뉴스레터

On March 22, 2017, the Northeast Asian History Foundation held its first forum on ancient Korean history for 2017 at the press conference room on the nineteenth floor of the Korea Press Center.

The Foundation has continued to host symposiums for the purpose of introducing various opinions on ancient Korean history. A total of four were held in 2016 under the themes "Wanggeomseong and the Han Commanderies," "Where is Paesu, the Border between Gojoseon and Han (漢)?" "Where is Manfanhan, the border between Gojoseon and Yan?" and "The Location of the Lelang Commandery." The Foundation also arranged a group of researchers and opinion leaders to take a field trip to the former Liaoxi province where a discussion was held onsite as well. Such activities have created opportunities to examine controversial issues surrounding the history of Gojoseon by studying its relations with Chinese dynasties such as Yan, Jin, and Han.

The Foundation's latest symposium provided a chance to broaden the scope of discussions by focusing on Gojoseon's relations with other forces such as the Xiongnu and Donghu. With Research Fellow Kim Eun-kuk serving as moderator, presentations were given by Dr. Lee Hu-seok of Soongsil University and Dr. Shim Baek-gang, head of the Korea National Culture Research Center.

Archaeological Review of Gojoseon's Capitals

The first presentation by Dr. Lee Hu-seok was titled "An Archaeological Review of the Relations between Gojoseon and its Neighboring Communities: With a Focus on Gojoseon's Relations with Yan, Shanrong, and Donghu." The presentation attempted to analyze the boundaries between Gojoseon and its surrounding communities during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period based on archaeological evidence of each of their material cultures. Dr. Lee pointed out that Gojoseon's culture centered around Shiertaiyingzi was archaeologically different from those of northern tribes such as the Shanrong to the west of Gojoseon during the Spring and Autumn period and Donghu to the northwest of Gojoseon during the Warring States period. Based on such a geographic dispersion of cultures, Dr. Lee argued that Gojoseon had been centered in the Liaoxi province during the Spring and Autumn period, then moved to the Liaozhong area by the end of the same period (B.C. 6000-5000). When Gojoseon lost the war amid its rivalry with the Yan during the middle of the Warring States period (second half of B.C. 4000), it once again relocated its capital to the south of the Tianshan mountains in the Liaodong region. Dr. Lee thereby concluded that since there are barely any records remaining to reveal the changes that occurred to Gojoseon, researching the ancient kingdom requires a paradigm shift to focus more on archaeological evidence instead of old documents.

Was Liaoshui Today's Liao River or Yishui River?

Contrary to Dr. Lee Hu-seok, Dr. Shim Baek-gang made the opposite argument in his presentation that followed by saying that Korean research on its ancient history has so far been propelled by archaeology and has neglected to study old documents. Scholars have focused their attention on the Four Books and thereby neglected to examine other classic Chinese texts such as the Hundred Schools of Thought or novels and other collections of literary works. This formed the basis of Dr. Shim's presentation titled "The Commanderies of Liaodong and Liaoxi and the Lelang Commandery in Relation to Liaoshui during the Times of Gojoseon." According to Dr. Shim, the modern Yishui River (易水) in Hebei corresponds to the Liaoshui (遼水) in the phrase "燕客思遼水" that appears in a set of twenty-seven poems known as Yonghuai (永懷) from Yu Zishan ji (庾子山集), a collection of poems by Yu Xin from the Wei-Jin Period and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Based on this theory, Dr. Shim argued that the location of Liaoshui, which flowed between the two commanderies of Liaodong and Liaoxi, is not Liaohe, or the Liao River in today's Liaoning province, but the Yishui River in today's Hebei province. This argument not only places the commanderies of Liaodong and Liaoxi in today's Hebei province, but also places the Lelang commandery in the same province as well, which is contrary to the commandery's location that other scholars estimate to have been along the Daedong River.

A lively general discussion followed the presentations given by Dr. Lee Hu-seok and Dr. Shim Baek-gang where Professor Seo Young-dae of Inha University acted as moderator while Dr. Kim Jong-seo (Society for the Correction of Korean History Education in Korea and Overseas) and Dr. Park Jun-hyung (Yonsei University) debated with the presenters over a range of issues from criticism on source material such as archaeological evidence and old documents to the locality of Gojoseon.

The symposium proved to be worthwhile in terms of reexamining the locality of Gojoseon in relation to the Xiongnu and Donghu instead of Chinese dynasties, introducing a fresh angle of research in studying Gojoseon history. It was also an occasion that once again showed that the Northeast Asian History Foundation is striving to diminish the gap between differing perceptions about ancient Korean history, a field of research struggling as it revolves around a limited range of topics.