War Memorial of Korea

Since the foundation of our first kingdom, Gojoseon, many countries have attacked Korea more than 960 times. Sometimes battles were won and other times, lost. However, Korea still has its independence, own
language and culture.

Great Victory Against Sui China 살수대첩

In the 5th century, Goguryeo was a powerful nation in Asia. Sui China attacked Goguryeo with 1 million soldiers but Goguryeo defeated them.
The Sui Emperor was so angry, he sent another army of 300,000 men and attacked Goguryeo’s capital. The army was lead by a famous general, Wu
Jong-moon. Goguryeo also had a great general, Eul -ji-moon-deok.
He planned a brilliant strategy. Eul-ji-moon-deok did not fight hard with Sui on purpose. He made the Sui army tired. The Sui army ran out of food and finally decided to retreat. The Sui army reached the Sal-su River.
The water level looked low. When they crossed half way through the river, Eul-ji-moon-deok opened the dam. Most drowned and only 2,700 soldiers survived. This is one of the 3 greatest victories in Korean War
history.

Who were the Hwarang? 화랑은 누구인가?

The Hwa-rang were an elite group of young men in the Silla Kingdom.
They were sons of royal families or noblemen. Originally, they gathered to study and practice martial arts. They were good at archery and very brave. Later, many Hwa-rang became warriors like General Kim, Yu-shin.
They had five rules:
1. Loyalty to the country
2. Be good to parents
3. Trust friends
4. Never retreat in battles
5. Don’t kill anything without reason

Mongol Invasions 몽고의 침략

The Mongol Empire was the largest kingdom in world history. They invaded Goryeo first in 1231 and attacked Goryeo six more times until 1254. At that time, the ruling class of Goryeo did not have enough power to keep the country. They ran away to Ganghwa Island. However, the people of Goryeo did not give up. A brave army called Sam-byeol-cho kept fighting to the end. Though Goryeo resisted for about 40 years, they
eventually lost control to the Mongols. The people of Goryeo had to wear Mongolian costume. The Goryeo prince was forced to marry a Mongol
princess. Goryeo was free from Mongolian rule during the King Gongmin’s time. During the Mongolian invasion, the people of Goryeo made “Pal-man-Dae-jang-gyoung”. Otherwise known as the Tripitaka Coreana.
It is Buddhist text on 80,000 wooden blocks. They wanted Buddha to save the country.

Imjin War 임진왜란

Japan attacked Joseon in 1592. This war is known as the Imjin War or Hi-de-yo-shi's Invasion. The Japanese army had muskets and the Joseon
soldiers only had bows. The Japanese reached Han-yang (modern day Seoul) within a few weeks. Many houses were destroyed and thousands of people were killed. The war lasted seven years. The Battle of Haeng-ju is one of the battles during the Imjin War. While men fought the Japanese, women helped men by carrying rocks in their aprons. After this battle, Haeng-ju-chima (apron over the skirt) became famous.

Admiral Lee and the Turtle-ship 이순신 장군과 거북선

Admiral Lee, Sun-shin was the war hero. He won many naval victories against the Japanese navy. He predicted the war and prepared the military. He made the first ironclad ship in the world. It was called the turtle ship (Geo-buk-seon). The ironclad made ships safe from fire attacks and it could destroy Japanese wooden ships easily. A major battle took place at Han-san Island. He destroyed 66 enemy ships out of 70. 40,000 Japanese naval forces out of 55,000 died. None of the Joseon ships were destroyed and only 18 Joseon people died. The final battle took place at the No-ryang Shore. He also won the battle, but he got shot. He said “Keep waving the flag and don’t tell anyone of my death”

Smoke Signal Station 봉수대

The Joseon people used smoke signals (Bong-soo) for long distance communication. The Bong-soo looked like a chimney. When a soldier saw an enemy attacking, he fired the Bong-soo. Smoke was used in the daytime. Fire was used at night.

The smoke signal of Bong-soo
1 smoke – normal condition
2 smokes – the enemy is preparing for war
3 smokes – the enemy is near the boarder
4 smokes– the enemy crossed the boarder
5 smokes – it is time to fight


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My Opinion


      The topic for today was war and battles. Therefore I went to the war memorial of Korea. It's totally out of my interest but at least I learned many things. Korea had been attacked so many times by the foreign circumstances and there were also many wars where Korea it self fought with other parts of Korea. Even with all those wars, we still have our country Korea, indepenence, language and culture. I can't imagine us using Chinese or Japanese or even Mongolian. I'm very proud and glad that our ancerstors protected out country.
      First, in Sal-su battle known as 살수대첩, we won thatnks to  was Eul -ji-moon-deok's brillian strategy. It was obvious that we could't win against the Sui China by actually fighting. Even though I think it was a little bit a sneaky attack, we won.
      Second is Mongol's invasions. The Mongols invaded Goryeo several times and eventually made us wear Mongolian custumes but in gmin King's time we were released. It's very good that they released Goryeo because I really don't want to be a monolian. :) 
      The last war is Imjin war. Imjin is very famous in Korea for admiral Lee Sun Shin. He made his famous last words "Don't tell anyone of my deathㅠㅠ" then died. He also made turtle ship which really looks like a turtle.
       Today was rather fun even though I'm not very good with history and remembering wars but now I feel very proud of this country and that I better know more about my land. I hope someday, I could go back to the War memorial Center with a foreigner and explain about wats and battles that I learned today.