A Buddhist monk demonstrates a part of Tripitaka Koreana at Haein Temple in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province. (Korea Times file)
This is the fifth of a 10-part series on Korean history from its mythological, ancient beginning until the present day. This project is sponsored by several companies and public agencies including Merck Korea, eBay Korea, Daewoo Securities and Korea Post. - ED.
For over a millennium the Three-Kingdom struggles on the Korean Peninsula led to unification twice ― firstly, by Silla in the 7th century and secondly, by Goryeo in the 10th century.
Goryeo is regarded as being particularly significant in Korea's long history for many reasons, but there are two which stand above all the rest: Korea was named after this dynasty, which lasted almost five centuries, and the current territory of the entire Korean Peninsula is not that different from that of the end of the Goryeo dynasty.
It also boasts a pair of special cultural products, Goryeo celadon, celebrated for its beauty and craftsmanship, and the Tripitaka Koreana, well known for its contribution to Buddhism and the history of the printed word.
Later Three Kingdoms
Silla, which managed to carry out incomplete unification in 676, lost its grip on regional affairs during the late 9th century when a host of local overlords sprouted up to negate the authority of the central government.
Two powerful overlords Gung Ye and Gyeon Hwon emerged to prominence thanks to their leadership and their goals for restoring regional sovereignty, which reflected former regional differences.
The former vowed to succeed Goguryeo, while the later declared himself as a successor of Baekje.
Along with the ever-weakening Silla, these two recreated the era of the Later Three Kingdoms. Nevertheless, the eventual winner in the three-way rivalry was Wang Geon, a former subordinate of Gung Ye.
Gung Ye was once a charismatic leader who was surrounded by many talents including Wang Geon as a general. But after quite a while at the helm, he showed very eccentric activities like claiming himself as a living Buddha and killing his wife and children.
These prompted him to lose credibility, thus leading Wang Geun to revolt and overthrow him and found Goryeo in 918.
Wang defeated Gyeon Hwon in 936, a year after annexing Silla, which gave up its 1,000 year-old dynasty to Wang, who in turn allowed Silla's royal family to govern their areas in former Silla and keep their dignity.
After the unification, Wang moved the new country's capital to his hometown Gaeseong, which now accommodates an industrial complex set up as a result of Nobel Peace Prize recipient and former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's Sunshine Policy of cooperation between the two countries.
The whole story was featured in a drama over the past few years, which had attracted great attention.
Foundation of newly united country
Wang, called King Taejo after his death, came up with three major policies of integrating the entire nation, respecting Buddhism and expanding its territory northward, which continued throughout the Goryeo Dynasty over the next centuries.
Buddhism flourished under Wang and the Goryeo period and produced great Buddhist thinkers such as Uicheon and Jinul and many beautiful temples were constructed.
The name "Goryeo" was derived from the ancient Korean kingdom "Goguryeo", discussed in the first part of this series. Wang expressed his antagonism against the Khitan, which destroyed the northern Korean state of Balhae in 926, the successor of Goguryeo.
In the early 10th century, the Khitan rose to power in Manchuria to set up the Liao Dynasty in 938. Four years later, it sent 50 camels with its envoys in an attempt to set up diplomatic relations with Goryeo, but Wang starved the camels to death and exiled the envoys.
Wang reiterated its anti-Khitan policy in his Ten Injunctions, the special laws and recommendations dedicated to his successors.
By contrast, Wang was very lenient to ethnic Koreans. On top of respecting the Silla aristocracy, Wang left most provincial leaders undisturbed. In addition, th