Yemaek

Yemaek or Yamaek () were an ancient tribal group in Northeast China and the northern Korean Peninsula who are regarded by many scholars as the ancestors of modern Koreans. They had ancestral ties to various Korean kingdoms including Gojoseon, Buyeo, Goguryeo, and tribes including Okjeo, Dongye, Yangmaek (양맥; 梁貊) and Sosumaek (소수맥; 小水貊).
Origin.
Yemaek is believed to be a combination of Ye (濊·穢·薉) and Maek (貊·貉) people of two neighboring cultures. The main culture is the Seodansan culture. He Qiutao (何秋涛) said Ye is the short name of Buyeo. Dongye first appears in history as a vassal state of Gojoseon until its fall to China in 108 BC. It was known as the Huiyetou (穢邪頭) state in Shuowen Jiezi. It later became a vassal of the increasingly powerful Goguryeo. According to the Chinese Records of Three Kingdoms, Ye worshiped tigers, whereas according to "Erya", Maek means bears. Gomnaru, the capital of Baekje, also means the "bear port". Historians suggest tigers and bears may have been totems worshiped by Ye and Maek tribes.
Several history books suggest Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom in history, was established by the Yemaek.
Language.
There have been some academic attempts to recover Yemaek words based on the fragments of toponyms recorded in the Samguk Sagi for the areas once possessed by Goguryeo and Buyeo-Baekje.
Legacy.
According to Samguk Sagi, Silla was established as a confederacy of six clans composed of Joseon refugees, and the Royal Seal of Ye (예왕지인; 濊王之印), previously used by Buyeo's kings, was found in Silla in 19 AD and presented for King Namhae of Silla.
The Yemaek culture can be seen as ancestral to the modern Culture of Korea as well as to the various kingdoms in Korea and parts of northeastern China.
The historian Sang-Yil Kim claims that the Koreanic Yemaek tribe did also influence the early Chinese culture. He suggests that the Yemaek tribe had a large cultural impact on East Asia and that at least some of the Dongyi were of proto-Korean origin.