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General History is one of the ways to describe history. This is a history book that describes everything about a country. The General History of Goguryeo examined the entire period of Goguryeo and dealt with all the components of history in a comprehensive manner. At first glance, there is a vast range to describe. In this regard, there is concern that we can deal with the whole history. It must be a difficult task.

Nevertheless, the reason we started this work is that the study of the history of Goguryeo in academia has grown rapidly over the past decade. This changes the contents of the history of Goguryeo that we know in the past. It is also one of the achievements that new discussions and methodology are sought in various ways by actively utilizing the early articles of Goguryeobongi among the 『Samguksagi』 which was not well handled. It is also different from the past that the theme is being subdivided and diversified around political history and foreign relations. In the field of archaeology, it has long been out of the tendency to roughly organize the remains based on the research results of China and North Korea. In the central part of the Korean peninsula, south of the Imjin River, the study of the remains of Goguryeo has increased. Through this, we understood the style of tombs, castles, and earthenware, and compiled history in chronological order.

However, the latest primer on the history of Goguryeo, which is currently being used by academia, is 『The Politics and Society of Goguryeo』 published by NAHF in 2007, and 『The Culture and Thought of Goguryeo』. 『Korean History - Politics and Society of Three Kingdoms of KoreaⅠ- Goguryeo』, The primer of 『Korean History』and 『Research on the History of Goguryeo』 were also the results reflecting the research results until then. Of course, these books have contributed to the study of the history of Goguryeo in academia. However, NAHF decided that the General History should be published for the following three reasons.

Why we publish General History

First, it is necessary to summarize the accumulated research results. Under the circumstances of the time, there were limited contents to be included in the Korean history of the National Institute of Korean History, or the books published by NAHF. In some cases, there is also a part that introduces the theory that is not used at present. In the meantime, the study on the history of Goguryeo in Korean academia has grown dramatically, and it is leading the study in the world academia. It is time for a new arrangement that reflects these latest research results.

Second, it is necessary to present a faithful understanding in history. There is no doubt that the study on the history of Goguryeo has achieved great results through the previous studies. However, there seem to be some parts that need to be reviewed. In this case, it is necessary to present the understanding that is consistent with the history, so that the new researchers and interested people should look at the history of Goguryeo based on the academically reasonable understanding. In the past, individuals who conducted related research summarized the chapters and sections. This has the advantage of providing a deep understanding of the content, but it also has the disadvantage of being biased toward certain theories or arguments. So far, related works have usually been. Therefore, before selecting a writer, it is necessary to consider how it is possible to write faithfully in history and not biased toward specific opinions.

Third, it is because of the consciousness of crisis triggered by the Northeast Project in China. China's Northeast Project played a part in the development of many studies on the history of Goguryeo in a short time. The Northeast Project is to establish a historical system in the northeastern region of China, focusing on China. This project dealt with Goguryeo history as a key task and studied various fields of Goguryeo history. Recently, studies on primary resources such as epitaph and 『Hanyuan』翰苑 left by Goguryeo people who entered the Tang Dynasty after the fall are underway, and new logic development using archaeological data in China is actively being developed. In this regard, it is necessary to introduce new resources faithfully, to criticize the Chinese understanding and argument, and to understand the rationale.

The Characteristics of the 『General History of Goguryeo』

NAHF published the General History of Goguryeo and formed a planning committee. The committee established a system on how to organize the General History, what to write, and what to focus on writing. The contents of each volume were confirmed after several discussions. The committee also took charge of reviewing the manuscripts written. The first achievement is 『General History of Goguryeo 1-Origin and Establishment of Goguryeo』, 『General History of Goguryeo 3-Politics and Society in the Middle Age of Goguryeo』(2020).

General History of Goguryeo consists of history of the former period(2 volumes), history of the middle period(2 volumes), history of the latter period(3 volumes), ancient history(2 volumes), and general theory. Due to the nature of each era or archaeological data, the conditions for the General History to describe are very diverse. There is a limit to the data, so in the case of middle period, there is little description about domestic political situation. Conversely, the history of the latter period is becoming abundant, including the contents of the war or control with the Sui and Tang. Therefore, the subject and contents of each book differ significantly depending on the conditions of the data and the interest of the researchers. However, General History is compiled to comprehensively understand the history of Goguryeo. In this respect, the balance of subject and time in the table of contents had to be considered. And we had to think about how to reduce the difference in each book's description. To this end, the committee composed the contents of each volume and made the authors write the manuscript.

The contents of 『General History of Goguryeo 2』 and 『General History of Goguryeo 4』 are finished. 『General History of Goguryeo 5 - Change of Late Goguryeo and the System』, 『General History of Goguryeo 8 - Remain』 was written last year. It is supplementing the contents through the revising of the authors. 『General History of Goguryeo』 will be a guide to help those who have entered the study learn the main context and approach the task easily. And for those who are interested in Goguryeo, it will be an important resource to look at new parts that have not been known.