August 3, 2025 – Day 1 of the Northeast Asian History Tour, Shenyang ▶ Huanren
Hello. After completing the meditation retreat and summer retreat, I have returned to daily life. The serialization of A Day in the Life of Sunim resumes today.
During the retreat period, Sunim conducted an online meditation retreat with over 900 participants at Mungyeong Jungto Retreat Center, then moved to Bonghwa Jungto Retreat Center for a retreat with about 50 members of the lay Sangha, and arrived in Shenyang, China by plane.
Starting today, Sunim began the ‘Northeast Asian History Tour’ with about 160 participants from across the country, searching for the roots of our nation. On this first day, after touring Baekam Mountain Fortress, the most magnificent remaining Goguryeo fortress, the group arrived in Huanren, Goguryeo’s first capital, where Sunim gave a lecture on ‘The Historical Perspective Our Nation Should Have.’
The faces of participants gathered at Incheon Airport at 6 AM were filled with excitement.
The plane departed from Incheon Airport at 8:20 AM and landed at Shenyang Airport at 9:00 AM local time. Due to strict immigration procedures, they were able to leave the airport at 10:50 AM, an hour later than planned.
Sunim had arrived a day earlier for advance preparations. He greeted the participants who had completed immigration procedures and walked with them to where the buses were waiting.
Upon exiting the airport, three buses that would accompany the tour group for six nights and seven days, along with drivers and local staff, warmly welcomed the group. Once all participants had boarded the buses, Sunim gave a greeting through the transceiver.
“Hello. This is Pomnyun. Welcome to China.”
Everyone welcomed Sunim with loud applause. The history tour had finally begun.
After a 40-minute bus ride, they arrived at the Liaoning Provincial Museum. Walking to the museum entrance, they found too many Chinese people waiting in line to enter. The wait time was becoming too long, and if delayed further, they wouldn’t be able to visit Holbon Mountain Fortress in the afternoon, so they changed plans to visit the museum on the last day and turned back.
Standing in front of the Liaoning Provincial Museum building, Sunim said with a smile.
“Did you get a good look at the museum building?”
“Yes.”
“You can see what’s exhibited inside the museum by looking it up on the internet. Though it’s disappointing, we’ll head to Holbon Mountain Fortress, Goguryeo’s first capital. Things like this will happen frequently from now on. Nevertheless, please continue with a joyful heart. Getting angry only makes you suffer. There’s no other way.”
Though disappointed, they turned around and departed for Holbon Mountain Fortress.
Upon boarding the bus, corn was distributed for lunch, one per person. The corn was so large that eating just one was filling.
While eating corn and chatting with neighbors, they arrived at a rest stop at 12:20 PM. After staff checked, it turned out that Holbon Mountain Fortress had suddenly closed due to heavy rain today. Sunim quickly gathered the staff for a meeting to change the itinerary.
“Then let’s go to Baekam Mountain Fortress today. We’ll adjust to visit Holbon Mountain Fortress early tomorrow morning.”
The buses changed direction at the rest stop and headed for Baekam Mountain Fortress. After retracing their route, they continued further south from Shenyang. Sunim announced the schedule change to the participants.
“The schedule has changed. Originally, we were to visit the Liaoning Provincial Museum and then go to Holbon Mountain Fortress, but we gave up on the museum due to time delays and were heading to Holbon Mountain Fortress. However, Holbon Mountain Fortress is closed. When it rains, that place becomes very steep and slippery. In the past, we would climb up with umbrellas even in pouring rain, but nowadays they prioritize safety and close immediately if there’s any danger. Safety is important, but it’s disappointing.
