Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592

In 1592, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had decided to conquer Korea on the road to conquering China. The invasion of Korea took place in May 1592 and involved an uninterrupted crossing of the sea via the islands of Iki and Tsushima.

The initial Japanese force under Konishi Yukinaga and So Yoshitoshi landed at Pusan in some 700 ships on May 23, 1592. The first shots of the campaign were fired against the fortress guarding the harbor of Pusan.

There were supposedly 2, Korean troops stationed at Pusan. Chong Pal, the Korean commander, came under forth to fight, but fearing his forces would be cut off, he effected a retreat to the city. Pusan fall under Japanese by 24 May 1592.

In June 10, 1592 Japanese army reaches at Seoul and every Korean army sent to stop them was soundly defeated. Japanese later capture Pyongyang on 24th July.

However, intervention by Chinese military forces, Seoul was liberated on 19 May 1593. By autumn of 1593 their invading armies had evacuated Korea, leaving behind a handful of garrisons to ‘occupy’ their remaining toehold on Korea’s south post.

In 1597 Japanese sent in forces in strength again to Korea. It was only in 1598, after a long series of negotiation that Japanese withdrew from the Peninsula.
Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592

Choson

The kingdoms of ancient Choson developed in Korea from the Bronze Age when tribal groups started to dominate the land between the Liao River in southern Manchuria, and the Taedong River in northern Korea. The legendary founder of the dynasty was Tan’gun, hailed by Koreans in modern-day North Korea and South Korea as the founder of their nations.

Tan’gun is claimed as an ancestor for the kingdom of ancient Choson; the term ancient is used to differentiate it from the Yi dynasty, which ruled 1398–1910 c.e. and used the name Choson for Korea.

Ancient Choson from the fourth century b.c.e. was a series of tribal leagues that controlled the area from southern Manchuria to the Taedong River. It was powerful for more than 100 years at a time when China was preoccupied with what has become known as the Warring States period.


A major innovation in ancient Choson that enabled the kings to maintain their independence was the use of iron. Prior to this most warriors in the region had used bronze. It is believed that the northern Chinese may have introduced iron when they were escaping the attacks of the Xiongnu (Hsiung-nu) or Huns.

One of these refugees was a former Chinese general called Wei Man (Wiman)who had served in the Chinese state of Yan (Yen). Wei Man was the descendant of important landowners in China during the Zhou (Chou) dynasty and had been welcomed in Choson, as he and his followers were experienced soldiers.

They were given land in the north of Choson where they offered to act as frontier guards. Wei Man was given a jade insignia denoting his importance as a Korean general. As more Chinese refugees came to live on his lands, his number of potential supporters increased, and his power grew.

Very soon Wei Man realized that the kingdom was weak, and he had many supporters among the Chinese refugees who had already arrived in Choson and were either living in his lands or elsewhere in the kingdom. He also managed to get support from some local tribes who felt that they had not been well treated by the kings of Choson. In 190 b.c.e.

Wei Man wrote to the rulers of Choson saying that the Chinese had invaded from several sides, and he had to guard the king. He and his supporters then moved quickly on the Choson capital of Pyongyang on the pretext of protecting the royal court against a Chinese invasion, which everybody had feared for several hundred years.

Wei Man then took over the capital and the existing king, Chun, and went further south, establishing himself as King Han, which has no connection to the dynasty in China of the same name.

Wei Man, who claimed descent from the Chinese sage Qizi (Chi Tzu), used his contacts in China to ensure that the Chinese recognized him as a king, and he reciprocated by acknowledging the emperors of China. He established cordial relations with the governor of Liaodong (Liao-tung), the neighboring Chinese province.

However, the tribute that Wei Man had promised to the Chinese emperor was never sent. Wei Man and his descendants had initially felt that they were well entrenched, but when the civil war ended in China and the Han dynasty came to power, they faced several Chinese invasions.

Diplomatic problems first arose when some Chinese rebels who had been involved in the Seven Princes’ Rising in 154 b.c.e. fled to Korea. The Chinese were also sending out emissaries to some of the tribes who lived in northern Choson.

The actual dispute leading to the invasion was over tribute. A Chinese delegate visited Yu Ku (or Ugo), the grandson of Wei Man, to ask why no tribute had been paid. Furthermore, Yu Ku had tried to stop tribes that he felt were part of his kingdom from acknowledging their overlordship by the Han.

This was particularly true of the tribes on lands in central and southern Korea. Yu Ku realized the situation was tricky, but having built up a relatively strong army, he prevaricated and eventually the envoy returned to China.

On the return trip the envoy allowed his charioteer to kill a Korean prince who had been sent to escort him to the border. This envoy claimed that he had killed a Korean general and was applauded by the Chinese court that decorated him with the title “Protector of the Eastern Tribes of Liao Tung.”

The Koreans protested, but a Chinese attack was inevitable and came in 109 b.c.e. when Emperor Wu of China sent his soldiers into Choson. Some 50,000 Chinese soldiers were dispatched by ship from Shandong (Shantung), with additional troops attacking by land.

