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'Gwanggaeto Stele' Bearing Testimony to Koguryo's History

If we Koreans were asked to name the most memorable figure in the history of our people, our most likely choice for the periods of ancient history would be King Gwanggaeto. The reason may be that Koguyro's history, which unfolded dynamically across the plains of Manhuria, has been projected onto the reality of our divided nation today surrounded by neighboring powers, resonating with our national sentiment. Considering that the vast area north of the Abrok River had been our territory for over a millenium, including the 700 years of Koguryo's history and the ensuing years of Balhae, it would be only natural for the Korean people to look back on the good old years of King Gwanggaeto at least once, what with the Northeast Project of China.

King Gwanggaeto as a man wouldn't have been known to the world without the stele inscriptions that recorded the life of the great king. This makes us get to appreciate the existence of this stele bearing vivid testimony to the history of the King Gwanggaeto era. As stated in the beginning of the stele inscriptions, King Chumo the founder of Koguryo proclaimed himself to be the son of Heaven and rode a yellow dragon to heaven after laying the foundation of Koguryo. Afterwards, his descendent King Gwanggaeto also fulfilled his duties as ruler of the world before he lay at rest up on the Kukkangsang (國罡上) Hill 1,600 years ago this year. The great stele of the great king still stands high on the site of Koguryo's capital by the Abrok River, displaying its grandeur from that time.

The conference on 'Review of Gwanggaeto Stele' held in the NAHF main conference room from October 18 to 19, 2012 had the aim of examining the controversies over the stele inscriptions and reviewing basic research materials such as rubbed copies in order to identify where the past research had gotten us so far and to seek a shared understanding. A total of 15 speakers gave a presentation, and they conducted the ensuing general discussion along with 15 discussants, receiving keen attention from the audience that filled the conference room.

King Gwanggaeto Set His Sights on Building a Peaceful Community in Northeast Asia

Having ascended to the throne at the tender age of 18, King Gwanggaeto brought stability to his state and elevated the status of Koguryo in Northeast Asia by leading dynamic military campaigns to the point where the 22 years of his reign would be termed an age of war. The 18 years of his childhood prior to his ascent to the throne had been difficult times in the history of Koguryo as a state due to a series of foreign invasions. As early as in his grandfather's generation, the Former Yan (前燕)'s invasion had devastated Koguryo, with the grave of King Micheon robbed, about 50,000 people taken away as prisoners, and the palace and the Hwando Castle destroyed. In 371, Baekje's attack on the Pyeongyang Castle had left King Gogukwon dead. One year before he was proclaimed the crown prince, Koguryo had been in a fierce war with the Later Yan (後燕) over the Liaodong area. In other words, King Gwanggaeto grew up in a time when his country was in fierce wars with surrounding empires, and the great cause of defending Koguryo became a national mission hard-wired into his mind.

The inscriptions of the Gwanggaeto Stele, which chronicled the 22 years of the king's accomplishments, include descriptive battle scenes with the three Northern Dynasties and the five Southern Dynasties. The stele inscriptions weren't simply a factual list of King Gwanggaeto's achievements. They were edited based on a logic developed to reflect Koguryo's perception of the neighboring empires of East Asia. Obviously, they embodied the state ideology and thinking of King Gwanggaeto, who built a world order around Koguryo.

At the center of the stele's accounts of wars was Baekje. King Gwanggaeto had conquered 64 castles and 1,400 villages all his life, and all the castles and half the villages came from battles with Baekje. This was cold-blooded revenge for the death of his grandfather. As for Silla, he succeeded in incorporating their shaky tribute relationship in Koguryo's world worder by using Wa's invasion as an excuse. The interesting part is the account of year 391 in which Wa was described to have crossed the sea, subjugated Baekje and Silla, then the subordinate states of Koguryo, into their own subordinates. This description was used early on by the scholars of modern Japanese history as the evidence supporting their theory that Japan had ruled the southern Korean peninsula. But what it actually shows is Koguryo's territorial view on the southern Korean peninsula and its international perspective. Having triumphed in the war with Silla, Koguryo declared Wa, which had allied with Baekje, as the force disturbing its world order, in the name of conquest in the southern front lines, and described its wars in styles that justified them as holy wars. This was a process needed to realize Confucian royal politics based on Koguryo's political ideology, namely Politics by Moral Influence.

Twenty-one out of the 36 newly incorporate castles, apart from those residents shown in the account of grave keepers households, came from conquest of the Baekje area. Initially, King Gwanggaeto ordered the people of Hanye (韓穢: also known as Baekje) taken from the areas of his conquest to keep his grave. The fact that quite a number of grave keepers assigned to the grave of King Gwanggaeto were people from the Baeje area is evidence supporting Koguryo's victory in the battle with Baekje as shown on the stele inscriptions. By including grave keepers as prisoners of war in the stele inscriptions, Koguryo confirmed as reality that it had the upper hand over Baekje in international relations. Koguryo's southern policy was not about stationing ruling forces in the conquered land. It was about establishing a political, superior-subordinate relationship through subjugation rituals and receiving tribute from the subordinates and requiring them to discuss affairs with them. This means that Koguryo's vision as a nation was to establish Koguryo-centered world order over neighboring empires, and realize a unified community that encompassed the southern Korean peninsula.

Future Efforts to Seek the Truths of the Gwanggaeto Stele

As for its northern policy, Koguryo appeased East Buyeo, which shared the Buyeo tribe as their common ancestors, treating them as subordinates, and conquered the Sukshin which it perceived as a barbarian tribe, and totally retaliated against the attacks of the Khitan tribe of Paryeo (稗麗). However, no account is found of the war with the Late Yan, with whom Koguryo fought over the Liaodong area during King Gwanggaeto's reign. While the account of King Gwanggaeto's Year 17 is assumed to be the account of the Late Yan, the truth is that the account of the war was deliberately omitted in the stele inscriptions. This is thought to have been motivated by the pull toward Koguryo's foreseeable future and its achievable goals. In other words, it was a strategic move taken by King Jangsu, who wrote the stele inscriptions, to prepare for future developments, that is to bring stability to Koguryo in the volatile political landscape of Northeast Asia while avoiding conflict with the North Yan, the successor to the Late Yan.

Although written by a person with firsthand experience of his time, the inscriptions of the Gwanggaeto stele were heavily biased toward Koguryo. As a result, they included unhistorical descriptions such as the Account of Year 319. This is a characteristic of a monument and reflects Koguryo's philosophy of the time. The Gwanggaeto stele inscriptions have been the subject of endless criticism and counter-criticism based on the theory proposed by the Japanese academic circles. The Gwanggaeto stele has endured the weathering for 1,600 years, and it's time to restore the identity it deserves. The Gwanggaeto Stele itself may have been the prime victim of history, with its historical image distorted by researchers and its body damaged by the application of lime. Deciphering the stele inscriptions with accuracy, interpreting them without emotion, and seeking the truths of the stele inscriptions, including their historical view, remain as future tasks.