뉴스레터

Initiating the internationalization of Korean history

  Recently, the inclusion of a narrative in the Korean history textbook used in American university courses, asserting that Korea achieved modernization due to Japan’s colonial rule, has sparked controversy both at home and abroad. Furthermore, the depiction of maps showing the Great Wall of China extending to the northwestern part of the Korean Peninsula in overseas websites and history books has come to light and stirred controversy. This is clear example of how Korean history is perceived overseas.

In the Anglo-American world, Korean history is in a significantly disadvantaged environment in terms of the size of related departments, professors, and researchers compared to Chinese or Japanese history, and this directly affects the quality of the research outcomes. In fact, while Chinese and Japanese history can progress from detailed topic to syntactic review within the Anglo-American academic communities themselves, Korean history cannot. Although there has recently been a growing interest in Korean culture overseas, it has not yet extended to the realm of scholarship. Therefore, there is an urgent need to foster active exchange and discussion with the international academic communities in the realm of scholarship.

  In response, the foundation organized an academic conference on May 11th at the Korea Foundation’s Korea-US Future Center in Washington, DC, United States, on the theme of ‘The Ancient Northern Region and Material Culture of Korea’ as part of its efforts towards the internationalization of Korean history. Gojoseon, Buyeo, Okjeo, Koguryo, and Balhae, which are the main topics of this academic conference, share a commonality of being our ancient countries that operated in the present-day northeastern region of China, also known as the Manchurian region. This region is now within the territory of China, but it is a very important region in relation to the beginning and development of Korean history. There are skeptical perceptions of the succession relationship between these ancient countries and the modern-day Korea in some corners of the international academic communities. This history, which is so obvious to us, is distorted by neighboring countries as their own history, and is not accepted as part of Korean history in the West. In this regard, the academic conference aimed to promote research achievements on the history and culture of ancient Korean countries from the perspective of Korean history to overseas academic communities and to initiate the establishment of academic networks.

The Ancient Northern Region and Material Culture of Korea

: Gojoseon, Buyeo, Okjeo, Koguryo, Balhae

  The conference was organized in a format in which experts from the Korean academic communities, including research fellows from the Foundation, presented their latest research achievements on Gojoseon, Buyeo, Okjeo, Koguryo, and Balhae, and discussed them with an American expert on ancient Korean history who is in charge of writing the ancient Korean history section of Cambridge Korean History.

  The first presentation was titled ‘Exploring the material culture and identity of Gojoseon’. The presentation aimed to archaeologically identify the history of Gojoseon by examining the bronze dagger culture and the archaeological context of the excavation of bronze mirrors, which are known as the material culture of Gojoseon. Chinese ancient documents with records of Gojoseon are mostly reorganized from the Han Dynasty period onwards. There are inherent limitations in the reliability of the documents due to their compression and summarization of repeated or intermittent events over a long period of time, making them appear as short-term, one-time events. On the other hand, in archaeological terms, the material culture of Gojoseon is generally discussed in relation to the cultural area of short-handled bronze dagger(pipa-shaped bronze dagger culture and slender-shaped bronze dagger culture). Through the symbolism shown by weapons (bronze daggers) and rituals (bronze mirrors), it can be seen as a political body based on the ‘a society with the unity of ritual and governance’. This identity of Gojoseon may have changed in the process of exchange and competition with China, but it is generally believed to have remained intact. In order to uncover the process of Gojoseon’s establishment, it is essential to pay close attention to both literary records and archeological specimens.

  The second presentation was titled ‘Implications of artifacts of the Buyeo lineage excavated on the Korean Peninsula’. On the Korean Peninsula, some artifacts that are presumed to be associated with Buyeo have been identified. While some consider literary records to be evidence of Buyeo’s involvement in the establishment of Baekje based on these artifacts, there are conflicting views on this matter. This presentation examines the significance of two specific artifacts of the Buyeo lineage excavated on the Korean Peninsula: the twin birds antenna-style dagger and the cylindrical dagger. The interconnection between the residents of these two regions could be presumed as the Korean Peninsula’s twin birds antenna-style daggers have blades similar to those of the modified pipa-shaped bronze daggers and slender-shaped bronze daggers, which are known as the material culture of Gojoseon, and the directions of change in handle decorations and motifs are similar to those of the Buyeo region in Southern Manchuria. Additionally, through Social Network Analysis(SNA), the relationship among individuals who owned the daggers, as well as the status gap within the center and the unit area, were examined. The cylindrical dagger, which holds particular symbolism in the Buyeo region, emerged from a fusion of the northern grassland culture, Han Dynasty culture, and the shake bell style slender-shaped bronze dagger culture. It is speculated that on the Korean Peninsula, it manifested as an expression of individual identity.

