'Goryeo Kingdom was truly opened to outer world'
“The Great Seer,” an epic drama, which portrayed the Goryeo era
Lee Kang-hahn, a professor of the Academy of Korean Studies
By Lee Kang-hahn
Korea has a history full of challenges and ordeals. Some of these took place in the 13th-14th centuries. Historians usually call this period the “Yuan Intervention period.” The Mongols started invading Korea in the early 13th century, and slaughtered the Korean people for 40 years. Sometimes this stopped for a period of time, but the Korean peninsula was devastated to say the least, and the government had to relocate itself to a distant island, Ganghwa.
Subsequent periods turned out to be a testing time for the Korean people. The Mongol Empire demanded that the Goryeo Kingdom observe protocols laid out by the Mongols. A local government called Jeongdong Haengseong was established right at the side of the Goryeo government, and served as a communication branch between Goryeo and the Mongols, while also overseeing the upcoming Japanese campaign which was executed in 1274 and 1281. The northern territory of the Goryeo Kingdom was also confiscated by the Mongols, and was no longer put under jurisdiction of the Goryeo government.
One of the other changes that the Goryeo people had to go through was that their king was to be the son-in-law of the Mongolian Emperor. For the Goryeo people, it was unprecedented to have a foreign princess as their queen. Also, the Goryeo kings of this period were obliged to spend a designated period of time at the Yuan court so that they could witness and study the affairs of the empire, and after they died had to bear the letter “Chung” in front of their posthumous titles in order to symbolically display the Mongols’ urging of the Goryeo kings to stay loyal to the Mongol court.
The situation was so grim, that some of today’s scholars even say that Goryeo not only surrendered to the Mongols, but that the Goryeo Kingdom became part of the Mongol Empire at the time. In the 13th century, such assessment might be considered to be partially true. But an examination of the records of the time reveal quite a different situation, as well as an interesting aspect of the minds and sentiments of the Goryeo people during that time.
The Goryeo kings of this time period, particularly kings such as Chungseon-wang, Chungsuk-wang, Chunghye-wang and Gongmin-wang, all tried to blend Goryeo traditions and Mongol institutions in their governance. They were the offsprings from the marriages that were arranged between Goryeo kings and Mongol princesses. Their dual heritage sometimes hurt their status and authority as a Goryeo king. But it sometimes gave the Goryeo kings a certain level of leverage which they were in need of, in their negotiations with the Mongol government over issues crucial to Goryeo’s internal affairs.
To them, the political, economic and cultural heritages of Goryeo were of course important. After all, Goryeo was their fathers’ country. But they were also facing a centuries-old system that had its own problems, and those problems were also actually worsened by the recent Mongolian invasion and all kinds of Mongolian demands that followed it. Such a system had to be reformed, and the Goryeo kings, whose status was in a way “compromised” by their dual heritage, had to devise their own way of handling the situation. They had to use all their assets, and part of these was their unique knowledge and experience gathered by their close-range dealings with the Mongol imperial government.
Employment of such assets could be felt everywhere. All levels of the government and all aspects of operations were changed, experimented with, and reformed. The political appointment system, monitoring of corruption, methods of taxation, the military draft program, the local administration network, and the design of the national shrine, were all changed; sometimes for the worse, and sometimes for the better. But one thing was evident. It was a wave of effort that had never before seen before, and it utilized not only Goryeo conventions but also Mongol-filtered Chinese institutions.
Surely there had been some efforts to blend two different sets of institutions in the governance of Goryeo, but nothing matched the level was reached in this particular time period, and nothing ever produced such a massive range of changes to the Goryeo people’s lives. The unsung efforts of the Goryeo kings of this time contributed tremendously to the survival of the kingdom. Many scholars believe that the 14th century, which was the last of the Goryeo Kingdom, was an era of downfall, but actually without their efforts, Goryeo could have fallen a lot sooner.
It was a new era for the Goryeo people as well, who became aware that there was a bigger world outside the kingdom. Of course they had been aware of the existence of China and Japan and many other countries all along, but those foreign countries did not play a part in their lives. On the other hand, in this period, the Mongol Yuan Empire and China under their rule was intricately connected to their lives. Governmental officials sought for career paths inside China. Humbler people tried to elevate their status by directly appealing to the Yuan court. Massive convoys of merchants visited China and conducted trade every day. Foreigners with all kinds of occupations were living inside Goryeo. The lives of the Goryeo public were changed, and their minds were altered. The Korean peninsula was truly opened to the outer world in this period.
What we should be aware of is that even in the grimmest of times, people not only try to survive, but also try to find meaning in their struggles. They want to find some good and positive things in their lives, and through those things they justify their efforts and actions. They try to better their lives by using all options available to them. And this is how they became the owners of their own lives. The 13-14th century Goryeo people were no exception. Their country was laid open to the outer world at first without their consent, but in the end they made the best out of it. And there are also many other time periods in which the Korean people experienced similar situations and displayed similar efforts. It is one of many reasons that the history of Korea is so interesting and worth examining.
The writer is a professor on the faculty of the Academy of Korean Studies.