Wang Geon (King Taejo of Goryeo)

Monarch who founded Goryeo and unified the Later Three Kingdoms.

Life

Powerful maritime merchant clan

Wang Geon came from a powerful maritime merchant clan of Kaesong. He joined Gung Ye, king of Later Goguryeo, and won repeated distinction commanding the navy. In 918 his lieutenants raised him to the throne; he overthrew the tyrannical Gung Ye, founded Goryeo and made Kaesong its capital.

Founding of Goryeo

He waged a long war against Later Baekje in the south. In 935 the last king of Silla surrendered, and in 936 he destroyed Later Baekje, unifying the central and southern Korean Peninsula. He won over regional magnates through marriage alliances, taking twenty-nine queens and consorts, and left the Ten Injunctions to admonish his descendants.

Unification

He died in 943. The name "Goryeo" later became the source of the Western name for the Korean Peninsula (Korea).

Legacy

The Goryeo founded by Wang Geon lasted nearly five hundred years, and the Western name for the Korean Peninsula, "Korea," comes from "Goryeo."

Major works & achievements

• Ten Injunctions

Did you know? He married twenty-nine queens and consorts, most of them from powerful local clans, as a way to hold the unified realm together.

Key dates

• 918Founding of Goryeo
• 935Silla surrenders
• 936Destroys Later Baekje, unifies the Later Three Kingdoms
• 943Dies, leaving the Ten Injunctions