We’ve decided to change direction and go to Baekam Mountain Fortress, which we had planned to visit on the last day. So the bus exited the highway and is now re-entering in the opposite direction. We’re having some difficulties today. If this were a tour group, people would already be complaining. (laughter)
Today we’ll visit Baekam Mountain Fortress and then go to Huanren for the night, and climb Holbon Mountain Fortress early tomorrow morning. We can visit the Liaoning Provincial Museum that we missed today on the last day. Because of this schedule change, tomorrow will be quite tight. You’ll need to walk faster, the bus will need to go faster, skip meals, or something will have to give. So tomorrow, it’ll be too late to leave after breakfast, and lunch timing will be awkward, so we’ll have brunch and skip one meal. You came here prepared for this, right?”
“Yes!”
“If this makes you uncomfortable, get off the bus right now. (laughter) I first came here in 1992 to conduct the Northeast Asian History Tour. The following year, 1993, I did detailed surveys, and from 1994, we officially started history tours with public participation. This is the 32nd year, but we couldn’t conduct tours for the past 5 years due to the COVID pandemic. This tour is resuming after 5 years, so there may be various mishaps and some awkwardness. You can consider yourselves the first survey team after the COVID pandemic. So please participate thinking ‘We are a survey team.'”
Next, there was time to introduce the staff who prepared this Northeast Asian History Tour. Sunim gave a brief introduction first.
“After I had conducted the Northeast Asian History Tour about five times, I met Mr. Jo Chun-ho. He has devotedly handled the practical matters of the history tour for the past 25 years. A few years ago, when his health deteriorated, his daughter took over the work her father had been doing and has been handling the practical matters of the history tour. Having assisted her father since childhood, she decided to carry on her father’s will. Let me first introduce Ms. Jo Shin, who is in charge of practical matters.”
First, Ms. Jo Shin greeted everyone through the transceiver.
“Today is the first day of the tour, but things aren’t going smoothly. However, in my experience, when things don’t go smoothly at first, we always get to see the Heavenly Lake on Mt. Baekdu. When things go well at first, we often miss seeing the Heavenly Lake. So I think it’s better to have some hardships at the beginning and see the Heavenly Lake. Please don’t be disappointed and enjoy the first day’s itinerary.”
Next, Mr. Lee Seung-yong, Secretary General of Good Friends, gave a greeting.
“On the first day, we couldn’t visit the Liaoning Provincial Museum because it was too crowded, which shows how interested Chinese people are in their history these days. In contrast, some of you just asked if you can just sleep on the bus now. Please don’t be disappointed and work harder. I’ll also do my best to make this a pleasant 7-day tour.”
The participants showed their gratitude to the staff who would work hard for six nights and seven days with loud applause.
The journey to Baekam Mountain Fortress wasn’t smooth either. Due to traffic jams, it took longer than usual. On the bus, Sunim explained the major threads of Chinese history. Understanding Chinese history, which has shared borders with our nation, helps us better understand our own history.
After a two-hour bus ride, Baekam Mountain Fortress began to appear in the distance. Before getting off the bus, Sunim gave a brief explanation about Baekam Mountain Fortress.
“The place we’re about to arrive at is officially called Baekam Mountain Fortress, and locally it’s called Yeonzhou Fortress. Chinese people seem to have named it Yeonzhou Fortress, saying it was built during the Yan Dynasty. However, it’s actually Baekam Mountain Fortress from the Goguryeo period.
Baekam Mountain Fortress: The Breath of Goguryeo Continuing the Legacy of the Thousand-Li Wall
The Goguryeo defensive fortifications extending from present-day Dalian in Liaoning Province through Anshan, Liaoyang, and Shenyang to Changchun are called the ‘Thousand-Li Wall.’ It’s known that in late Goguryeo, Yeon Gaesomun repaired and expanded the fortifications in preparation for Tang invasions. Among these, Liaodong Fortress was a key strategic point for western defense and was a very important fortress. This fortress is on flat ground. It’s in the present-day Liaoyang area, about 30 kilometers from here. Baekam Mountain Fortress is a mountain fortress built to defend that Liaodong Fortress. It’s one of the best-preserved Goguryeo mountain fortresses to date.
