A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 32. Kunt Ernő emlékére. (1994)

TANULMÁNYOK - KI-DONG LEE: A koreai nép és nemzeti kialakulása

It was during this bronze age that there sprang up many political units throughout southern Manchuria as well as Korean peninsula and among those social and political organizations, there emerged a strong and long lasting state was known as „Ko-chosun" whose territory extended from southern Manchuria to north Korea. Ko-chosun had allied with once powerful Hsiung-nu tribes in the north, and then successfully defended its territorial integrity against the state of Yen, a feudal state in the northeast China as well as the great Chinese empire, Han dynasty. Since 1945, there has been a series of archaeological excavations in Korea, and interestingly enough certain findings at various excavation sites were the vestiges of Scythian and Sarmatian cultures, which were transmitted to Ordos region, Outer Mongolia. Going through the steppe route these cultures transferred to Korean peninsula by certain nomadic tribes. The Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, held an exhibition of its holdings on the Scythian culture at Seoul on 1991, the interested people in Korea were deeply impressed by its similarity to those ancient relics in Korea and also the exhibition widened the visions of Korean people at large. Ko-chosun remained powerful until about the second century B. C, and on the ruins of Ko-chosun, a number of petty states came into being. In 108 B. C. the Chinese invaded Korean peninsula and installed the Lo-lang Commandery in the northwestern part of Korea which, thenceforth, served as a center of cultural transmission from China to Korea. It was during this period that there were constant warfares among numerous states and also occurred great migrations of people into the peninsula, and actually the fourth century was recorded in which the greatest migrations of people had ever taken place throughout the northeast Asia. The simultaneous developments that the decline of Chinese power and the growing power of nomadic tribes opened up huge gaping holes through the impregnable great wall and thus enabled the nomadic tribes to sweep across the northern plain of China. Meanwhile, in southern Manchuria and Korean peninsula the numbers of tribal leagues, that had been engaged in life and death struggles against one another, were reduced to three major kingdoms. The Kingdom of Koguryo was the first to mature into a state. Based upon the Yalu River basin, it destroyed the Lo-lang Commandery and conquered the neighboring tribes one after another, Koguryo was firmly established over the extended territory in southern Manchuria and north Korea. In Southern part of Korea, on the other hand, the Kingdom of Paekche was founded in the southwestern part of Korea, and the growing state of Silla was established itself in the southeastern part of the peninsula. The formation of three kingdoms side by side stimulated cultural development and also brought about severe rivalry among themselves. It was the Kingdom of Silla which eventually conquered two other rival states and then unified the country for the first time in the Korean history. The unification of Korea under the Silla in the late seventh century had far reaching influences on the development of Korean people. Going back to the threeKingdom period, the making up of Korean racial stock was quite complex indeed. For example, the people of Koguryo was consisted of Maek and Ye stocks, while the the people of Paekche and Silla were made up mostly with Han race. Although all of these races were considered part of the Mongolian stock and spoke languages which derived from Altai linguistic family, they still maintained regional characteristics and preserved local variations. However, under the firm control and supervision of the unified authorities of the Silla, the people who resided in the peninsula had gradually learned to share common custom and culture, and then became one people within an integrated territory. 182