발해 수령 연구의 현황과 과제

Overview on the Studies of Suryong in Balhae History

Balhae was founded in AD 698 by the migrants of Goguryeo and Malgal. Balhae was a strong nation that ruled wide territory, and the history of Balhae is an important part of Korean history. Therefore a lot of historians have engaged in historical studies about Suryong in Balhae in order to identify the history of Balhae, for Suryong was a very distinct character as a ruling force of ancient Balhae. First of all, I am going to investigate historical records and writings in connection with Suryong in Balhae. Suryong in Balhae who appealed in the historical books of China was expressed as the chief of a village or a tribe in Balhae territory, and meanwhile, he had directly ruled over people in the territory or participated in diplomatic activities in the Tang Dynasty and Japan. Suryong in Balhae was mostly described as a member of diplomatic mission dispatched to the Tang Dynasty and Japan. Suryong who appeared at the beginning of a period of Balhae was described as an official who had held a high position representing diplomatic mission, however, in the latter period of Balhae, he was depicted as a lower ranking official of the diplomatic mission, so that he displays different looks according to the procedures of historical development of Balhae. Regarding such different looks of Suryong, Korean historical society has asserted that Balhae is a part of Korean History, and also strived to find out how constitution of residents of Balhae had been developed. In particular, they argued that Suryong, as it had been described in “YuChwiGukSa,” had held an office right under the position corresponding to either Dodok (a prefect ruling over prefecture) or Jasa (chief officer governing localities), and that he was an important figure who had directly reigned general populace in provincial territory. Specifically, they argued that people of Balhae consisted of two strata; ruling class that was composed of people mostly from Goguryeo, and general populace, as the subject to be ruled, who were mostly from Malgal, and that since people from Goguryeo dominated the society of those days in terms of politics and economy, history of Balhae should be regarded as the history that had been inherited by Goguryeo Kingdom, so that it should be included in the history of Korea. Park Si-hyeong described Suryong as Goguryo national, but Lee Yong-bum depicted him as a person from Malgal who belonged to a lower stratum of society in charge of minor local public affairs. Kim Jong-won described Suryong in Balhae as a head of Malgal community, and also he argued that the central government of Balhae reigned Malgal people, who were the subjects to beruled, through means of using such heads of Malgal community. After mid part of 1990s, treatises concerning Suryong in Balhae by Jeong Jin-heon, King Dong-woo, Song Gi-ho and Pak Jin-suk and so on were published. They also argued that heads of prefectures were either influential figures in those provincial territories or low ranking officials thereof, and the central government of Balhae used them in order to rule over people in rural regions. In China, Kim Yuk-bul earlier called Suryong the personage who represents run-of-mill people. Since its after, there had been no other particular studies on Suryong, but there were some comments or quotations concerned with him in order to explain political system and characteristics of society. That is to say, head of prefecture was the ruler of Malgal community, and they were put in charge of minor administrative affairs at localities. And they argued that those heads were Malgal origine. In other words, they claim that central force of Balhae society was Malgal people, and Balhae was a nation that belonged to the Tang Dynasty. In Japan, historians argued that Balhae established a ruling system using Suryong who was an influential figure from Malgal, and called it “Chieftain System,” and they emphasized the role of Suryong and their weights who were mostly nat