뉴스레터

Because I study the ancient Korean kingdom of Koguryo, I used to be peppered with questions years ago when a popular television drama used Koguryo and its founder Jumong as its motif. I would usually be asked things like "Are the incidents appearing in the drama "Jumong" based on actual facts?" or "Did Jumong really do that?" Of course, the Jumong featured in the drama is different from the one described in history books. How, then, is the real "Jumong" actually portrayed in books about history?

Prowess that Thrived Under Adversity

It is well known that the father of Jumong was Hae Mo-su, son of heaven and god of the sun, and Jumong's mother was Lady Yu-hwa, daughter of the river god Ha-baek. The hero Jumong's life nevertheless met with hardships from the very beginning. His father took off shortly after impregnating his mother who was forced to become the concubine of the King Geumwa of Eastern Buyeo. Jumong grew up at the palace of Eastern Buyeo among the seven sons of King Geumwa who were always jealous of Jumong's capabilities. Still being a prince, he lived in comfort with opportunities to receive education and establish his influence. Withstanding pressure from his stepbrothers must have equipped Jumong with self-discipline and made him realize the need to amass and organize forces of his own around him.

Military skills were a must for ancient kings, especially those who sought to found their own kingdoms. As can be told from his name, which meant "skilled archer" in the Buyeo language, Jumong was proficient in archery. By the age of seven, he was able to use bows and arrows he made himself and never missed shooting at flies that flew past him. Murals in Koguryo tombs often feature people riding horses that gallop between low hills and high mountains. The sight of Koguryo warriors turning and drawing their bows to aim and shoot on horseback is exactly what Jumong must have looked like.

An Excellent Strategist

An episode involving Koguryo's foundation reveals how smart Jumong had been in terms of employing strategies and tactics. According to Samguk sagi, or the History of the Three Kingdoms, Jumong escaped Buyeo, and after overcoming a series of complications, he established a kingdom of his own near an area called Biryusu. To expand his kingdom's influence, he thereafter went on a survey of areas nearby during which he ran into King Songyang of the kingdom Biryuguk. When King Songyang faced Jumong he said, "I have been immersed in a corner of the sea and have been unable to come across a gentleman, so our unexpected encounter today seems quite fortunate. However, I do not know where you came from." Jumong said in reply, "I am the son of heaven and have relocated my capital in a certain place nearby." King Songyang then declared that "We have ruled here as kings for generations. The area is not large enough to accommodate two kings, so your kingdom should become a vassal state of mine as it has been but a few days since you have relocated your capital." This infuriated Jumong who suggested they settle the matter by comparing their skills in archery and King Songyang turned out to be no match for Jumong.

Still, Jumong remained concerned about lacking legitimacy against the native forces of Biryuguk which had been established well beforehand. Bubunno, a follower of Jumong, recognized his lord's concern and stole drums and a couple of other instruments from Biryuguk. King Songyang requested for their immediate return, but Jumong changed the color of the instruments to make them look aged and therefore difficult for Biryuguk to make claims over their origin. Jumong also used slightly rotted wood as pillars when building his palace to make it look older than it actually was. So, when King Songyang went to see the palace of Koguryo, he was unable to cast doubt as to which kingdom had been established first.

And that wasn't the end of Jumong's gumption. When King Songyang refused to surrender after all his ploys, Jumong decided to initiate an attack on Biryuguk and headed west on a patrol. While on patrol, he captured a large, white deer, which he hung upside down in a field and threatened it by saying "I will not let you go unless it rains enough to drown the capital of Biryuguk, so go ahead and plead to the heavens for a downpour." The sound of the white deer's sorrowful weeping reached the heavens and finally rain began to fall. The rain lasted for seven days and eventually flooded the capital of Biryuguk. At that moment, Jumong appeared and slashed his whip at the river, which made the overflow of water disappear and put an end to the flood as well as the competition between Jumong and King Songyang.

This tale in the founding myth of Koguryo is understood in historical studies as a portrayal of the fact that Jumong picked a rainy season to successfully attack King Songyang whose kingdom was located on a riverside in Biryusu. It shows how effectively Jumong made use of his tactics by taking into consideration geographic features as well as the weather.

A King of Integration

A kingdom cannot be founded by a single individual, no matter how outstanding that person may be. That is why kings merge with other forces nearby or conquer other areas to expand their human, economic, and territorial resources in the process of establishing a kingdom. Some use force to make it through that process, whereas others value integration rather than war, and Jumong belongs to the latter type.

Jumong was accompanied by his friends Oi, Mari, and Hyeopbo who followed him when he left Buyeo in addition to a group of wealthy associates who provided the human and material resources necessary for the foundation of Koguryo. A lady by the name Soseono was the one who helped Jumong the most when he came down to the midstream of Amnok River to found his kingdom. In Baekje bongi, or the Annals of Baekje included in Samguk sagi, there is a footnote attached to the record of Jumong's marriage to the second daughter of Jolbon Buyeo's king and the birth of his two sons Biryu and Onjo. That footnote adds an alternate story about how Soseono, Yeontabal's daughter and Wutae's widow from Jolbon, raised her sons Biryu and Onjo until she married Jumong when he came to Jolbon Buyeo and how she thereafter devoted everything in her possession to help Jumong establish the kingdom of Koguryo.

Jumong was a genius at integrating. It is undeniable that Soseono's power greatly helped Jumong rise to power after coming to Jolbon Buyeo and lead the multiple tribes that became a part of Koguryo, but all that would have ultimately been impossible without Jumong's personality, capabilities, and talent for integration. When he crossed a river named Eomnidaesu and arrived at a valley called Modungok, three men by the names of Jaesa, dressed in hemp cloth, Mugol, wearing a patched robe, and Mukgeo, dressed in cloth made of woven straw, come forth to surrender of their own accord. Jumong accepted them and gave them each the surnames of Daesil, Jungsil, and Sosil, which signifies that he achieved integration with the local forces. From the way he chose to form a union with native forces to rise to a position of leadership and allowed them to voluntarily surrender while recognizing their vested interest in the area, we are able to infer that Jumong had basically been a leader of integration who valued conciliation and human networks.

Jumong founded Koguryo at the age of twenty-two, bequeathed the throne at the age of forty to his worthy successor Yuri, and eventually stepped on the yellow dragon's head to reach heaven. We can only hope his story will be able to encourage and give hope to those in their late twenties today who are still searching for jobs or those in their forties who are still anxious about their future.