羅末麗初의 高句麗故疆 收復運動

"The Movement to Recover Kokuryŏ’s Lost Territory at the End of Silla and

Around A.D. 670, even after Kokuryŏ(高句麗) and Bekje(百濟) fell under the allied armies of Silla(新羅) and T’ang(唐), the people of each country strived courageously to recover their fatherland. Later, groups of the Kokuryŏ people established Bal’hae (P’ohai)(渤海) in Manchuria, and the southern people adjusted themselves for a time in the Silla Dynasty. Toward the end of Silla, however, political corruption and thievery were rampant, making them insecure and restless, while the Bal’hae Dynasty in the north was weakened by the invasions of Kitai(契丹). As a result, the lost territory of Kokuryŏ north of the Tedong(大同) River, including Pyongyang(平壤), was devastated, and the people’s desire to recover their fatherland and reconstruct it was greatly heightened. Of the forces that rose against the Silla Dynasty, the two strongest were led by Kyŏn Hwŏn(甄萱) and Kung Ye(弓裔), who resorted to that desire by promising to revenge on Silla for having drawn on the strength of a foreign power to crush its neighboring countries of the same national origin. Kung Ye, who posed as the successor to the throne of Kokuryo, was so powerful that his territory covered the central part of the Korean peninsula and extended as far north as over the Tedong River, which was then Silla’s northwestern border. Unlike Silla, which imitated Tang’s system, he enhanced the spirit of national independence by adding a creative touch to the existing system. Toward his final years, however, Kung Ye became too arrogant and perpetrated injustices at will. Whereupon his able generals left him to help Wang Ken establish the Koryŏ(高麗) Dynasty as succeeding to Kokuryŏ, Later, the soldiers, officials, and people of Hu-sam-kuk(後三國)(Late Three Kingdoms) united around Koryŏ, which then moved to realize the national ideal of recovering the lost territory of Kokuryŏ. With the founding of the new dynasty, Wang Kŏn(王建) exerted all possible efforts in that direction, recovering Pyŏngyang and expanding his territory to the Ch’ŏngch’ŏn(淸州) River. During the reign of the sixth king Sŏnjong(成宗), Koryŏ succeeded in occupying the once Kokuryŏ territory south of the Yalu River against Kitai, a powerful enemy in the north, that claimed the right to the territory. Unflagging in its efforts, Koryo eventually subjugated Jurchen (女眞) in the northeast and brought back the area south of the Tumen River. It is regrettable that the extensive territory of Kokuryŏ in Machuria was lost permanently, but without the strenuous efforts made by Koryŏ, the Korean peninsula of today could not have been our own.