The mountain where the fortress was built isn’t very high, but it’s located at the boundary where the mountain range begins from the plain, so from the summit you can see the plain in front at a glance. It seems the fortress was built here because it was advantageous for monitoring enemy movements and defense.
There’s no clear record of exactly when Baekam Mountain Fortress was built. However, there’s a record of repairs in 547 during King Yangwon’s reign in the 6th century, so it’s presumed to have been built before then. In 549, there’s a record that 10,000 Turkic troops invaded but were repelled. Later, during the war between Sui and Goguryeo, Emperor Yang of Sui led an army of one million and attacked Liaodong Fortress for 88 days but couldn’t capture it. Due to the failure of this war, the Sui Dynasty eventually fell. Later in 645, Emperor Taizong of Tang brought his army and Liaodong Fortress fell.
However, Ansi Fortress was never captured. You’ve heard of Yang Manchun, the lord of Ansi Fortress, right? He fought to the end and defended Ansi Fortress. Emperor Taizong of Tang is considered one of the greatest monarchs in Chinese history, but he ultimately couldn’t conquer Goguryeo. However, when the main fortress of Liaodong fell, the lord of Baekam Mountain Fortress didn’t resist to the end but surrendered. It was a place that could never be captured, but when people aren’t reliable, it eventually falls.”
The bus stopped near the west gate entrance of the fortress. At the west gate entrance, there was a stone monument inscribed with ‘Yeonju Fortress’ rather than Baekam Fortress.
In front of the sign, Sunim gave a brief explanation.
“Baekam Fortress is not very large. It measures approximately 480 meters from north to south and 440 meters from east to west, forming a somewhat circular shape. We’ve parked the bus in front of the west gate and plan to climb up to the fortress. The south gate is by the riverside, making entry difficult, so we can’t enter from that direction. The east side is a complete cliff. Being a sheer cliff, there was no need to build separate walls there, while the west side has the thickest walls. The north side has thin walls with a watchtower on top. There’s a small inner fortress inside, with an outer fortress surrounding the entire structure. The ground is a dirt path and quite slippery. Please be careful when climbing up.”
When they tried to climb up to the fortress, they found it was closed to the public and couldn’t enter. Though disappointed, Sunim took a commemorative photo with the participants at the outer entrance of the fortress walls before descending from Baekam Fortress.
They boarded the bus again and departed from Baekam Fortress at 3:30 PM. From inside the bus, they could see the entire view of Baekam Fortress in the distance.
As Baekam Fortress receded into the distance, vast cornfields and sorghum fields stretched endlessly. The tour group now headed toward Huanren, which was the first capital of Goguryeo. They had to travel for 4 hours and 30 minutes on this long journey.
After stopping at a rest area, Sunim began his lecture on the bus. He provided detailed explanations about the places they would visit today and tomorrow. As the sun set, they turned on the lights inside the bus and continued studying.
After studying for about an hour, drowsiness set in. Sunim suggested that each vehicle take turns singing songs using the two-way radio.
While singing songs, sharing stories, and dozing off, they arrived in Huanren at 8 PM.
“You all slept a lot on the bus today, didn’t you? If anyone still needs more sleep, you can sleep on the bus tomorrow too.” (laughter)
They got off the bus and had dinner. During the meal, Sunim introduced the staff and special guests of this history tour.
After finishing dinner, everyone dropped off their luggage at the accommodation and gathered in the lecture hall. The evening lecture began at 9:20 PM.
Sunim spent an hour explaining in detail why we came on the Northeast Asian history tour.
“Why do we embark on history tours despite such inconveniences? The reason is that humans are not merely individual beings but social and historical beings. In other words, we are beings positioned in time and space.
Why We Take the Northeast Asian History Tour
First, from a spatial perspective, we can think about it cosmically. In the universe, there are countless smaller universes, and we exist in one of them called the Milky Way galaxy. Within that galaxy is our solar system, and within that solar system is Earth. On Earth, there is the Asian continent, and within it, the Republic of Korea is located in Northeast Asia, with Seoul inside it. Seoul is further divided into districts and neighborhoods. This is our spatial relationship.
