뉴스레터

The mid to late 6th century, when Eulji Mundeok was born, was a time of internal and external crisis for his country, Koguryo, which had been a power in Northeast Asia by establishing its own sphere of influence since the 5th century, until it plunged into a serious internal conflict due to a series of fights over the throne in the mid 6th century. Silla and Baekje, the other two countries on the Korean Peninsula, took advantage of this confusion; their allied forces invaded Koguryo and occupied the Han River basin. This led to a shift in the Koguryo-dominated power dynamics on the Korean Peninsula. There was yet another threat to Koguryo: the rise of the Turks as a new power in the northern grassland.

But this was only the beginning of the fundamental change in East Asian international order that would come about as the Sui (隋) dynasty reunified China in 589 after 300 years of division. Sui tried to force a Sino-centric international order on neighboring countries. If they resisted, Sui would subjugate them by force. Koguryo was also faced with the decision, which was tough to make because submitting to the demand of Sui entailed risking to lose not only its own existing sphere of influence but also the opportunity to expand its power into neighboring regions. The fate of Koguryo was at stake.

After a long internal debate, Koguryo decided to stand up against Sui by pulling those in its own existing sphere of influence back together. The long-divided nobles temporarily united themselves against the powerful enemy Sui. While repairing the rusty arms and stocking up on military provisions, Koguryo rebuilt an impenetrable fortress defense system by repairing the fortresses all over the country. While launching attacks against Baekje and Silla to the south in an attempt to recapture the Han River basin, Koguryo strengthened its reign over the Turks to the north. Koguryo also looked across the sea, and established close diplomatic relations with Wa through the introduction of advanced culture to them.

His Poem Sent to Wu Zhong Wen: The Brilliant Strategist's Tactic in Psychological Warfare

Finally, Emperor Yang of Sui mobilized a million troops and invaded Koguryoin in 612. But the Sui force, used to fighting in plains, was confounded to find the vast plains deserted and the fortresses impregnable. Their attacks on Liaodong Fortress, which lasted as many as three months, were unsuccessful. Emperor Yang of Sui grew impatient because he had expected to conquer anywhere with his massive army. The greatest weakness of the Sui force at that time was their long line of supply, which was up to thousands of li long. Koguryo strategically exploited this weakness by keeping the fortresses impregnable and the plains free of any thing that can be eaten, not even a grain of rice. Running out of patience, Emperor Yang of Sui decided to advance his troops straight to Pyeongyang Fortress. When the 300,000-strong detached force of Sui reached the Abrok River, Eulji Mundeok faked surrender so that he could be taken far behind the enemy lines and spy on the Sui force. He observed that the soldiers of Sui were supplied with weapons and foods measuring as many as three 504 liters in volume, but they were so tired of prolonged marches and battles that they sometimes disobeyed the strict military command by throwing away their food in secret. Soon he realized that the enemy troops were worn out.

Once he finished spying on the Sui force, Eulji Mundeok escaped from the enemy's camp and headed to Pyeongyang Fortress. When the Sui force began a chase after him, he fled while pretending to fight back, a move to wear them out even further. Winning as many as seven battles a day, the Sui force kept advancing to the south. All that seemed to remain for them to do was to take Pyeongyang Fortress, except that the fortress was simply impregnable. Worse, there were all the other fortresses of Kogruyo behind the Sui force which they had failed to take on their way over there. They might as well be surrounded. Just in time, Eulji Mundeok sent Wu Zhong Won, the supreme commander of the Sui force, a poem which read:

Heaven knows how marvelous you are in your strategy
Earth knows how shrewd you are in your calculation,
Your name already knows no bounds in this war
Time to know satisfaction in your toil

This poem is an excellent work of literature which demonstrates that Eulji Mundeok was a literary as well as military man. In particular, the part of the poem containing his cynical suggestion to the opponent that his name already knew no bounds in this war and it was time to know satisfaction reflects his quality as a brilliant strategist engaged in psychological warfare. Eulji Mundeok even gave them an excuse to retreat by saying that "If you retreat, our King will pay a visit to your Emperor." The Sui force retreated, only to find the Koguryo force chasing at their heels instead of surrendering. When the Sui force reached Salsu [the Cheongcheon River] and began to cross it in a hurry, a full-scale attack from the Koguryo force began. It is said that only 2,700 of the 300,000 troops of Sui made it back home alive.

Koguryo saw through Sui's foreign policy, and opted for the hard-line policy of confronting Sui face-to-face by putting those in its own sphere of influence back together based on its historical experience. To make it work, Koguryo reestablished the fortress defense system and formulated a strategy that exploited the Sui force's weakness as much as possible. In fact, it enabled Koguryo to fend off a series of Sui's four campaigns of invasion.

The True Leader Who Practiced Courage and Dedication

Eulji Mundeok's victory in the Battle of Salsu was possible because Koguryo accurately identified the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent and formulated a strategy that used every resource and power available within the country. But this alone wouldn't have been sufficient to complete Eulji Mundeok's brilliant cleverness. He risked his life going into the enemy's camp himself in order to gather information needed for the formulation of strategies. What he did is a good example demonstrating that true leadership comes from a leader devoted to the members of his organization with the courage to sacrifice himself for them. This gives some food for thought to us since we have recently suffered a series of national disasters.

Despite its successful defense against Sui's invasion, Koguryo fell in 668 to the attacks from the allied forces of Silla and Tang, because even though Koguryo had the conditions necessary to confront Sui, Koguryo didn't have the conditions sufficient to cut through the waves of the new international situation. In fact, the international situation created by Sui's reunification of China was fundamentally different from the existing one. But Koguryo still relied on its existing experience of establishing its own sphere of influence in formulating foreign policies against Sui and Tang. This led Koguryo to make the fatal mistake of engaging in fierce battles with Silla or Baekje to the south while facing the large enemies Sui and Tang.

Even though Koguryo defeated Sui and Tang in a series of battles including the Battle of Salsu, Koguryo was trapped in its old historical experience and failed to formulate foreign policies that would enable it to cope with the new international order. As a result, Koguryo eventually fell and disappeared from the center stage of history. Since the disintegration of the Cold War system, the international situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula has been also very complex and changing rapidly. To cope with such an international situation, a new perception of foreign policy fundamentally different from the old, Cold War-style one is required. Is it really too much to ask our state leaders today to devote and sacrifice themselves to their peoples and also have a new perception of foreign policy that will enable them to cut through the rough waves of the rapidly changing international situation?