A History of Korea: Part2
photo by Michael Downey
by Michael Downey
Across Korea, both North and South, dolmens seem to crop up everywhere. They appear as great standing stones with what looks like table tops. Upon observation, one has to marvel at the technology necessary to move and place these gigantic stones. Like the stone monuments that testify to the lifestyle of the Neolithic inhabitants of Europe, the dolmens scattered throughout Korea tell us something about the Stone Age and Bronze Age people who built them.
The existence of these—essentially tombs—tells us that there was a rigidly stratified society. At the very top were the elite: the chief, headman, or wang (king). This class may also have included wives, children, and other family members. They were the ones with free access to all the things that sustained life. They also had the leisure time to consider and pursue eternal life by aspiring to rest for eternity in such elaborate tombs. There also had to be a middle class who could produce the standard of living that the elite had become accustomed to. Somebody also needed the technical knowledge to find, maneuver, and set the stones.
Then there were the poor souls required to do the heavy lifting: the slaves. Records show that 30% of the population of Old Choson were slaves. They were property—bought, sold, and inherited. There would also have been clerics to explain eternity and impart to it the desirability to pursue immortality. These would have been the shamans. Known as mudangs, they were the mediators between the people and the spirit world. They were the experts on the afterlife and how to get there most efficiently.
Dolmen in Korean is 고인돌, which means “propped-up stone.” In many, bronze grave goods such as daggers, swords, bells, and mirrors were found, as well as polished stone daggers and burnished pottery. Several tombs also contained jade or amazonite beads, some in the crescent shape known as gogok, which possibly originated in Siberia and represents new life. Gogok (aka kogok) would reappear in later ornamentation, notably on the golden crowns of the Silla Kingdom (57 BCE – 935 CE). One of the richest tombs is at Namsong-ri, containing more than 100 bronze artifacts which, besides mirrors and daggers, include an axe, chisel, a lacquered birch-bark scabbard, and tubular-shaped jade beads. Some objects may have belonged to a shaman, and there is evidence that shamans were also tribal chiefs in early Korea. The role of the shaman, or mudang, was equal to or even greater than that of the king.
Korea has a history of slavery spanning more than 1,400 years. From the early village life of hunter-gatherers through the Three Kingdoms, United Silla, Goryeo, and Joseon dynasties, Korean society was built around slaves. Nobi is the Korean word for slave. They occupied the lowest rung of Korean society. They could be bought, sold, raped, beaten to death, starved to death, and inherited. These nobi made up 30–40% of the population during the Joseon period. Most slaves became so as prisoners of war. The wars between Silla and Goryeo produced large numbers of slaves. Old Choson and the walled cities also fought each other, and the winners made the losers slaves.
The document called History of the Three Kingdoms (Samguk Sagi, 삼국사기) gives a detailed account of the slaves of that period. The English translation of nobi is “slave,” but it could be argued they were serfs or indentured servants. They were the same race as their owners—but they were owned. They could be bought, sold, passed down to inheritors like any property. They could be deprived of life, liberty, and all happiness on the whim of a master. They were surely slaves. When their offspring were born, they were slaves too. They remained part of the slave class from the Old Choson period through the descendants of the slaves of the Three Kingdoms, who then became the slaves of United Silla, then Goryeo, and finally the Joseon dynasty.
Throughout that time, they did all the heavy labor, freeing up the noble or yangban class to pursue intellectual, artistic, religious, and philosophical endeavors. The life of a slave varied according to circumstances and the temperament of their master. They might be tenant farmers, concubines, house servants, etc. But they were always slaves. The class existed for more than 1,400 years almost unchanged. When dynasties changed, the slaves remained slaves. The aristocrats that ruled the various dynasties remained the same and kept their slaves.
Koreans have a small number of surnames—Pak, Yi, and Kim being the most prominent. They are the descendants of the early rulers. The dynastic wars were essentially struggles between brothers and other family members for power and position. The royal families became the yangban. The yangban became the aristocrats, administrators, and rulers of Korea into modern times. They were civil officials (munban) and military officers (muban). The slave class was integral to this society.
The history of Korea spans back to the first migrants drifting into the peninsula bearing the name we call it today.
Although the founding city of Old Choson was conquered by the Han Chinese in 108 BCE, after many years of contact, battles, cultural, and technological exchanges, Emperor Wu prevailed—through backstabbing, betrayal, and actual fighting—to conquer Old Choson in 108 BCE. As a result, China entered into a long-standing occupation of Korean territory under a system called commanderies.
When Gojoseon was defeated in 108 BCE, three commanderies were established in its place: Lelang, Lintun, and Zhenfan. In 107 BCE, Xuantu Commandery was also established in the place of Gojoseon's ally, Yemaek. In 82 BCE, Lintun was absorbed into Xuantu and Zhenfan into Lelang. In 75 BCE, Xuantu moved its capital to Liaodong due to resistance from the native people. Lintun was transferred to Lelang.
These so-called commanderies were administrative units charged with controlling the subject people. Three of the five were dissolved after a few years, but Lelang remained in place around modern-day Pyongyang for about 400 years. It's all part of the Chinese worldview that they are the center of the world. The Koreans didn’t agree. Out of the political, cultural, and military mishmash rose the nations who formed the Three Kingdoms period.