A History of Korea – Part 6

by Michael Downey

Silla conquered the other two Korean kingdoms, Goguryeo and Baekje, to create the Unified Silla Dynasty, but it never included the entire peninsula, nor did it create a unified people. One might think this was the beginning of one Korean nation, but it wasn’t. It was the expressed policy of Silla that Silla people were a separate class above all others.

From the beginning, Korean society was extremely stratified, with the ruling elite on top, the common people below, and the slaves at the bottom. All things that made life livable were distributed on this basis.

Silla took this further when it established the Bone Rank System. This system divided the aristocracy into castes based on blood lineage. It allowed the ruling elite to maintain power and position. One’s place in society was entirely inherited through bloodline. The job or position you could hold—from king or prince to village official or judge – was dictated by your bone rank. The highest rank was “sacred bone,” belonging only to those of the royal family. Only they could become king or queen. Next was the “true bone” rank, made up of lesser royals and the upper nobility. Others were members of head ranks from 3 to 6.

Your rank determined who you could marry, what decorations you could wear, how large a house you could live in, and whether it had a tile roof or was thatched. Naturally, this allowed the ruling elite to exercise strict control over the population. There was almost no way to move up under this system: whatever bone rank you were born into, you stayed there for life. Over time, the discontent of the people grew, as did the entitlement of the ruling class. The descendants of Goguryeo and Baekje were excluded from the bone system and treated as commoners or slaves. They could only dream of their kingdoms’ former glory and plot revenge. This system is said to have led to corruption and the eventual decline of Silla in the Later Three Kingdoms period.

Silla ruled over the peninsula for hundreds of years but eventually began to decline. Various aristocrats vied for independent power. Corruption weakened civil society, and the captive people of Goguryeo and Baekje began to rise up and rebel. This so-called Later Three Kingdoms period revived the earlier three kingdoms, now fueled by rebellion against weakened Silla. Due largely to a century-long struggle for the throne among the royal family, Silla fell into chaos. In that period, there were fourteen kings. Three were assassinated, and one committed suicide. The royal family and aristocrats led lives of excess in Kyongju, while the common people paid the price. (It was even said that when the starving people begged for rice, the elite replied: “If they have no rice, let them eat sujebi 수제비 – hand torn flour noodles.”)

As corruption deepened and the royal family lost competence, nobles began to seize independent territories and even collect taxes for themselves. In 892 CE, a young Silla general, Kyong-won, seized territory in Cholla Province (southwest Korea) and declared independence from Silla. Claiming descent from the former kingdom of Baekje, he founded Later Baekje and set up a capital in Chongu. By 900 CE, he had proclaimed himself king.

Another prominent figure was Kyung-ye, born a prince of the Silla royal family in Kyongju. His father, the king, deemed his birth inauspicious and expelled him from the palace. Saved and raised by his nurse, he entered a Buddhist monastery at age 10. Though trained as a monk, he later joined a bandit army, as was common at the time. Bandits often raised fighting forces, seized land, and funded themselves by any means.

Kyung-ye eventually rose to leadership under a bandit chief named Yang Gil. A skilled leader and fighter, he won many battles and gathered a substantial army, attracting followers like Wang Kon, a local gentryman from Songdo (modern Kaesong).

By 901, Kyung-ye envisioned himself as heir to the Goguryeo kings. He founded a new state, “Later Goguryeo,” with its capital at Songgak, and proclaimed himself king. Turning toward Buddhism, he declared himself the Maitreya Buddha—the future Buddha of “loving-kindness”—and even proclaimed his sons bodhisattvas.

He wrote 20 books of scripture, which a revered monk, Sockchong, denounced as nonsense. Kyung-ye killed him. Increasingly violent and paranoid, he murdered his queen and sons. Terrified officials begged Wang Kon to depose him. With 10,000 troops, Wang Kon besieged the palace, captured Kyung-ye, and had him executed.

Wang Kon, later honored as Taejo, renamed the kingdom “Koryeo,” establishing his capital at Songgak. Unlike Kyung-ye, he proved to be a skilled warrior, administrator, and diplomat. He established ties with Silla while remaining opposed to Later Baekje.

When Later Baekje attacked Silla, Wang Kon marched to its defense but arrived too late—Kyongju was devastated, the king committed suicide, and his queen and court ladies were abused. Wang Kon eventually drove the invaders away and installed a relative of the dead king as Silla’s final monarch.

Later Baekje, too, fell into internal strife. King Kyon Hwon, who had many wives and ten sons, chose his fourth son, Kuomgang, as heir. The eldest son, Singom, rebelled with his brothers, imprisoned his father, killed the heir, and took the throne. Kyon Hwon escaped and defected to Wang Kon, who treated him royally.

Meanwhile, the last king of Silla, reduced to ruling only around Kyongju, finally surrendered in person to Wang Kon in Songgak. The Silla royal family was given land and positions, ending Silla’s thousand-year history.

In 936, Wang Kon defeated Kyon Hwon’s rebellious sons in battle, uniting the peninsula under Koryeo. From “Koryeo” comes the modern name “Korea.”

Taejo’s success lay in his strength as a warrior, competence as an administrator, and brilliance as a diplomat. For the first time, old rivalries could dissolve, and former enemies could be integrated into one Korean people.

Koryeo lasted nearly 500 years (918–1392 CE). Unlike Silla, it did not fall to internal strife, but to external pressures.