The two armies were able to invade Korea, but their attacks were not coordinated, and they were unable to unite. As a result they were not able to defeat the Koreans in battle—the Koreans remained in their fortifications.

With the bitter winter imminent, the Chinese sent an envoy to Yu Ku who replied that he would accept the emperor of China as his overlord but would not send his son as a messenger in case he suffered the fate of the prince killed by the previous envoy. The only initial casualty of these negotiations was the Chinese envoy who was executed when he returned empty-handed.

In 189 b.c.e. the Chinese attacked the Koreans again, and this time they succeeded in seizing the kingdom and established four Chinese commanderies called Nangnang (Lolang in Chinese, Rakuro in Japanese), Chinbon, Imdun, and Hyont’o.

The latter three soon lapsed into Korean areas, with the Chinese only holding on to Nangnang. There a Confucian school was established, and several historical texts were written that described some of the early events in Korean history. The Confucian Classics remain an important part of Korean culture.

Over the next 400 years the Koguryo tribes of northern Korea started agitating against Chinese rule. As they rose in power, they amassed a large army and in 313 c.e. ejected the Chinese from Nangnang. In 342 c.e. the Koguryo king, Kogugwon, established his capital at Hwando just north of the Yalu River.

Facing threats from China, it was soon moved to Pyongyang. There the Koguryo kingdom imported many ideas from China including Buddhism, which is seen in many of the archaeological remains discovered in recent years.

Lo-lang

Lo-lang commandery was one of four commanderies established in Korea after the conquest of the northern and central part of the peninsula by China’s Han dynasty in 108 b.c.e. It was the most prosperous among the four commanderies and remained under Chinese control until 313 c.e.

Contacts between China and the Korean Peninsula intensified after the establishment of the Han dynasty in China (202 b.c.e.–220 c.e.). In 194 b.c.e. a Chinese named Wei Man (Wiman, in Korean) fled China after a failed revolt and established a state called Choson in northern Korea.

In 109 b.c.e., on pretext that Wei Man’s successors were harboring Chinese fugitives, Emperor Wu sent an expedition against Choson, defeating it and establishing four commanderies on the peninsula after 108 b.c.e.


They were Lo-lang (Korean: Nangnang) in the northwest, whose administrative capital was that of the Choson kingdom, near modern Pyongyang; Chen-fang (Korean: Chinbon) to its south; Lin-tun (Korean: Imdun) in the northeast; and Xuan-tou (Korean: Hyondo) in the north.

By 1–2 c.e. only Lo-lang and Xuan-tou remained, comprising 28 counties. The retreat was motivated by native unrest and the lack of strategic reasons to maintain control in remote regions on the peninsula.

But even as the Han dynasty was disintegrating in the early third century c.e., the Chinese were still powerful enough to found a new commandery called Tai-fang (Korean: Taebang) in the Han River valley in west-central Korea.

Lo-lang was a rich outpost of Chinese civilization for four centuries. It had 25 counties with 400,000 registered inhabitants. Many tombs excavated near Pyongyang contained some of the best products of Han artisans: many items, such as lacquerware, were made in other regions in China, but some must have been the products of local Chinese immigrants.

Because of its cultural dominance and the lure of trade, Korean tribal leaders in areas outside the commanderies offered tribute and received patents of office from the Han government.

With China divided and in a state of civil war at the end of the Han dynasty, Lo-lang commandery fell in 313 c.e. and Tai-fang soon followed. Lo-lang and other Chinese commanderies in Korea were comparable to Roman colonies in Britain.

They served to transmit advanced culture to the occupied countries, however, more effectively in the case between China and Korea than between Rome and Britain. As Chinese political influence ended in Korea in the fourth century c.e., naive Korean states would emerge.

Though these states were not the direct political heirs of Chinese rule, they nevertheless received much of their institutions and culture from contacts with China through its colonial outposts. Importantly Korea also served as the conduit between China and Japan.

Three Kingdoms, Korea

Three Kingdoms, Korea

The Three Kingdoms period refers to an era in Korean history in the fourth century c.e. when the three states of Koguryo, Silla, and Paekche existed simultaneously until the unification of the peninsula by Silla in 668 c.e.

Koguryo was the largest and earliest unified kingdom, followed by Paekche and Silla. Our knowledge of the three kingdoms comes from archaeology and ancient historical texts from China, Japan, and Korea, particularly the Samguk Sagi, Korea’s first history written in 1145.

Koguryo was unifi ed as a kingdom under the sixth ruler, King T’aejo, and occupied the northern part of the Korean peninsula and Manchuria in northeastern China. The Yemaek tribes, who conquered the Puyo state in 37 b.c.e., founded Koguryo. For centuries Koguryo kings fought against tribes to the north and China to the west. In 313 c.e. the Koguryo king drove the Chinese out of their Lo-lang commandery centered in Pyongyang.

However, the Chinese retaliated in 342, successfully attacked the Koguryo capital, dug up the corpse of the Koguryo king, and departed with 50,000 prisoners. Paekche took advantage of Koguryo’s weakness by invading the capital near Pyongyang and killing the ruler.


