Dangun and Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom
Tradition holds that Dangun founded the first Korean kingdom in 2333 BCE; a historical Gojoseon flourished in the north until China's Han dynasty conquered it in 108 BCE.
- A Concise History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present — Michael J. Seth, Rowman & Littlefield (2016)
- Korea Old and New: A History — Carter J. Eckert, Ki-baik Lee, Young Ick Lew, Michael Robinson and Edward W. Wagner, Ilchokak / Korea Institute, Harvard University (1990)
- Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy — Gi-Wook Shin, Stanford University Press (2006)
According to the Samguk yusa (“Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms”), compiled by the Buddhist monk Iryeon in the 1280s, Hwanung, son of the lord of heaven, came down to Mount Taebaek. A bear and a tiger begged to become human; the bear endured a hundred days in a cave eating only mugwort and garlic and became a woman, and she bore Hwanung a son, Dangun Wanggeom. Dangun founded the kingdom of Joseon in 2333 BCE.
- A Concise History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present — Michael J. Seth, Rowman & Littlefield (2016)
- Korea Old and New: A History — Carter J. Eckert, Ki-baik Lee, Young Ick Lew, Michael Robinson and Edward W. Wagner, Ilchokak / Korea Institute, Harvard University (1990)
Historians call this kingdom Gojoseon (“Old Joseon”) to distinguish it from the later Joseon dynasty. Chinese sources show a real state of that name in southern Manchuria and north-western Korea by the fourth century BCE, with bronze and then iron culture. In 108 BCE the armies of Han Emperor Wu destroyed it and set up Chinese commanderies, the last of which, Lelang near modern Pyongyang, lasted until 313 CE.
- A Concise History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present — Michael J. Seth, Rowman & Littlefield (2016)
- Korea Old and New: A History — Carter J. Eckert, Ki-baik Lee, Young Ick Lew, Michael Robinson and Edward W. Wagner, Ilchokak / Korea Institute, Harvard University (1990)
The Dangun story became especially important in the colonial era, when nationalists used it to argue that Koreans were an ancient, distinct people with five thousand years of history. In North Korea, the regime announced in 1993 that it had found Dangun’s bones and built a vast tomb near Pyongyang, a claim outside scholars reject.
- Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy — Gi-Wook Shin, Stanford University Press (2006)
- A Concise History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present — Michael J. Seth, Rowman & Littlefield (2016)
Dangun, grandson of the lord of heaven and son of a bear who became a woman, founded the nation and taught people to live by the principle of hongik ingan, "to broadly benefit humanity", still cited as an ideal in South Korea's education law.
- A Concise History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present — Michael J. Seth, Rowman & Littlefield (2016)
- Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy — Gi-Wook Shin, Stanford University Press (2006)
The Dangun story is first recorded in the thirteenth century, after the Mongol invasions, when it served to unite Koreans. A real Gojoseon state existed in the Liaodong and north-western Korea region by around the fourth century BCE, but the 2333 BCE date is legendary.
- A Concise History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present — Michael J. Seth, Rowman & Littlefield (2016)
- Korea Old and New: A History — Carter J. Eckert, Ki-baik Lee, Young Ick Lew, Michael Robinson and Edward W. Wagner, Ilchokak / Korea Institute, Harvard University (1990)
Why it matters today
Dangun gives Koreans a founding story that predates China's empires and is shared by North and South alike. South Korea marks National Foundation Day (Gaecheonjeol) on 3 October, and the idea of a single people descended from one ancestor underpins the dream of reunification.