A Renowned Scholar of Goryeo

Samguk Sagi (The Historical Records of the Three Kingdoms), Korea’s first thorough and official account of its ancient history, came into being in 1145 at the behest of scholar and government official Kim Bu-sik. Born in 1075 as a direct descendant of King Muyeol of the then-dissolved Shilla dynasty, Kim began serving the Goryeo court in 1096 in his early 20s. He was sent to China in 1116, the 11th year of King Yejong’s reign, and, upon receiving a gift of China’s three major history books, was inspired to write his own historical book on the pre-Goryeo eras. But a long time would have to pass before his pet project was realized.

Suppressing the Revolt of Myocheong

The biggest political hardship in Kim’s career was the Revolt of Myocheong. Following the destruction of the royal palace in Gaegyeong (present day Gaeseong) in the Revolt of Lee Ja-gyeom in 1126, Myocheong had proposed the capital’s relocation to Seogyeong and frequently invited the king to the newly built palace.

Faced with strong protests from government officials in Gaegyeong, however, Myocheong resorted to staging a rebellion in 1135. That was when Kim personally commanded the king’s army to crack down on the rebel forces and finally put them down 14 months later. His suppression of Myocheong’s revolt helped him rise to the pinnacle of his political career, but ended up leaving him vulnerable to repeated envy-inspired attacks. Frequent conflict at last forced him to resign in 1142, which left him with enough time to put into action his lifelong project of writing a comprehensive history book.

Writing a History Book Defining an Era

To be frank, the publication of Samguk Sagi cannot be attributed solely to Kim. Rather, it was the product of a team of eleven historians especially appointed by the king and supervised by Kim. But Kim, noted then and now as Goryeo’s best scholar and writer, personally wrote the introduction to each chapter, added commentaries on historical events and figures, and put the finishing touch on the entire writing to make it more complete and authoritative.

Composed of fifty volumes on the histories of the three kingdoms - Shilla, Goguryeo, and Baekje – Samguk Sagi’s last ten volumes were a collection of accounts on some 80 historical figures. These biographical records are purported to best demonstrate Kim’s arresting writing style. In particular, The Story of Ondal, the tale of General Ondal, who was once called Ondal the fool but was transformed into one of Goguryeo’s most revered military leaders with the help of his devoted wife, Princess Pyeonggang, is cited as the best writing ever in the nation’s history.

In addition to the writing style, Samguk Sagi is noted for the comprehensiveness of its content, covering not only the political, social, and cultural atmospheres distinctive to the three pre-Goryeo kingdoms, but also their diplomatic relationships with China and Japan during the millennium-long Three Kingdom period.

With all due respect, however, it is criticized as a government-oriented history book, because it was written from a bureaucratic point of view. Unlike Samguk Yusa, another widely accepted historical book on the Three Kingdoms, which spotlighted the lives of ordinary people and included folk tales and unofficial history, Samguk Sagi focused wholly on official and governmental events. But admittedly there would be no reliable history book on the Three Kingdoms without Samguk Sagi and that, by itself, is enough to give Kim the honored title of Korea’s best history writer.