By Jeongnam Kim
(Former Senior Presidential Secretary for Education·Culture·Society, World Korean News advisor)
Goryeo is an independent unified state which had appeared for the first time in our Han nation. Not many people know of the fact that this first unified state of our nation was established thanks to a successful maritime management. Wang Geon, the first king of the Goryeo Dynasty was a leading force of the maritime powerhouse. Prior to the establishment of this new state, he was naval commander under the rule of Gungye, and he played a leading role as a naval controller serving to erect the foundation of a new state.
His leadership was rooted in the maritime management of Jang Bo-go, who had established a maritime empire. This empire fell down in 851, but the international trade network he constructed did not disappear but continued to prosper. Tidying over the flow of this prosperity, the maritime power of Wang Geon made a success in unifying the post-three nations in less than 70 years, and in the year 918 it contributed to the foundation of Goryeo.
Goryeo possessed its own technologies of ship-building and nautical skills. In 1274, a Goryeo and Mongolian coalition conducted the first expedition to Japan and in one of the engagement which took place at the Hakada coast, "the battleships of Won, of Mongolians were all collapsed in a gust of wind. but most of the Goryeo ships were unaffected," according to an entry in the history of Won.
The Goryeo ships mobilized into this battle were approximately 30 meters long and had the capacity for 90 crewmen on average with a load of 3,000 seoks of rice on board. They were 250 tons each. These compares to the largest of the Magellan's ships on his cruise around the world 240 years later which was less than 130 tons. This makes us assume how advanced the shipbuilding techniques and nautical skills of the Goryeo dynasty.
For this expedition, Goryeo had constructed a total of 900 ships, including 300 large-scale warships aboard which people said they could do horse-back riding, in just four months, not to mention the fact they had them equipped with up-to-date munitions. They were in fact an invincible Armada, so to speak. The Goryeo ships were varied in their functions and as is described in the History of Goryeo, they had flat bottoms and the front and rear of the ships were stream-lined, doubling the look of its power to the world.
Goryeo pushed forward with its plan for an overseas trade making the most of its advanced oceangoing technology like this. Dynasty founder Wang Geon advocated the so-called mercantilism with a view to having his new country empowered through the international trading. It is not just a happenstance that today Korea has become the world's eighth trading power and became a powerhouse for the shipbuilding. This is a reflection of our DNA displayed of our long-standing national heritage from the past.
In the early days of the 15th century, Ming China advanced to the seas to such an extension that it sent a "Jeonghwa Squadron" all the way to the southern tip of Africa, demonstrating his power and promoting the exchange of culture and goods. It had an exclusive control over the Indian Ocean and South Pacific for a period of one generation. However, the Yeongrak Emperor, followed by Emperors Honghi and Seondeok, renounced the oceanic programs from early on.
Perhaps affected by Ming China, our Joseon, which had trading exchanges with Ryukyu, the Philippines, Japan and Taiwan, in the early days of its inauguration, gradually lost its interest in the ocean and eventually adopted a policy of disengagement. We all know how it all ended in the later days when the country retreated into isolation. Hold the world atlas upside down, then you will realize the fact that our future exists in the ocean.