Human relationships work the same way. I form a family, build relationships with neighbors, and relationships are established between regions and between nations. The nature of these relationships varies accordingly. Looking more broadly, we are situated within various international relationships, such as between South and North Korea, or between Korea and Japan. In other words, my existence is defined differently depending on what spatial relationships I am in.
To give a material example, oxygen (O2) becomes the air we breathe when it bonds with other oxygen atoms, but when it bonds with hydrogen (H2), it becomes water (H2O). Any element takes on completely different properties depending on what it forms relationships with. The same is true for people. That’s why the relationships we form are so important. We call this spatial relationship ‘sociality.’ When we tell someone ‘You lack social skills,’ it’s because they struggle to form relationships with others or fail to show consideration for others.
Next is temporal relationships. While it’s important who I’m in a relationship with now, who I was a year ago or ten years ago is also a crucial factor in defining who I am today. The environment I grew up in, the habits I developed, who my parents were, and what influence I received from my grandparents—all of these deeply affect who I am now. From an ethnic perspective, we are not simply citizens of today’s Republic of Korea. We are beings who have overcome the wounds of the Donghak Revolution, embraced the hope of the March 1st Movement, and carry within us the pain of colonial rule, the joy of liberation, and the scars of division and war. We call this relationship through time ‘historicity.’ In Buddhist terms, this can be called karma or karmic consciousness. This historicity is what deeply defines the identity of our existence.
Sociality as spatial relationships and historicity as temporal relationships—these two elements are the core foundations that form our identity of ‘who I am.’ When scholars gather to discuss international relations or inter-Korean relations, they are dealing with sociality. The reason we gather here today for this historical tour is to understand our historicity. In other words, a historical tour is about understanding our temporal relationships. For example, even if a Filipino and a Korean eat together, study together, and live together in the same space, they don’t become the same person. They remain different beings because their parents were different people and they received different influences. On an individual level, one’s personal capabilities can differ depending on which clan they belong to and who their ancestors were. On an ethnic level, what matters is which ethnic group we belong to. Therefore, to accurately understand my existence, I must understand our ethnic history.
To understand the identity of the Republic of Korea as a nation today and to determine where we should be heading, it is necessary to properly understand our historical relationships, that is, our national history. This is why we say things like ‘Has their historical perspective been established?’ or ‘Does that person have a properly established historical perspective?’ This is because one’s historical perspective plays a crucial role in their identity. We can say that we go on these history tours to clearly understand our historicity and self-identity.
Where Do Our Distorted Historical Perspective and National Inferiority Complex Come From?
When we usually talk about our history, we sometimes say it spans 5,000 years since Dangun, 6,000 years since Gaecheon, or even 9,000 years since the Han dynasty. Whether these figures are accurate or not isn’t the key issue. What matters is what kind of historical perspective we hold. However, from my observation, we have three major distortions in our perspective on history. Distortion refers to cases where we either don’t know history well or have completely wrong information about it.
First, there is ignorance about ancient history, that is, the origins of our nation. Many people either don’t know well or have distorted information about the period that corresponds to the roots of our nation. Due to not properly understanding ancient history, we have come to interpret the world centered on Chinese civilization, and as a result, we have developed a kind of inferiority complex toward China. We have defined ourselves as the periphery or a derivative of Chinese civilization. While we may talk big on the surface, this sense of inferiority deeply embedded within us is distorting our national identity.
Second, we have misconceptions about the history of the independence movement. To understand the roots of many conflicts and emotions we experience today, it is necessary to properly understand the history of the independence movement. While we hate and feel anger toward Japan, at the bottom of these emotions lies a national inferiority complex stemming from colonial rule. When Japan absurdly claims that Dokdo is their territory, we become engulfed in anger and sometimes even write in blood. While such intense emotions can be seen as patriotism in a positive light, they can actually be viewed as an inferiority complex arising from a lack of national self-esteem. When there is a national inferiority complex, we cannot respond calmly but instead react excitedly and sensitively.
