Notes

THE MONGOL INVASIONS
Would the Ch’oe family or another family have developed a dynastic
system similar to the Japanese shogunate? We simply do not know,
since Korea’s period of rule by military warlords came to an end with
the Mongol invasions. Emerging as a unified group in the thirteenth cen-
tury under their leader Chinggis (Genghis) Khan and his successors, the
Mongols built a great empire based on the grasslands of Inner Asia and
subjugated the greater part of Eurasia. Few countries suffered more from
the ravages of the Mongols than Korea. From 1217 to 1258 Korea endured
repeated invasions as a result of the rise of the Mongols. In 1217, Khitan
tribes fleeing the Mongol invasions of northern China crossed the Yalu
and plundered northern Korea.7 In 1218 the Mongols, pursuing the Khitans,
aided Koryŏ forces in defeating them. The Mongols then demanded
tribute from the Koreans: clothes, furs, and horses. They also demanded
virgins, which the Koreans refused. For the Koreans the tribute demands
were burdensome, especially horses in a country with little grazing land.
In 1224, the Koryŏ stopped tribute payments and murdered the Mongol
envoys. In retaliation the Mongols invaded in 1231.
The Mongols withdrew the following year after the Koryŏ government
agreed to accept tributary status and to accept the placing of Mongol
representatives, called darughachi, in Korea to oversee tribute collections.
Later, in 1232, the Ch’oe house military rulers ordered the Koryŏ court
to retreat to Kanghwa Island and killed the darughachi. The military rulers
then declared all-out resistance, urging the population to flee to the
mountains. From the protection of Kanghwa Island the Ch’oe rulers and
their successors carried out a fierce and stubborn resistance that lasted
four decades. The Ch’oe transferred the entire government to the small
ten-by-seventeen-mile island, constructing palaces, temples, and administrative
buildings where thousands of officials, soldiers, and monks
carried out the functions of government. Some officials objected to abandoning
the people; nonetheless, the small but easily defendable island
proved to be an effective stronghold against the Mongols. The state was
not, however, able to protect the countryside, where the Mongol destruction
was devastating. Much of the country’s heritage, including the 80,000
wood blocks for the Tripitaka, was destroyed.
The 1232 invasion ended when the Mongol commander Sartaq was
killed from an arrow shot by the monk Kim Yun-hu. In 1233, the Mongols
launched a new series of invasions, led by Tanqut-batu and Prince Yeku,
that dragged on for several years and eventually resulted in a six-year
truce from 1241 to 1247. During this time, distant members of the royal
family were sent to the Mongol court as hostages under the pretense that
they were crown princes. But the Koryŏ government continued to resist
the Mongols, refusing to send tribute. As a result, further invasions occurred
in 1247–1248. The most destructive invasions were a series that
began with the Mongol attack of 1254 led by Jalairtai. Small bands of
Mongol warriors were sent to lay waste to the countryside in an attempt
to wear down Korean resistance and cut off the grain supply to the court
on Kanghwa. According to later Korean accounts, the Mongols killed vast
numbers of people and took away over 200,000 as prisoners. Historians
recorded that “The fields were covered with the bones of the dead; the
dead were so many that they could not be counted”; wherever the Mongol
army passed, “the inhabitants were all burned out, so that not even
dogs and chickens remained.”8 These tactics proved effective, and in 1258
the Ch’oe clan, still adamant in resisting the Mongols, was overthrown. A
new leader, Kim Chun, attempted to seek an end to the invasions. Mongol
military activity continued in Korea, however, when in 1269 the military
leader Im Yŏn ousted the Mongol-supported king. The king was restored
to power in 1270 with Mongol assistance, and resistance was limited to
holdouts in the provinces. The Sambyŏlch’o forces, led by Pae Chung-son
and by Kim T’ong-jŏng, continued to fight the Mongols until they were
defeated respectively on Chindo Island in 1271 and Cheju Island in 1273.
From 1270 to 1356 Korea was under Mongol domination. While the
court and bureaucracy continued to govern, Koryŏ was, in reality, an appendage
of the Yuan or Mongol Empire that moved its center from Mongolia
to what is now Beijing. Korea is sometimes called the Pumaguk (Sonin-
law Nation) during this period, since King Wŏnjong (r. 1259–1274)
married his son, later King Ch’ungnyŏl (r. 1274–1308), to a daughter of the
Yuan emperor Shizu (Kubilai Khan). He thus began a line of Koryŏ kings
who had princesses of the Yuan imperial house as their primary consorts.
The sons of these queens usually succeeded to the throne so that Koryŏ
kings were sons-in-law of the Yuan emperors. During this period Koryŏ
crown princes resided in Beijing as hostages until ascending to the throne.
Even while reigning, Koryŏ kings spent much of their time in Beijing
rather than in Kaesŏng.
Kings under the Mongol hegemony saw their authority weaken. They
were sometimes at the mercy of the Yuan emperors, who could depose
them at will. Several were removed, sometimes with the support of
members of the Koryŏ aristocracy. Yuan emperors appointed some
monarchs as King of Shenyang, a region of southern Manchuria. Thus
they created two courts among the members of the Wang royal family
as a means of manipulating them by playing royal relatives against each
other. To reinforce Koryŏ’s subordinate status, the organs of government
were renamed to give them titles that carried less prestige or hint
of sovereignty. For example, the Samsŏng (Three Chancelleries) were
merged to form a single Council of State, and the Chungch’uwŏn (Royal
Secretariat) was renamed the Milchiksa, which had the same meaning
but was less exalted sounding.
As a vassal of the Yuan (Mongol) state, Korea became a member of
one of the world’s most cosmopolitan societies. Korean court officials,
scholars, and others seeking opportunities traveled and resided in Beijing,
where they encountered Chinese, Mongols, Vietnamese, Central Asians,
and a handful of other peoples. For some it was a time of opportunity
for social advancement. A number of Koreans, following the tradition of
marrying into influential and wealthy families, formed marriage alliances
with Mongols and Central Asians and rose to prominence in Beijing or
back in Korea. Many Koreans adopted Mongol clothing and hairstyles. A
number of foreigners also made their way to Korea and served as members
of government. Often they filled the need for personnel fluent in
Chinese and Mongol, or familiar with the complexities of the Yuan court.
As Peter Yun has found in his research, foreigners in Korea numbered in
the thousands. Several foreigners became members of the Chaech’u and
others became military officers. Even after Korea broke with the Yuan
court, three Mongols, In Hu, Hwang Sang, and Na Se, served as military
commanders during Red Turban invasions in the fourteenth century.9
Korea was also the base of two efforts to conquer Japan. Having subdued
the last resistance to their rule in 1273, the Mongols drafted Korean
shipbuilders and sailors to construct and pilot a large Mongol fleet that
invaded Japan in 1274. The invasion, launched in typhoon season, was
forced to retreat when a typhoon that the Japanese called the kamikaze
(divine wind) came. A second invasion in 1281 also failed when another
typhoon destroyed much of the fleet. For the Japanese this would remain
until 1945 a sign that theirs was a special land of the gods protected
from invasion, and it contributed to the myth of their uniqueness and
invincibility. To the Koreans the two invasions and an aborted planned
third invasion were a costly burden. Furthermore, along with the tribute
of horses and women the Mongols extracted, the forced participation in
the invasions of Japan was a humiliating reminder of their subordinate
status. Yet, the Mongol rule was indirect, not direct. The court and bureaucracy
in Kaesŏng continued to function. After the invasions of Japan
there was little direct interference in Korean affairs. As a result Korea
maintained itself as a separate kingdom with its own court and culture.