  The third presentation was titled ‘Okjeo: The forgotten ancient history of the east sea rim in ancient Korean history’. The presentation pointed out that the Okjeo group is one of the most representative groups in Korean history in the east sea rim, but the Okjeo have not received much attention because they are only described as a small group in the literature. From an archaeological perspective, it can be confirmed that Okjeo exerted a certain influence from the 4th century BC to the 5th century AD in the Hamgyeongbuk-do and Yanbian province, stretching northward to the Samgang plain and southward to Gangwon province and the Han river basin. This can be interpreted as the manifestation of the long-accumulated ‘adaptive potential’ of Okjeo, which developed the Korean floor heating system, engaged in agriculture, and actively utilized marine resources in harsh climatic environment. On the other hand, the presenter emphasized that the significance of Okjeo lies in the fact that it is possible to view the history of the east sea rim along the Baekdu mountain range beyond the historical perspective centered on the Tree Countries, and at the same time, it is possible to confirm the uniqueness and diversity of Korean culture through the study of prehistoric cultures in the Korea-Russia border region by breaking away from the central narrative of Chinese history.

  The fourth presentation was titled 'The western border of Koguryo and the Great Wall of Korea(Cheolli Jangseong)’. The western border of Koguryo has been limited to the west coast of Liao River in the meantime, but the presentation demonstrated that in the late 7th century, the western border of Koguryo extended beyond the Liao River to the eastern foothills of Mount Yiwulv. This conclusion was reached through a comprehensive analysis of relevant records, contemporary power relations, and the distinctions between ‘patrol’ and ‘fortress’. The Great Wall of Korea, which was built over a period of about 16 years during the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, in response to a threat from the Tang Dynasty, was not well documented, making it difficult to determine its exact nature. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the literature and archaeological data, it is interpreted that the term ‘Great Wall’ was used as a rhetorical device to convey the idea of the construction of defensive structures along the entire western border of Koguryo, rather than referring to a single long wall and that the term signifies a long-term and massive construction project that involved extensive reinforcement and new construction of fortifications in Yodong.

  The fifth presentation was titled 'Material Culture and Characteristics of Balhae’. The presentation criticized China's definition of Balhae as a state founded by the Mohe people, an ancient Chinese ethnic minority during the Tang Dynasty, emphasizing elements of Mohe culture along with the influence of Tang culture, and argued that Balhae was clearly a continuation of Koguryo's cultural tradition. However, it was pointed out that it is difficult to properly understand the material culture and characteristics of Balhae, which was a multi-ethnic state that embraced multiculturalism if emphasizing only the cultural elements of Koguryo, Tang, and Mohe lineages. Furthermore, it was emphasized that Balhae had active external exchanges and trade through various transportation routes such as the tribute road, Yingzhou road, Silla road, Khitan road, Huk-su road, and Sable road, and that artifacts have been found that demonstrate the activities and multiculturalism of various lineages such as Koguryo, Mohe, Han, Silla, and Sogdian.

Achievements and Future Challenges

  The significance of this academic conference is that it introduced the latest research achievements in ancient Korean history from the Korean academic communities to the Anglo-American academic communities and contributed to the internationalization of ancient Korean history. In particular, experts in the Anglo-American academic communities once again agreed that the history of Gojoseon, Buyeo, Okjeo, Koguryo, and Balhae is closely related to Korean history. The conference also identified challenges that need to be addressed in order to expand the foundation of Korean ancient northern history in the Anglo-American academic communities. For example, questions were raised regarding how to archaeologically prove that Gojoseon was a society with the unity of ritual and governance, how to correlate the material culture emphasized in Okjeo’s archaeological findings with the Okjeo described in literary records, and how to incorporate Balhae, a multi-ethnic and multicultural state, into Korean history. In some ways, these are basic questions about premises that seem too obvious to us, but on the other hand, it is also because we have not been able to effectively communicate our research achievements on the foundations of ancient Korean history to overseas academic communities.

  Therefore, it is necessary to actively create opportunities in the future to share research achievements related to ancient Korean history with overseas academic communities and to inspire their research motivation. Of course, it is crucial to strengthen the logic and evidence that can be objectively recognized. At the same time, promoting participation in international academic conferences through collaborative research with foreign scholars and encouraging submission of papers to English-language journals should also be emphasized.