Third, in modern times, as everything has shifted to Western ways, we have developed an inferiority complex toward Western civilization. Although it’s not openly expressed, we harbor feelings of inferiority toward the West in various aspects including academics, philosophy, and technology. Recently, this has been somewhat overcome through the Korean Wave and technological advancement, but the roots of this inferiority complex remain.
Correcting such distorted historical perceptions is extremely important. However, this doesn’t mean we should fabricate history to heal ourselves. We must learn what we don’t know, correct what we know incorrectly, and research and supplement what is lacking to restore our history. The Northeast Asian History Tour was planned with this purpose in mind. It particularly focuses on two main pillars: ancient history and the history of the independence movement. Among these, greater emphasis is placed on ancient history. In terms of overall composition, approximately 70 percent focuses on ancient history, while the remaining 30 percent concentrates on the history of the independence movement. The inferiority complex toward modern Western civilization cannot be resolved through simple historical tours alone. I believe this can gradually be healed through technological advancement and cultural achievements like the Korean Wave. This is the goal of conducting the Northeast Asian History Tour.
80 Years of Division Is but a Fleeting Moment in History
From the long flow of history, the 80 years of division between South and North Korea is like a fleeting moment. Based solely on the present, South and North Korea may feel like completely different entities, but viewed within the long span of history, the division can be seen as a brief happening that occurred in the blink of an eye. Therefore, it’s important not to be too fixated on the present but to view things from a long historical perspective. Within the current conflict structure, North Korea may be the most threatening entity. However, North Korea is also the subject of unification. The United States or Japan cannot be that subject. South and North Korea are currently in this contradictory relationship. They are both the most hostile relationship and the subject of unification. It’s like hating someone the most but having no choice but to marry that person. We must properly understand the essence of this duality. We cannot view North Korea solely as hostile, nor can we properly diagnose reality by viewing it solely as a subject of unification. To accurately see this dual context, we must look deeply into our past history.
The Limitations of Positivist Historiography: How Can We Restore Ancient History?
Understanding ancient history correctly is not an easy task because access to it is currently very difficult. When approaching it based on materials like ‘Hwandan Gogi,’ some criticize it as blind faith like a religion. To be recognized as historical fact, two types of evidence are needed. One is artifacts, or physical evidence, and the other is records. While artifacts can specify dates, without matching records, even if something is confirmed to be from 3,000 years ago, we cannot prove which country or people’s history it belongs to. Even with records, questions arise about whether they were properly recorded and who recorded them.
Nevertheless, if we are to restore history, we have no choice but to reconstruct it to some extent based on these two foundations: artifacts and historical records. In this regard, for the periods of Hwanin’s Han nation, Hwanung’s Baedal nation, and Dangun’s Gojoseon, only legends have been passed down with almost no artifacts or relics remaining. Moreover, many historical books recorded by our own hands have disappeared through foreign invasions. Historical books like ‘Yugi’ compiled during the Goguryeo period were lost with the fall of Goguryeo, and most records of Balhae were also lost when the nation fell. Silla didn’t place much importance on historical legitimacy and had no special records, and while there were some records during the Goryeo period, they were voluntarily banned when Joseon adopted a policy of subservience. Even the remaining records were confiscated during the Japanese colonial period, and their current whereabouts are unknown. The fact that we have almost no historical books written by our own hands is a major problem. With few artifacts and insufficient records, our ancient history has become like non-existent history.
