ŏ
and Paekche, and six pu in Silla. Each of the Three Kingdoms, in other words, established an elaborate system of central and local administration in its own way to effectively rule the whole country.

The Three Kingdoms were implacable enemies and frequently battled with one another for some 300 years. As the three states developed into centralized kingdoms, military units were organized on a national level and placed under the monarch’s authority. As the commander-in-chief of their state’s military forces, the kings of the Three Kingdoms often led their troops and fought alongside them in battle, as exemplified by the Kogury
ŏ
king Kwanggaet’o. This phenomenon was quite unlike that of the later Kory
ŏ
and Chos
ŏ
n dynasties, where the king did not accompany his generals and soldiers to the battlefields.

Little is known about the military structure of the Three Kingdoms. Few records remain regarding Kogury
ŏ
’s military system. Every man in the kingdom appears to have been required to serve in the military. There were five “divisions” in the capital, one in each of its five pu, and these units largely consisted of cavalrymen, numbering approximately 12,500, personally commanded by
the king. Detachments, ranging from 21,000 to 36,000 troops, were stationed in the five provinces and led by provincial governors.

Early on, the Silla army was built around a small number of royal guards assigned to protect the king and in wartime to serve as the primary military force. After frequent conflicts with Paekche and Kogury
ŏ
, and also the Japanese, Silla increased its army to six divisions, called ch
ŏ
ng, or garrisons, one in each of the chu provincial administrations. Garrison troops were responsible for local defense and also served as a police force. They were commanded by generals of the true-bone rank and were recruited from among men of elite lineages. These soldiers looked upon their military service as an honor and privilege, not as a burdensome duty. Additional military units termed s
ŏ
dang, or oath banners, pledged their individual service and loyalty to their commanders. In the Three Kingdoms military service was not only a duty but also an important means of pursuing a successful career.

Each of the Three Kingdoms seems to have organized its military forces based on conscripts drawn from the general population on the local level. Local administrative units functioned as the basic units of the local military organization. As implied by Silla’s term for its governor, kunju, castle lords and provincial governors served as the commanders of the military contingents garrisoned in their own administrations.

Instituted to reinforce existing military units, companies of young men, usually in their mid-teens, were organized to cultivate moral values and practice military arts. In Kogury
ŏ
they were called
s
ŏ
nbi
(or
s
ŏ
nbae
), meaning virtuous men;
susa,
meaning ascetics, in Paekche; and
hwarang,
meaning flowering youth, in Silla. The hwarang bands of aristocratic lineage had a special character, however, dating back to Silla’s formative period. Having originated in the communal assemblies of youth in the earlier clan-centered society, the elite youth corps emphasized moral and physical training, military skill, and comradeship. Hwarang warriors honored the so-called
sesok ogye,
or five secular injunctions, laid down in the early seventh century by the Buddhist monk W
ŏ
n’gwang, who stressed Buddhist and Confucian virtues in the education of Silla youth. They were to serve the king with loyalty, serve one’s parents with filial piety, practice fidelity in friendship, never retreat in battle, and refrain from wanton killing. Hwarang youth bands made pilgrimages to well-known mountains and large rivers throughout the nation, and prayed for the tranquility and prosperity of their country by performing ceremonial singing and dancing, which demonstrates that their activities had a religious, specifically Taoist, character. In
times of peace these young warriors cultivated military arts in preparation for war. In wartime they comprised the core of the Silla army, fighting in the front lines. All were prepared to sacrifice themselves for their nation. In the course of unifying the Korean peninsula Silla produced such well-known hwarang heroes as Sadaham, Kim Yu-sin, and Kwanch’ang.

Each of the Three Kingdoms not only defended its own domain and conquered other territories but ruled its own population with an iron hand. The general populace of the three states was subjected to severe coercion and government oversight, as opposed to the relatively gentle civil rule of the later Chos
ŏ
n dynasty.

Originally Koreans may have had their own ancient writing system, probably a hieroglyph, but no one knows for certain. In China the complex pictogram writing on oracle bones and turtle shells of the Shang (Yin) dynasty evolved into Chinese characters. The East Asian peoples who engaged in cultural exchanges with China all adopted the Chinese writing system. A writing system with Chinese characters was first introduced to Korea in early times along with iron culture. After Han China established four commanderies in Manchuria and northern Korea in the later part of the second century
BC
, Chinese characters and documentation in Chinese writing became the standard usage. The Chinese writing system was adopted more broadly during the period of the Three Kingdoms, when widespread use of the Chinese system contributed greatly to the advancement of learning in the three states.

Because the Korean language differed entirely from Chinese in its lexicon, phonology, and grammar, however, the use of Chinese writing caused a great deal of inconvenience. Thus Koreans devised two modified systems for writing Korean with Chinese characters (
idu
and
hyangch’al
) and one system for reading Chinese texts (
kugy
ŏ
l
). The
idu
system used Chinese characters along with special symbols to indicate Korean verb endings and other grammatical markers where Korean differed from Chinese. Characters were selected for idu based on their Chinese sound and their adopted Korean sound or Korean meaning, and some were given a completely new sound and meaning. This process led Koreans to borrow numerous Chinese words, which made the idu system so difficult to learn that only a small minority of the aristocracy gained literacy. To
transcribe the Korean language into Chinese characters under the hyangch’al system, characters were given a Korean reading based on the syllable associated with the character. This system is often classified as a subgroup of idu and was used mainly to write poetry. Today 25
hyangga,
old Silla songs, are extant and show that vernacular poetry followed Korean word order and each syllable was transcribed with a single character.