Yeon Gaesomun

Who was Yeon Gaesomun?

Yeon Gaesomun was a powerful and controversial military dictator and Generalissimo in the waning days of Goguryeo, which was one of the Three Kingdoms of ancient Korea. Yeon is also remembered for a number of successful resistance in military conflicts with Tang Dynasty under Emperor Li Shimin and his son Emperor Gaozong. Their failure to Yeon was the only defeat that Emperor Li Shimin ever suffered on the battlefield.

Traditional Korean histories paint Yeon Gaesomun as a despotic leader, whose cruel policies and disobedience to his monarch led to the fall of Goguryeo. However, his achievements in defending Goguryeo against Chinese onslaughts have inspired Korean nationalist historians, most notably the 19th century Korean historian and intellectual Shin Chaeho, to term Yeon Gaesomun the greatest hero in Korean history. Many Korean scholars today echo Shin and praise Yeon Gaesomun as a soldier-statesman without equal in Korean history, though other scholars strongly disagree. Chinese and Japanese scholars continue to hold an unfavorable view of Yeon Gaesomun.