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A royal portrait of King
Go Dae Jo-yeong presented
by the Committee
for the Production of National
Standard Royal Portraits

Balhae! It is the country founded by the displaced people of Koguryo after its fall. What comes to mind when you hear this name? Having coexisted with Silla during what is referred to as the Period of the Southern and Northern Kingdoms, Balhae is an indisputable part of Korean history. Wang Geon, the founder of Goryeo, severed the relationship with the Khitans who destroyed Balhae, calling them a people less than a beast, and welcomed the displaced people of Balhae with open arms when they fled into Goryeo, so much so that they even asked Goryeo for help in their revival movement. As studies have already confirmed, Wang Geon received a great deal of human and material support from the displaced people of Balhae while integrating the Later Three Kingdoms. In other words, the displaced people of Balhae and Goryeo coexisted in what can be called an extended continuation of the Period of Southern and Northen Kingdoms (Silla and Balhae).

Besides, Dae Jo-yeong, the founder of Balhae, is a familiar name. The historical drama Dae Jo-yeong, for example, remains among the most popular works that have contributed to the Korean Wave. And the Korean navy has a warship named after him conducting operations on the oceans around the world. There are also a royal portrait of King Go Dae Jo-yeong, which I participated in the making of and has been released recently, and the special postage stamp commemorating him which has been already issued.

However, despite this familiarity of the name Dae Jo-yeong as the founder and leader of Balhae, it should be pointed out here that neither Balhae nor Dae Jo-yeong is the proper name to use. First of all, Balhae should be referred to as Jin-guk, its official name in its early days. As for Dae Jo-yeoung, it is desirable to call him by his posthumous title King Go (高王). Calling him properly by using the title King Go is the real place to start for Balhae as part of Korean history. In other words, Balhae's journey in Korean history is not finished yet.

Balhae Should Be Referred to as its Early Name Jin-guk and Dae Jo-yeong as King Go

Most of the records related to the history of Balhae were written by the countries that had been on exchange with Balhae. In particular, the Middle Kingdom (China) recorded that King Go had established a country with the name Jin-guk at Mount Dongmo, specifying Jin-guk as the early name of Balhae. Despite this historical record, Chinese scholars claim that the early name of Balhae was Mohe (or Malgal), not Jin-guk. As evidence, they present the record that the Tang Dynasty had sent an envoy to Jin-guk and invested King Go as King Balhae and this had prompted Jin-guk to discard its name Mohe and start sticking only to the name Balhae. As another piece of evidence, Chinese scholars point to what is written on the stone at the Hongryeo-jeong Well. Allegedly, a Tang envoy on his way back from his mission dug a well named Hongryeo-jeong and wrote about his mission on a stone. 'Mohe' appears both in the written record and on the stone, and they claim it to be the first name adopted by King Go for his country. To reemphasize their point, Chinese scholars point to two examples where the word 'Mohe' was written, one on the 8th-century stone monument discovered in Japan and the other on the early 7th-century tombstone of a Turkic tomb discovered recently in Mongolia. But these remaining records are no more than "records of their own" interpreted in their own way. In fact, the monument in Japan was erected in the late 8th century, a time when the name Balhae was widely used. Also, what is written on the tombstone discovered in Mongolia is about the period when the displaced people of Koguryo were striving for revival, a period before Balhae was established, In other words, they are making the mistake of presenting far-fetched evidence.

Why do they go so far as to deny the written records to claim that the early name of Balhae during the days of King Go was Mohe? For a start, the written records themselves, as I have pointed out earlier, are not centered on Balhae but a reflection of the view of the Tang Dynasty. 'Mohe' was a self-centered, derogatory term used in the Middle Kingdom at that time referring to its neighboring peoples. Therefore, it is unlikely that King Go adopted that term himself as the name of the country that he had established.

Then how should we make sense of this issue with 'Mohe'? One of the big troubles that plagued the Tang Dynasty at that time was how to deal with the Mohe. According to historical records, the Mohe were part of the military camp of Koguryo even before the establishment of Balhae, and caused considerable damage to the Tang army during its attack on Koguryo. For example, Mohe troops participated in the Battle of Ansi as reinforcements for Koguryo in defeating the Tang army. In another example, after the fall of Koguryo, King Bojang formed a surreptitious alliance with the Mohe to fight back against the Tang Dynasty. Obviously the Mohe were a pain in the neck for the Tang Dynasty.

The Unfinished Journey of Balhae the Flourishing Eastern Sea Country

While the Khitans were struggling against the Tang Dynasty, King Go Dae Jo-yeong led the displaced people out of Yeongju (present-day Chaoyang in Jilim Province, China) and moved east, defeated the Tang army in Cheonmun-ryeong (天門嶺), and proclaimed the establishment of Jin-guk (State of 'Jin'(振 or 震)) at Mount Dongmo. If we think about it, we should realize that this series of events that led to the successful establishment of a country, from leaving Yeonju to settling down at Mount Dongmo, took place according to prepared plans.

The establishment of Balhae is a consequence of the movement to rebuild Koguryo that continued after its fall. The displaced people of Koguryo must have also played a great part as human resources in making it possible to establish Balhae. For thirty years after the fall of Koguryo, there was exchange between 'the force of Jin-guk with Mount Dongmo at its center' and 'the group led by Dae Jo-yeong in the Yeongju area,' until, finally, they joined hands to bring together the scattered displaced people and proclaimed themselves as a nation with the name Jin-guk. King Go Dae Jo-yeong was, in a word, the 'one who put an end to the diaspora of the displaced people of Koguryo.' Balhae, whose early name was Jin-guk and having brought together the displaced people of Koguryo as well as the scattered ethnic Koreans, was the beginning of the Korean history of diaspora.

Even though the regions where the history of Balhae unfolded are in present-day Northeast China and Primorsky Krai of Russia, the relics and sites from these regions are cultural heritage proving the Period of the Southern and Northern Kingdoms in Korean history. It is now time for the Chinese academia to make a generous decision, as did the Russian academia, to allow the sites of Balhae scattered across China to be investigated jointly by China and Korea. Just as the sites of Balhae in Primorsky Krai of Russia have been excavated jointly by Korea and Russia for the past twenty years with success, we look forward to such joint excavations in China and North Korea as well. Balhae the Flourishing Eastern Sea Country that stretched in all directions is just beginning to tell us its story. Balhae, or Jin-guk, the country proclaimed by King Go Dae Jo-yeong at Mount Dongmo! Someday if and when records written by the people of Balhae themselves are discovered, the diaspora of the Korean people will have been completed.

A panoramic view of Mount Dongmo