Newsletter

The year 2014 marked the 1,600th year since the Gwanggaeto Stele was erected. It is written on the stele's inscription that on September 29, 414 the royal tomb of King Gwanggaeto was created and a stele in honor of the King's achievements was erected to be handed down to posterity. As it so happened, the year 2014 had a leap month in September, such that the date of the stele's erection was repeated at a month's interval (October 22 and November 21 in the solar calendar). In celebration, the Northeast Asian History Foundation hosted the International Conference on the 1,600th Year Since the Erection of the Gwanggaeto Stele on two occasions.

The first conference, co-hosted by the Northeast Asian History Foundation and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was held in Ji'an, the Jilin Province of China, where the Gwanggaeto Stele is located, from the 20th to the 22nd of October 2014. At the opening ceremony, President of the Northeast Asian History Foundation Kim Hakjoon asked that (the stele's inscription) should be reviewed for any records of peace and coexistence with neighboring countries, in addition to the accounts of the conquests during the King Gwanggaeto era. Former Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Wu Yin (武寅) gave a welcoming speech in which he stressed that it was necessary for scholars from different countries to make a concerted effort to advance research on the Gwanggaeto Stele and that in this regard this conference was very meaningful.

Sharing the Findings of Multifaceted Research on the Gwanggaeto Stele

The conference was divided into a total of six sessions that took place over two days for presentation and discussion on such topics as: research on the Gwanggaeto Stele; research on Kogryo's carved stones as historical records; Koguryo's thinking during the King Gwanggaeto period; and recent research and its findings in Koguryo archaeology.

The main points covered by the presentations included: the controversial articles from the Gwanggaeto Stele inscription; Koguryo's historical status based on the Gwanggaeto Stele; (the Gwanggaeto Stele's) relationship with the Ji'an Koguryo Stele; the article on the conquest and rule of the Northern region; the myth on the progenitor of Sinraehanye (新來韓穢: a people subjugated by Koguryo); the founding myth; Hwangryong and the early history Koguryo; and King Gwanggaeto's military strategies. And there were also in-depth discussions on the rubbings recently discovered in China and Japan, the deciphering of the letters in controversy, the grave-keeping system, local rule, the transfer of the capital to Pyeongyang; relations among the Three Kingdoms; and foreign relations between Koguryo and the Later Yan. There was also an introduction to the sites of Koguryo discovered in China and the Korean Peninsula.

As a follow-up to the first one held in Ji'an, China, the second conference was held at the Grand Conference Hall of the Northeast Asian History Foundation from the 19th to the 21st of November 2014. It was co-hosted by the Northeast Asian History Foundation, Society for Korean Ancient History, and the Association of Koguryo Balahe. The conference consisted of a total of four sessions. Sessions 1 and 2 explored the Gwanggaeto Stele rubbings. Session 3 examined the nature of the Gwanggaeto Stele inscription's text. Session 4 multiple aspects of the Gwanggaeto Stele by presenting ten papers on comparison between the Gwanggaeto Stele and other steles and monuments in neighboring regions.

Day 1 started with a keynote presentation by Professor Park Jinseok at Yanbian University in China, followed by the presentation of four papers. Professor Park asked that younger scholars should have a strict academic attitude, and pointed out that 'An Interpretation of the Article about the Year 395 from the Gwanggaeto Stele' by Tadanao Yokoi (橫井忠直) a hundred years ago had been a serious distortion committed by the militaristic Japan of the time in order to promote the policy to invade the Korean Peninsula and Mainland China. Professor Shi ZhenXin (徐建新) at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences gave a detailed examination of The Journal of Liao Zuo (遼左日記) by Lee Chogyeong, a new material about the discovery of the Gwanggaeto Stele and the making of early rubbings. Professor Geng Tiehua (耿鐵華) at Tonghua (通化) Normal University introduced the rubbing of the Gwanggaeto Stele which had been recently discovered and housed in the Tonhua City Museum. Curator Baek Seung-ok at Busan Museum gave an introduction to the original Gwanggaeto Stele rubbing recently discovered in Korea, also known as the Hye-Jung copy. I gave a review of the inscription with focus on the characters on whose interpretation a consensus had not been reached, and tried a new interpretation of the inscription through the original stele rubbing, etc. In the general discussion, it was suggested that the recent increase in original stele rubbings should be dealt with through digital technology to put them in order and scientific site survey, which would lead to deciphering more of the letters. It was also stressed that the NAHF should play an active role in this process.

n Day 2, six papers were presented. Professor Naoki Inoue (井上直樹) at Kyoto Prefectural University gave a presentation on modern Japan's interpretation of the Gwanggaeto Stele and the line of the Kings of Koguryo. Professor Jeong Ho-seob at Hansung University compared and reviewed the Gwanggaeto Stele and the Ji'an Koguryo Stele. Professor Yeo Ho-gyu at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies used the articles about the founding myth and succession to the throne from the Gwanggaeto Stele in identifying the specific ideological foundation on which Koguryo had established its own world view. Professor Choi Jin-yeol at the Catholic University of Korea identified and reviewed the characteristics unique to the Gwanggaeto stele by comparing it with the steles and monuments from the period of Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties. Professor Jo Beob-jong at Woosuk University, after giving a comparison with the steles and monuments of neighboring nomadic countries, argued that the Gwanggaeto Stele had established the tradition of four-sided steles, different from the Chinese two-sided style, and symbolized a new culture of erected steles. Research Fellow Kim Hyun-sook at the Northeast Asian History Foundation, in a discussion on the study of the Gwanggaeto Stele by Jin Yufu (金毓黻), said that Jin Yufu's perception of the history of Northeast China, including the history of Koguryo, strongly reflected his intention to counter Japan's view of history that Manchuria and Korea were one.

After the conference in China, the scholars from
North and South Korea, China, and Japan
visited the Gwanggaeto Stele together.

On the 21st, the international conference celebrating the 1,600th year since the erection of the Gwanggaeto Stele was concluded with a trip to a number of related sites, including the Mt. Acha bastion site in the southernmost part of Koguryo, Seoul Baekje Museum, Mongchon Toseong (an ancient earthen rampart dating from the Baekje kingdom), and a cluster of ancient tombs in Seokchon-dong, Seoul.

Facilitated Exchange Among Scholars from North and South Korea, China, and Japan

The international conference held on two occasions to celebrate the 1,600th year since the erection of the Gwanggaeto Stele is of great significance in scholarly history in that it was the first official gathering of experts from North and South Korea, China, and Japan on the subject of the stele that testified King Gwanggaeto and his era. Furthermore, it called the attention of the international community to the history and culture of Koguryo, and established their position in East Asian history. The NAHF will take this conference as an opportunity to actively promote dialogue and cooperation to resolve the historical conflict with China and also actively seek ways for exchange and cooperation between the historical communities of North and South Korea.