It is not clear exactly when Yuri was born, but it is believed to be around 38 or 37 B.C. He was the eldest son of Jumong, the founder of the Goguryeo Kingdom. When Yuri was little, though, he did not know who his father was. His father, Jumong, had to leave Buyeo, where he lived with his wife, even before his son was born because he was in danger of being killed by Buyeo princes. As a result, during his childhood Yuri lived alone with his mother, Lady Ye.

One day, while trying to hit a sparrow with a slingshot, Yuri accidentally broke a woman’s water jar. The woman was angry and yelled at him, saying he was such a spoiled child because he was raised in a fatherless home. The young boy was shocked, and back at home, he asked his mother who and where his father was. Lady Ye replied that his father had established a state to become king. She said that before leaving, her husband had hidden something under a pine tree on a seven-angled stone. She told the boy to locate it if he wanted to see his father. From that day, Yuri wandered about the mountains and fields to find a pine tree on a heptangular stone, only to fail.

The boy returned home, exhausted, and sat on the floor, leaning against a pillar. He happened to see a cornerstone under the pillar, and to his surprise, it had seven angles. He realized the pillar was made of pine, and he quickly rummaged in the crack between the stone and the pillar. He eventually found a rusty broken sword, and he was sure that his father had left it as a token of their kinship.

Yuri, along with his mother, left for Goguryeo to see his long-lost father, Jumong. When they reached the kingdom, Yuri showed the broken sword to the king, who took out another broken sword. Amazingly, the two broken pieces formed a complete whole. Overjoyed to be reunited with his wife and son, the king gave Yuri the title of crown prince.

But Jumong already had a second wife named So Seo-no and two other sons, Biryu and Onjo. As the king’s first wife, Lady Ye became queen and the second wife and her sons were disappointed and felt unsafe. With her sons, So Seo-no fled the country and traveled south to help one of her sons establish another kingdom. The new kingdom in the southwestern part of the Korean Peninsula was Baekje. In the end, two of the three kingdoms in ancient Korea were founded by Jumong and his son, respectively.

Yuri became king after Jumong died in 19 B.C. King Yuri is described as a powerful ruler who successfully expanded the territory of Goguryeo through a series of military expeditions. One of his major achievements was the relocation of the capital to Gungnae Fortress in 3 B.C. The first capital was in Jolbon, which is present-day Huanren in Liaoning Province in northeastern China. The second capital, Gungnae Fortress, was located along the midstream of the Yalu River, which is now Jian City in Jilin Province of China. It served as Goguryeo’s capital for about 400 years until King Jangsu moved the capital again further south to Pyongyang, now in North Korea.

King Yuri ruled the country for 37 years and died in the year 18. He was succeeded by his third son, Muhul, who became King Damusin, the third ruler of Goguryeo.