The golden age of Koguryo’s territorial expansion was during the rule of King Kwanggaet’o. According to an inscription in his tomb, he conquered 64 fortresses and 1,400 villages. He also took over the Liaotung region of northeastern China, which had been a focal point for Chinese attacks against Koguryo.

He drove back a Japanese invasion of Silla in 400 c.e. In 475 Kwanggaet’o attacked the Paekche capital and expanded his borders southward by defeating an allied force of the Chinese Northern Wei kingdom and Paekche soldiers. Koguryo dominance did not last, however, and starting in the early seventh century Koguryo was constantly at war with the Chinese Sui dynasty.

Although Koguryo defeated the Sui invasions, the largest consisting of 1 million soldiers, the years of warfare significantly weakened the country. The subsequent Tang (T’ang) dynasty also invaded Koguryo and was defeated until a fateful alliance with Silla, which led to the unification of the peninsula.

After the fall of the Sui dynasty Koguryo prepared itself for further invasion by the Tang, setting up defenses along the border between the two states and forming an alliance with the Turks. The key to Koguryo’s destruction was the pact between Tang and Silla and internal power struggles.

Under this agreement the Tang helped Silla defeat Paekche, and then the two attacked Koguryo. The Tang court was not content to simply defeat its Koguryo enemies but intended to incorporate the peninsula into its state. The Chinese left 10,000 troops in Paekche after the latter’s surrender in 660. They also established administrative and military offices throughout Paekche.

The Chinese planned a similar strategy with Koguryo when the Tang-Silla alliance laid siege to the capital, Pyongyang, in 661. After the Koguryo king surrendered in 668, the Chinese removed the king, officials, and 200,000 prisoners and placed rule over the territory under a military governor and established commanderies.

Paekche was a kingdom that mixed Puyo refugees (who had moved southward after their defeat by the Koguryo) with native Mahan tribes. Although the Samguk Sagi claims that Paekche was founded in 18 b.c.e., the state was unified by the reign of King Koi in the mid-third century c.e. and became a centralized aristocratic state a century later. Paekche was located in the southwest part of the peninsula and shared a border with Koguryo to the north and Silla to the east.

Between the mid-fourth and mid-seventh centuries Paekche maintained a relatively friendly and consistent relationship with Japan, providing various technical and cultural advisers in return for occasional military support against Koguryo. It was Paekche that acted as the main conduit of culture and technology between China and Japan.

Silla unified as a state under the rule of King Naemul (356–402 c.e.) when the Kim family was established as the reigning family of the kingdom. Silla’s unification was aided by adopting Buddhism as the official state religion.

Located in the southeast section of the peninsula, Silla often allied with Koguryo to help defeat the smaller tribes that were eventually incorporated into their realm and to fight off the invading Japanese. Silla also unified with Paekche to counter Koguryo’s dominance of the peninsula.

During the Three Kingdoms period Silla had a famous military academy and a group of young warrior aristocrats called the Hwarang. Originally a local institution for educating young males and providing them with military training at the village level, it quickly grew into a national center for young, elite male cultivation. Even after the fall of the unified Silla state, the Hwarang (flower knights) were the heroes of legendary tales.

The legends of the Hwarang should not belittle the very real military power of the Silla kingdom. Although it was the smallest of the three kingdoms, the great Koguryo and Paekche formed an alliance in an unsuccessful attempt to stave the rise of Silla and its alliance with the Tang Chinese.

The Silla leaders understood that the Tang planned to take over the peninsula, and immediately after the surrender of Koguryo, Silla began supporting rebellions in the fallen kingdom. The Silla followed up with an attack on Chinese-controlled Paekche in 671, eventually defeating the Chinese. In addition to Silla-supported rebellions in Koguryo, however, were the Malgal tribes who fought against the Tang and eventually took control of the Manchurian area of former Koguryo.

The Koguryo natives and Malgal formed a new state called Parhae. The chaos accompanying the fall of the Tang dynasty weakened Parhae, which was eventually invaded by the Khitan tribes in 926. Refugees fled south into Silla and became part of the Koryo dynasty.

Wei Man

Wei Man came from northern China and lived in the second century b.c.e. He staged an unsuccessful uprising against the newly established Han dynasty in 195 b.c.e. and fled with 1,000 followers to the northern Korean peninsula, where he founded a state called Caoxian (Ch’ao-hsien) in Chinese—the name is anglicized as Choson, one of the names by which Korea is called.

His capital was close to modern Pyongyang, capital of modern North Korea. Choson was a sinicized state, reflecting the accelerated penetration of Chinese economic, military, and political power into the Korean peninsula since the late Warring States era in China in the third century b.c.e.

With superior military and economic strength, Wei Man’s successors (who controlled highly developed ironworks) were able to expand the kingdom throughout the northern part of the Korean peninsula against Korean tribes. The killing of a Chinese envoy by Choson soldiers and the harboring of Han deserters by Chosen led to war between the two states.

A Chinese force invaded Choson in 109 b.c.e. and forced its surrender in 108 b.c.e. after the assassination of King Ugo, Wei Man’s grandson. The establishment of four commanderies in Korea followed the destruction of Choson; they were administered as territories of the Han dynasty.