When modern scholarship arrived and we began to restore our history, the first to attempt this were the Silhak scholars of the Joseon Dynasty. It was Silhak scholars who first argued that Balhae history should be viewed as our history. However, after the Donghak Revolution, the country became chaotic, and due to Japanese invasion, these discussions could not progress. Later, during the Japanese imperial period, Keijo Imperial University, the predecessor of Seoul National University, was established, and modern scholarship was formed. At that time, Europe was experiencing a revival of nationalism, with each nation tending to exaggerate its own history. In reaction to this, positivist historiography emerged, taking the position that claims must be supported by evidence. This positivist historiography influenced Japan, and that influence spread to Korea through Seoul National University’s Department of History. This in itself wasn’t wrong. In fact, it had many positive aspects, but it’s also true that Japan’s colonial view of history invisibly seeped in during this process. Japan tried to portray Joseon as having delayed historical development or as a derivative of China because properly recording Joseon’s history was disadvantageous to colonial rule.
However, a bigger problem than this is the inherent limitation of positivist historiography. Since few historical books written by our own hands remain, scholars had no choice but to study Chinese historical texts. The ‘Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji),’ which recorded history before the Han Dynasty, contains some records about Gojoseon, and historical texts like the ‘Records of the Three Kingdoms’ Wei Shu Dongyi Zhuan, ‘Old Book of Tang,’ and ‘New Book of Tang’ contain partial records of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla as histories of neighboring countries. Just as our history books mention Japan when discussing the Imjin War, these texts contain records of the customs of barbarians around China. Looking at these, we began to reconstruct our history, thinking ‘Oh, this happened in the past.’ The problem is that our history was not recorded from our perspective but was reconstructed by gathering fragments mentioned in Chinese history, which naturally relegated it to the periphery of Chinese civilization. This is the side effect that appeared due to positivist historiography.
For these reasons, the history taught in our national history textbooks and school education has inherent limitations that inevitably make it play the role of China’s peripheral history. Rather than being deliberately distorted by someone, this may be an inevitable result of the positivist approach. However, I believe it is now time to correct this issue. Conversely, making unsubstantiated claims that our history was far more advanced than China’s would also be problematic. Therefore, rather than completely rejecting positivist historiography, we need to supplement it in a way that suits our history.
An Open Nationalism That Maintains Our Identity While Respecting Others
Looking at the Goguryeo period, Goguryeo was not inhabited only by the Goguryeo people; there were also Khitan and Jurchen peoples. Coming down from the Gojoseon period, peoples such as the Mongols, Khitans, and Jurchens were also part of our nation, and the Balhae period was also part of our history. Although these groups later separated to establish the Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties, they shared common roots. Therefore, we need an approach that reclaims our lost history by reexamining and collecting their civilizations, languages, oral traditions, and artifacts. Having oral traditions and artifacts is better than having nothing at all. We need to supplement such oral traditions and artifacts with other research, filter out what needs to be filtered, and reconstruct what can be substantiated.
In fact, this is work that the state should be doing. China is making great efforts to establish the identity of Chinese civilization through national projects like the Northwest Project and Northeast Project, but we are doing too little work on our national identity. First, the problem is that we lack leaders with a clear historical perspective. Second, we are too focused on pragmatism, with a prevailing attitude of ‘Why bother with the past when we can just live well?’ While nationalism becomes problematic when it is exclusive and causes conflict in human history, denying national identity is also problematic. We need an attitude of diversity that maintains our identity while respecting other nations and identities.
That’s why I continue these history tours with the hope that young people with this critical awareness will restore our history correctly in 50 or 100 years, whether they become political leaders or historians.
Liao River Civilization and Korean Ancient History: The Connection Between Artifacts and Myths
Recently, a large number of goddess statues, pyramid-shaped tombs, temples, and fortress walls have been excavated in China’s Liao River region. These relics date back 4,000 to 5,000 years and are prototypes of Goguryeo’s pyramid tombs, with fortress walls similar to those of Goguryeo. This shows that Goguryeo inherited this civilization rather than creating something entirely new. Looking at these artifacts, we can infer that civilization has been passed down despite many losses along the way. So when we personally visit Goguryeo and Balhae historical sites that we can walk on, touch with our hands, and see with our eyes, and trace the roots of civilization, we eventually come to discuss the Liao River civilization.
