Juche

    Yon gaesomun (?-666) was a patriotic famous general of Koguryo, the first feudal state of Korea in the mid of the 7^th century. He was a son of Yon taejo, Makriji, (high rank next to the king in charge of administration and military affairs in the central and local areas), a chief of aristocrat in the western area. Yon gaesomun was good at martial arts and tactics from his childhood. And he had an imposing appearance and good character. After the death of his father, he succeeded his father to be a chief of aristocrat in the western area.

    In 618 Tang dynasty (a feudal state of China existed from 618 to 907) which had been established after the collapse of Sui dynasty (a feudal state of China existed from 581-618) pretended to make peaceful relations with Koguryo for a while, but began to invade Koguryo by taking advantage of disharmony of three kingdoms—Koguryo, Paekje and Shilla—when its internal situation became a bit stable. Tang dynasty ferociously interfered into the internal affairs of Koguryo and dispatched “envoys” to spy out Koguryo’s internal situation and military secrets. Nevertheless, King Yongryu (the 32^nd king of Koguryo) and other rulers took a cowardly attitude of kneeling down before the pressure of Tang dynasty. Yongaesomun was against them. In October, 642 he staged a coup to kill King Yongryu and over 100 opposition ministers and enthroned a cousin of King Yongryu as King Pojang, and he himself became Makriji, thus taking hold of all military and administrative authorities of the country. After taking power, Yongaesomun immediately took measures to reserve food and furnish weaponry and equipment, and at the same time to press ahead with the building of the 1 000 ri-long wall which had been started before, to deal with a large-scale invasion by Tang dynasty. He also ordered to repair and fortify the walled cities around the Liaohe region and made other preparations for active defence.

    Yongaesomun strengthened the attack against Silla that had opposed Koguryo by introducing Tang dynasty. In 644 when Tang dynasty sent its envoy and advised him to stop the attack against Silla, Yongaesomun refused it resolutely. When the envoy sent later by Tang dynasty was so arrogant and tried to interfere into internal affairs of Koguryo, he ordered to put him under the detention in a cave. The king of Tang dynasty prepared to provoke a war against Koguryo, and in April 645 invaded Koguryo with hundreds of thousands of army and navy forces. Yongaesomun mobilized the Koguryo people and soldiers to the anti-aggression struggle. The Koguryo people and soldiers fought fierce battles in several walled cities of Liaodung region, China. After the battle in Liaodung walled city (a walled city of Koguryo built in the region of Liaohe on the Liaodung peninsula, China), the centre of the front was moved to Ansi walled city. People and soldiers in Ansi walled city repulsed the enemy several times a day. The enemy built a hill with soil for over 60 days to invade the walled city, but in vain.

    Like this, Yongaesomun organized and commanded the Koguryo people and soldiers in the struggle against Tang aggressors in 645, thus making a big contribution to victory in the war.

    Yongaesomun organized and mobilized properly his people and soldiers also in the struggle against the Tang army in 647 and 648, too. Later on, he defeated every invasion of the Tang army. After 661 when Silla intended to introduce the Tang army to occupy Koguryo, he defeated it with his tactics.

    Tang dynasty was defeated so seriously by brave Yongaesomun that a story, that even a child stopped crying when he or she heard of Yongaesomun’ s coming, traveled across Tang dynasty at that time.

    That is why, in history Yongaesomun was widely known as a famous general of Koguryo in the battle against foreign aggressors.