The Liao River civilization consists of artifacts excavated in China, but they are difficult to explain through Chinese historical records. However, we have historical records about this in documents like the Hwandan Gogi and Samguk Yusa. This is because such records closely match the dates and periods of the artifacts. The same goes for the story of the Baedal Nation. There’s a story about how Hwanung came with the Cheonbuin (Heavenly Seal) and 3,000 followers to establish Shinshi and found the Baedal Nation. Then where was the original civilization before this migration? Academics speculate it might have been near the Tian Shan Mountains, around Lake Baikal, or in the Asia Minor region. In Chifeng City, an autonomous region of Outer Mongolia, Neolithic civilization dating back 9,000 years has been discovered. The reason for studying these relics is to understand that our civilization didn’t suddenly appear but was formed through accumulation over a long period. When you visit Taiwan’s National Museum, the first exhibits start with the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. While those stories might be even more fantastical than the Baedal Nation stories, they have established them as China’s historical narrative. In contrast, when we visit our Independence Hall or National Museum of Korea, there are hardly any exhibits related to ancient history.
However, the Liaohe civilization is completely different from China’s Yellow River civilization. Historically, China viewed the lands beyond the Great Wall not as their own territory but as barbarian lands. When artifacts dating 1,000 to 2,000 years earlier than the Yellow River civilization were excavated in large quantities from that region, China found itself in a dilemma. Recently, China has been redefining Chinese civilization by establishing the roots of Chinese civilization on two pillars: the Yellow River civilization and the Liaohe civilization.
At this juncture, rather than arguing about ‘whether it’s yours or mine,’ we should combine these two facts: the artifacts are on Chinese soil, and we have the stories. A goddess statue from 5,000 years ago was excavated as an artifact, but there is no goddess culture in Chinese history. Goddess myths like Ungnyeo exist only in Korea. There are also paintings featuring bears in Goguryeo murals. There is a sacred tree with a small cave beneath it, and inside the cave is a bear. Outside, there is a tiger, and a warrior is shooting the tiger with a bow. The content of the painting is identical to the Dangun myth. But this painting is from a Goguryeo tomb mural dating to around the 5th century. Looking at this, it doesn’t make sense that the Dangun story was created during the Goryeo period. We can see it as a story that was passed down from ancient times and later recorded. In this regard, we can conclude that ancient history can be restored to some extent with just a little more research.
The Liao River civilization and the Yellow River civilization were different from the beginning. Although there were conflicts and exchanges due to their proximity, just as the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations were distinct from each other, our civilization also has its own independent origins. In the Northeast Asian civilization, our people were the mainstream, and at its center were the founding ideologies of Hongik Ingan (弘益人間) and Jese Ihwa (在世理化). Hongik Ingan means establishing a nation for the benefit of the people, rather than having an advanced civilization invade or exploit the indigenous people of the region. Jese Ihwa means recreating the culture of heaven on this earth. These founding ideologies transcend religion and can be seen as having very noble meanings. Based on these founding ideologies, the ancient history was inherited by Goguryeo and Balhae in spirit, and during the Goryeo period, they restored legitimacy by integrating this historical consciousness with the reality of Silla’s territory. Therefore, restoring our ancient history and recovering historical legitimacy can be considered an important task in reclaiming our national identity.”
The lecture ended at 10:20 PM. The first day of the Northeast Asian History Tour concluded with loud applause. It had been a truly long day.
Tomorrow marks the second day of the Northeast Asian History Tour, where they will intensively explore Goguryeo’s historical sites. After visiting Holbon Mountain Fortress early in the morning, where Jumong is said to have first established Goguryeo, they plan to tour Gungnaeseong and Hwando Mountain Fortress, which served as Goguryeo’s second capital, in the afternoon.
